36th Romance Studies Conference: "Reconstruction, Reconstruction, Renewal"

The Romance Studies Day will take place in Kassel from September 29 to October 2. It is organized by the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of Kassel. Minister of State Angela Dorn (Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts) will act as patron. The opening lecture will be given by Jürgen Kaube (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

The general theme of Reconstruction, Reconstruction, Renewal brings together a variety of connotations and discursive evaluations.

The dynamic relationship between rebuilding, reconstruction and renewal manifests itself very clearly in architecture, for example in the current disputes surrounding the Berlin City Palace and in political discourses, for example when an increasingly globalized world is contrasted with a construction of national identities perceived as renewal. However, the concepts themselves are of a more comprehensive nature and shape all areas of cultural activity, including language and literature. In general, reconstruction can be understood as a reaction to actions that have drastically changed or destroyed existing structures. Reconstruction must always deal with the remnants of earlier orders and position itself between the poles of reconstruction and renewal. For while reconstruction aims at the (illusionistic) repetition of the former state, renewal implies a distancing from old forms.

The chosen theme also ties in with the recent history of the city of Kassel, which illustrates destruction and reconstruction particularly emphatically.

At the heart of the Romance Studies Conference is the section work in a total of 24 sections. The section work is divided into literary studies (9 sections), linguistics (8 sections), didactics (3 sections) and cultural studies (4 sections). As at previous Romance Studies Days, the general theme was not an obligation for the section work. It was formulated as a recommendation, which most of the section proposals followed. The program, which you will find on these pages, documents the originality with which the general theme was interpreted and further developed. The sections selected by the program advisory boards comprehensively represent current Romance studies research in terms of their topics and academic paradigms and promise inspiring lectures and discussions.

Detailed program:http://romanistentag.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/Zeitplan6.pdf

Registration at:http://romanistentag.de/anmeldung/

More information: http://romanistentag.de/