International conference 'Barbarism Revisited', 30 May-1 June 2012

On 30 May-1 June 2012 the international conference 'Barbarism Revisited. New Perspectives on an Old Concept' will take place in Leiden.

• The conference
• Keynote speakers
• Program Wednesday 30 May 2012 (Preliminary)
• Program Thursday 31 May 2012
• Program Friday 1 June 2012 (Preliminary)
• Barbarism
• More information

The conference

Organizing Institutions: Leiden University (Netherlands) & The University of Bonn (Germany)

• Location: Leiden

• Date: May 30 - June 1, 2012

• Organizers: Prof. dr. Christian Moser (Bonn) & Dr. Maria Boletsi (Leiden)

 

Keynote speakers

• Professor François Hartog (EHESS, Paris)

• Professor Terry Eagleton (Lancaster University)

• Professor Nathalie Melas (Cornell University)

Program Wednesday 30 May 2012 (Preliminary)

• 12:00-13:00     Registration and coffee/tea

• 13:00-13:30     Welcoming words by conference organizers

• 13:30-15:00     Keynote lecture by Prof. François Hartog   
                         Location: “ Klein auditorium,” Academy Building

• 15:30-18:00     Parallel Panels: Barbarism historically: the concept’s
                         genealogy
  
                        Panel I: Conceptual and cultural histories of barbarism; 
                        Location: Lipsius 147
  
                        Panel II: Barbarian configurations in classic and medieval settings 
                        Location: Vrieshof 4/008A

• 19:00              Dinner for participants 
                        Location: Scheltema Complex, Marktsteeg 1, Leiden

PANEL DIVISION

Program Thursday 31 May 2012

• 09:00-11:00     Parallel Panels: Aesthetics and Enlightenment 
  
                        Panel I: The aesthetics and ethics of the barbarian  
                        Location: Lipsius 148
  
                        Panel II: Barbarian (de)constructions of state and religion   
                        Location: Vrieshof 4/008A

• 11:00-11:30     Coffee/tea

• 11:30-13:00     Keynote lecture by Prof. Natalie Melas  
                         Location: Klein auditorium, Academy Building

• 13:00-14:00     Lunch

• 14:00-15:30     Parallel Panels: Barbarians across cultures
  
                         Panel I: Barbarian constructions in literary narratives   
                         Location: Lipsius 148
  
                         Panel II: Barbarian constructions in Asia   
                         Location: Vrieshof 4/008A

• 16:30-18:00     Keynote lecture by Prof. Terry Eagleton   
                         Location: “ Groot auditorium,” Aacademy Building

• 12:00- 22:00    “Kultuur? Barbaar” (whole-day art event at Scheltema Complex)

• 20:00-22:00     Drinks for participants at Scheltema Complex

   

PANEL DIVISION

Program Friday 1 June 2012 (Preliminary)

• 10:00-12:00     Parallel Panels: Barbarian methodologies and modes 
                         of theorizing
  
                         Panel I: Barbarism in Walter Benjamin’s thought 
                         Location: Lipsius 148
  
                         Panel II: Barbarism and/in modernity   
                         Location: Vrieshof 4/008A

• 12:00-13:00     Lunch

• 13:00-15:00     Parallel Panels: Barbarism today - from critique to
                         creativity?
  
                         Panel I: Barbarism in contemporary rhetoric 
                         Location: Lipsius 148
  
                         Panel II: Barbarian interventions in art, sociology, and literature  
                         Location: Vrieshof 4/008A
  
  
  PANEL DIVISION

Barbarism

The notion of “barbarism” and the figure of the “barbarian” have captivated the Western imagination and been a constant part of our vocabulary since Greek antiquity. In the age-old opposition between civilized and barbarian, the “barbarian” supports the superiority of those who assume the status of the “civilized.” “Barbarism” reinforces the discourse of “civilization” by functioning as its negative offshoot and antipode. Today, both terms figure prominently in political rhetoric, the media, historiography, and everyday speech, and their use carries an air of self-evidence: there appears to be a silent consensus on what barbarism means or who a barbarian is. However, while the persistence of the civilization/ barbarism opposition in Western history indicates the power and violence of this binary mode of thinking, the “barbarian” also carries different stories.

In history, there have been many reversals of the hierarchy between civilized and barbarian, as well as instances of critique and renegotiation of the concept of barbarism. From the Cynic philosophers of the Hellenistic era to Enlightenment thinkers, the “civilized” have often been projected as more corrupt and barbaric than those others, on which the label “barbarian” is conferred. In eighteenth century evolutionary models, “barbarism” does not only mark the “natural Other” of culture or civilization, but is also employed as a third term that both mediates and imperils the transition between nature and culture. Barbarism often functions as an ambiguous term that irritates clear-cut conceptions of time (cultural evolution) and of space (geopolitics). Furthermore, attempts to recast the “barbarian” in positive terms, as a force of invigoration and renewal of a decaying civilization, can be found in the writings of philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, as well as in the works of Dadaists and surrealists. Finally, contemporary critical theorists (e.g. Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) have reconceptualized barbarism as a discursive challenge to predominant modes of exercising political power.
 
In this conference, we wish to bring together a wide range of perspectives on barbarism and the figure of the barbarian, in order to reclaim the complexity and versatility of these notions, revisit their genealogy, chart their diverse meanings and uses in history and in the present, and tease out their critical thrust. The scope of this conference is simultaneously broad and very specific: we wish to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogues on the “barbarian,” while putting the emphasis on the specificity of this category, as it intersects, overlaps, or clashes with other categories of otherness. By zooming in on the barbarian, we wish to follow its travels across historical periods, cultural contexts, discourses, genres, media, and disciplinary fields; follow the cultural and political implications of its various uses and abuses; place “barbarism” or the “barbarian” in unfamiliar discursive constellations; interrogate the binary opposition in which these concepts are implicated; and discuss new meanings and creative or dangerous uses of the “barbarian” today.

In this spirit, we invite scholars to submit proposals for papers, in which they lay out their research and ideas on barbarism and barbarians. The conference will provide a platform for comparative encounters, which will probe barbarism and the barbarian from diverse angles. Among the questions this conference wishes to address are the following:
What insights can we gain by retracing the uses of barbarism in history? What could be the implications of revisiting barbarism and its genealogy for our contemporary cultural and social realities? What strategies can we develop to counter the violent effects of this category? Can the concept contribute to, and critically intervene in, current debates on globalization, postnationalism, multiculturalism, post-sovereignty, and communication models?

How do subjects that are labeled as “barbarians” “hijack” the trope of the barbarian from dominant discourses and use it in their own subversive and critical projects? How can we listen to the “noise” of “barbarian” others, allowing it to take effect in our own languages? On which conditions can exchanges with “barbarian” others take place?

How does the figure of the barbarian operate in literature, art, and popular culture? How does it function in language but also in other media? Can barbarism intervene in our discursive frameworks and inspire new modes of knowing and theorizing, as well as alternative (inter)disciplinary practices and methodologies that can help us rethink our roles as scholars?

More information

For questions or further information about the conference, please contact the conference organizers, Prof. dr. Christian Moser and Dr. Maria Boletsi, to the following address: barbarism.revisited@gmail.com