Stiftung und Memoria

What lies beneath? Spectrality as a focal phenomenon and a focal theory for strengthening engagement with philanthropic foundations

“…As such, there has been a growing argument, particularly amongst German historians, that foundation discourse needs to be recast towards a broader socio‐cultural understanding that acknowledges and incorporates an iterative exchange and interdependency between prior and subsequent founders and their beneficiaries. This recasting implicates associated questions of memoria, transcendence and founders’ continued ‘presence’ amongst the living (Borgolte, 2012). While this is a relatively recent perspective, traditionally the most prominent discourse on foundations has centred around legal considerations of the foundation form (Anheier, 2001; Prele, 2014; Ylvisaker, 1987).…”

“…The study of foundations is dominated by an emphasis on foundations’ legal characteristics, particularly their independent legal personality (Borgolte, 2012). Three broad theories about the legal origins of foundations are advocated in the literature: the Roman fideicommissum , the Salic law of Salmannus and the Islamic waqf .…”

“…As an observable part of philanthropy past and present, spectrality warrants closer examination. While there has been a growing interest in questions of memory and memoria in foundations amongst some historians (see Borgolte, 2012), conceptual engagement with spectrality as a lens in its own right for understanding foundations remains limited. Having established the relevance of spectrality as a strategic platform from which theorizing on foundations can proceed, the next section of the paper will ‘mine’ the literature on spectrality in order to synthesize insights and identify specific contributions that the spectrality literature can make to aid understanding of foundations.…”