Tales of Transit:
Narrative Migrant Spaces in Transatlantic Perspective, 1830-1954
International Conference Felix Archive
Antwerp, Belgium 10-13 June, 2010
Keynote speakers:
Adam Walaszek (Jagiellonian University Krakow)
Matthew Frye Jacobson (Yale University)
Nancy K. Miller (City University of New York)
Werner Sollors (Harvard University) TBC
Organizing Institutions
University College Ghent – Faculty of Translation Studies
Ghent University Association Research Group on Literature in Translation
Institute of Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp
Leuven Research Group on Literary Relations and Postnational Identities
Lessius University College Department of Applied Language Studies
Roosevelt Study Center, Middelburg
Red Star Line Museum, Antwerp
Call for papers
The period between 1830 and 1940 witnessed the most dramatic population movement in recorded history. Motivated by economic, religious and political upheavals, millions of migrants left their familiar homes in search of a better life, whereby the Atlantic functioned as one of the central thoroughfares. Many of these travelers left testimonies of their journeys, whether in written or oral form. Traditionally such narratives have been approached within the framework of either the source or the receiving societies, and consequently most research energy has been invested in the ways migrants managed or failed to adapt to new conditions, how they reconciled the often conflicting impressions of the new culture with the one they were born into. Studies of this kind often start from a preset agenda regarding the nature or development of a specific culture. In reaction to such restricted national or subnational perspectives, recent approaches in migration research and literary and cultural studies address no longer just the starting or end points of migration movements but also the diverse trajectories before and after the journey, as well as the role of corporations and agencies involved in oceanic travel. The aim of Tales of Transit is to bring together these new insights and methodologies and confront them with the rich but underexplored archive of transatlantic migrant narratives.
Transit places – docks, hotels, railway coaches, inspection offices, dormitories, churches, ship’s decks, etc. – normally figure only marginally in migrant narratives. They are mentioned in passing, as a prelude or even in counterpoint to the new life that waits after the
journey. Precisely because of this, these peripatetic places (both in a literal and a figurative sense) can help us to challenge received notions about migration as a form of one-way traffic whereby supposedly nothing is lost or gained along the way, and to reconceptualize it as a multicausal process. In view of the opening of the Red Star Line/People on the Move museum in Antwerp, Tales of Transit takes the city as its starting point to rethink transatlantic migration. We encourage contributions offering comparative perspectives on migrants traveling through well-known as well as lesser known ports in Europe, Africa and the Americas. The focus may be broadened to include mainland cities functioning as nodal points for migration flows or border crossing points on the frontier between states or regions. Overall, the stress lies on how such liminal spaces are narrated or visualized: How vital are these sites or loci for the narrative? Do they affirm or rather subvert the migrants’ aspirations and hopes? Does the perspective shift in accordance with the medium or audience expectations and, if so, in what ways?
Within the framework sketched out above, we have selected a number of subtopics, one or more of which can form the basis of paper or panel proposals:
Language and Translation
Whether transmitted through writing or not, migrant narratives are inevitably subject to, or involved in translation. To convey his or her story, the migrant has to choose a language: either that of the home culture or that of the adoptive country, or else, something in between. How do such translation processes contribute to the construction of an “authentic” account? What if there are several mother or father tongues to choose from? Does that mean there is more than one “original” narrative? Or could it be there is none (as with fake translations)? How common are self-translations and how are they different from or similar to other translations? What, finally, is the status of retranslations?
Migration as Business
Migration is never a matter of individual stories of tragedy or success alone, but also constitutes a flourishing business. Comparative research on the competition between ocean lines and intermediary agencies for the recruitment of migrants is still in its infancy. In what ways did such corporations play a role in preselecting the trajectories of migrants? Did the agents of these companies differentiate along ethnic, religious and/or linguistic lines? What was the impact of steamship lobbies on national and international immigration legislation? How important were aid organizations and charities? Do touristic routes overlap with migration routes, and, if so, in what ways do these economies obstruct or facilitate each other?
Iconography of Migration
Passing migrants do not often leave a lasting imprint on the cultural life of a nation or community, yet traces survive in most transit places. The advertisements by which companies used to lure migrants constitute a visual culture in its own right, the stereotypes and
counterstereotypes circulating in the local press another. Paradoxically, even while serving as instruments of transnational displacement, ocean lines at the same time constitute emblems of national pride. How do (sub-)national literatures of the period 1830-1940 represent migrants? What role do museums and monuments play in the construction or subversion of stock images about migrants in transit places? To what extent do for instance cartoons and other more or less popular art forms serve to set off “good” from “bad” or “new” from “old” migrants?
Archiving Testimonies
Migrant narratives are almost by definition difficult to locate in library collections. An important heuristic question is how we can gain access to the migrant narratives that are dispersed all over the globe. This also involves broader issues of visibility and belonging. Should
there be a kind of Schengen Convention or Free Trade Agreement for migrant testimonies? Should collections cut across ethnic, national, linguistic and other faultlines, or should they preserve them? Institutionalizing the migrant heritage may always appear paradoxical,
as such initiatives tend to pin down what is not directly localizable. Given that successful migrant groups tend to dissolve themselves, what would be a viable policy toward the preservation and memorialization of migrant narratives?
Paper proposals in English of no more 300 words can be submitted to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by November 15, 2009. The academic committee will evaluate the abstracts and send out notifications of acceptance by the end of November. Each participant will be given 20 minutes to present, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. A selection of papers will be published in the conference proceedings.
http://webs.hogent.be/talesoftransit/
Call for Papers: Panel on “Retelling: Narrative in Translation”
ACLA New Orleans April 2010
Call for Papers: Panel on “Retelling: Narrative in Translation”
American Comparative Literature Association Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana, April 1-4
Seminar Organizers: Brian O’Keeffe, Barnard College, Columbia University
Leah Leone, University of Iowa
Literary studies has not had great difficulty in agreeing that literary translations can be counted as independent texts, newly original creations of an original text, however ostensibly “derivative” a translation may be. Yet translated fiction continues to be read, analyzed and taught as if its narratives were identical to those of their sources. Translations are said to re-interpreted, retold by a new narrator, yet there has been relatively little study of the ways in which narratives shift in translation. This seminar accordingly seeks to provide a forum for discussing the possible intersections of narrative studies and translation. For narrative studies, therefore, we envisage opening up a new avenue in comparative studies — the comparison of the narrative as it is transformed across multiple translations. For translation studies, we hope to go beyond the study of grammatical and prescriptive issues and invite considerations of narrative form — what happens to emplotment, characterization, teleology.
In the spirit of a conference devoted to the practice of comparative literature, we welcome “comparison” in all of its forms, for this includes questions of how different cultural attitudes to narrative itself affect translations of fiction. It is moreover a matter of how the multiple inheritances of North-American narratology might address the question differently, in comparison, say, to German response-theory, or French structuralism. We invite papers that deal with any aspect of narrative in translation, and hope to promote dialogue that furthers theoretical and methodological approaches to its study. Papers should be 15 to 20 minutes in length to allow for discussion.
Please submit an abstract of 250 words to www.acla.org
Official Deadline is November 1, 2009
Hosted by the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT, Futures of Entertainment brings together scholars and key thinkers from television, advertising, marketing, and entertainment industries to discuss the unfolding future of the entertainment landscape.
Held at MIT, the event takes place over Friday and Saturday, November 20 & 21, 2009 in Cambridge, MA.
This year’s conference will feature an entire day dedicated to interrogating some of the issues around the creative and business practices behind transmedia projects. Looking at the evolving business challenges of creating narratives, programs and campaigns that stretch across multiple platforms, Futures of Entertainment 4 will engage with questions around managing, producing, financing and positioning transmedia efforts, and how to identify the value created from transmedia projects. The event will look at some of the creative challenges that emerge from managing every larger franchises and which come from developing content for multiple mediums. Finally, day one of the conference will ask some serious questions about the future sustainability — both from a creative and a business perspective — of transmedia events.
The second day of the event will feature panels on topics including contemporary media business models, aligning new audiences with contemporary research practice and the blurring of distinctions between communication mediums.
For more information: http://futuresofentertainment.org/
November 16-17. 2009
MIGS serves members of the video and electronic gaming industries. Geared to industry needs, the MIGS aims to be the annual event for game development specialists from all over the world. More than 1500 members of the game industry are expected for this Sixth Edition.
Leading-edge presentations MIGS presents specialized conferences hosted by world-renowned experts in programming, visual arts, game design, audio design, production and business, and Serious Games.
The summit is a specialized event offering an environment conducive to learning, networking and discussion.
Program:
- Some 80 courses, seminars, conferences and workshops over a two-day period Big names from the local and international scenes
- Numerous additional activities including a VIP gala, cocktail parties, specialized meetings and more
- Some 30 firms presenting their wares
- A separate Business Lounge
For more information: http://sijm.ca/2009/?language=en
CALL FOR PAPERS
Dear colleagues,
According to the Minutes of the Belief Narratives Network (BNN) meeting during the 15th ISFNR Congress in Athens, June 25, 2009, the next conference of the BNN is to be organized in St. Petersburg (Russia) on May, 17th-19th, 2010. The conference will be hosted by the Institute of Russian Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences. The working languages of the conference will be English and Russian.
The potential subject areas of the conference could be as follows:
* Classifying Beliefs: ordering and indexing of beliefs and narratives in various cultural contexts;
* Concepts of Belief : in which the boundaries of the categories “belief” and “narratives” would be discussed;
* Systems of Belief : internal coherence, or lack of it;
* Figures of Belief : from angels to zombies;
* Histories of Belief: do narratives change over time?
* Mediating Beliefs: how belief narratives depend on media and communication?
* Practice and Representation of Belief: how belief narratives are related to politics, ideology and society?
* Conflicts of Belief : about disagreements and competing narratives;
* Belief and Disbelief: “disbelief narratives” and their relation to beliefs in various social and cultural contexts.
Presentations of ongoing or planned projects, other research networks, new literature on belief narrative research would be also welcome.
We cordially invite both members of the BNN and all other scholars interested in belief narrative research to take part in the conference.
The deadline for submitting proposals and abstracts is November 1, 2009.
Abstracts should not exceed 500 words.
Please send your abstracts and proposals to the following e-mail address: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Hope to see you in St. Petersburg!
Alexander Panchenko
Institute of Russian Literature,
Russian Academy of Sciences
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
• Applied Narrative
• Art, Culture, Design
• Conferences & Festivals
• Opportunities
• Questions
View the Archive