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XX-LECIE WYDZIAŁU


Comparing e/migrations: Tradition – (Post)memory – Translingualism

 

Faculty of Languages
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (NCU)
Poland in cooperation with the Polish Comparative Literature Association
April 24-26, 2019, Toruń, Poland

 

The conference was held in Toruń, Poland to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Faculty of Languages at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.

Confirmed keynotes and invited speakers:

 

Conference Programme/Program konferencji

 

The current migrant crisis has recently become one of the most significant topics of political and public debate not only in Europe but, in different forms and on a different scale, all over the world. Border barriers (fences and walls) and sinking asylum seekers’ boats, human trafficking and smuggling are among the most visible signs of contemporary violence. There is no doubt that the refugee crisis has reached global proportions and represents one of the most serious challenges of late modernity. However, widely understood migration – its different forms and practices, causes and objectives – is as old as humankind.

The main topic of our interest at this conference was e/migrations as an object of comparative studies within different traditions, schools, and approaches, as well as migrations as a comparative and comparatists’ experience. We sought the answer to the following questions: What is the relevance of earlier theoretical concepts and approaches, such as postcolonialism and decoloniality, roots and routes, diasporic, cosmopolitan and transnational identities in the 21st century? How does migration change our thinking about home, belonging, language and self in an age of globalization but also defensive fundamentalism and conservative backlash? What is the effect of analysing migratory itineraries in a comparative framework? How do migrations reconfigure our understanding of the legacies of violence?

We hope that the conference has opened up a discussion on new forms and new understandings of e/migrations and migrant experience; it will also enable us to face emerging questions about the place of migrants, immigrants, emigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced persons in the contemporary world and beyond. The delegates were interested in all topics and problems related to e/migration in the context of cultural production: literature, film, music, and all other forms of artistic production. They considered both linear narratives of migration and more experimental ways of representing migration traumas and crises.

We welcomed almost 40 scholars from different fields of the humanities and social sciences who shared their ideas on the following topics:

Social events included:

Organizing committee:

Galeria zdjęć:

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