Mediating Otherness: Encounters across Time and Space is the subject of the online interdisciplinary online workshop organized by the Département des Langues, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne (France), and School of Classics, University College Dublin (Ireland). This event is made possible thanks to the generous funding from the Département des Langues, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.
Mediating Otherness: About
The period between the 16th and the 19th centuries has deeply shaped Western representations of Otherness through the work of artists, antiquarians, and travel writers. The repetitions, rewritings, quotations, and corrections of earlier works all contributed to the construction of a palimpsestic depiction of Otherness, whether spatial or temporal, real or imagined.
This workshop aims to investigate the strategies implemented by travel writers in this creative process, where intertextual references and rhetorical solutions were often reinforced by visual props such as maps and illustrations. These mediating devices, among others, could be used to make sense of radical Otherness or, on the contrary, to reinforce the alien character of the encounter. Furthermore, these methods of description allowed the authors to blur the lines between time and space, highlighting contrast or continuity between past and present. Otherness was therefore often discussed through the prism of apparently unrelated realms of knowledge – classical, literary, archaeological, or historical, among others.
The synthesis and selection of narratives and traditions made by writers will also be addressed, raising broader questions concerning both the role of travel books in constructing and disseminating knowledge and the audience these works were targeting. The didactic dimension of the travelogues will be considered alongside the various frameworks (scientific, religious, antiquarian) that shaped both the depiction and the interpretation of Otherness.
Programme
Thursday 15 April 2021 / Jeudi 15 avril 2021:
14.15–14.20 (Paris time) Welcome and opening remarks / Mots de bienvenue
14.20–14.30 Nolwenn Corriou (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne), Giacomo Savani (University College Dublin): Mediating Otherness: An Introduction / Représenter l’altérité : introduction
14.30–15.30 Session 1: Stereotyping Otherness / L’altérité stéréotypée (Chair: Anne-Florence Quaireau – Sorbonne Université)
14.30–14.50 Emilie Picherot (Université de Lille/ALITHILA)
Nicolas Clénard, Guillaume Postel et Pierre Belon du Mans : trois regards sur l’altérité musulmane dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle
14.50–15.10 Mathilde Mougin (Aix-Marseille Université):
Les stéréotypes nationaux à l’épreuve du voyage : étude des récits de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1676) et Robert Challe (1721)
15.30–15.45 Break
15.45–17.00 Session 2: European Otherness / L’altérité européenne (Chair: Nolwenn Corriou – Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne)
15.45–16.05 Violaine Gourbet (Université de Tours):
Des tableaux étrangers : peinture anglaise et peinture des Anglais dans les récits de voyage
allemands du XIXe siècle
16.05–16.25 Betsabea Bussi (Politecnico di Torino):
À travers les yeux étrangers et aristocratiques : L’Autre et l’Ailleurs de Nice dans les récits de voyage des premiers hivernants
Friday 16 April 2021 / Vendredi 16 avril 2021 :
9.55–10.00 (Paris time) Welcome back
10.00–11.00 Session 3: Antiquity and Otherness / Antiquité et altérité (Chair: Giacomo Savani – University College Dublin)
10.00–10.20 Carole Boidin (Université Paris Nanterre/LIPO):
Augustin et Apulée en Barbarie : deux guides de l’Afrique du Nord dans la première modernité
10.20–10.40 Tristan Mauffrey (Université Paris 3 Sorbonne nouvelle):
Voir et donner à voir Troie avant Schliemann : la construction d’une altérité familière par les voyageurs du XIXe siècle
11.00–11.15 Break
11.15–12.15 Ladan Niayesh (Université de Paris)
Keynote address: Mediating Persians and Tatars through the Prism of Antiquity in Early Modern English Travel Compendia
12.15–14.00 Lunch Break
14.00–15.30 Session 4: Translating Otherness / Traduire l’altérité (Chair: Fiona Lejosne – Université Paris 3 Sorbonne nouvelle)
14.00–14.20 Tomás Espino (Université du Luxembourg / Santiago de Compostela)
La représentation de la langue chinoise dans les récits de voyage des missionnaires espagnols aux XVI e et XVIIe siècles
14.20–14.40 Antoine Eche (Mount Royal University)
La traduction de l’altérité, ou le discours de la colonialité
14.40–15.00 Alessio Mattana (Università degli Studi di Torino):
Bringing Otherness Back Home: Italian Travellers to Britain and the Discourse of Nation-Building, 1758–1812
15.30–15.45 Break
15.45–17.15 Session 5: Fantasising Otherness / L’altérité fantasmée (Jaine Chemmachery – Sorbonne Université)
15.45–16.05 Mathilde Bedel (Aix-Marseille Université):
Représentations de l’étrangeté indienne : une stratégie picturale pour une littérature viatique à sensations fortes au XVIIe siècle
16.05–16.25 Tessa Nunn (Duke University):
Dancing All Night: European Representations of African Dance
16.25–16.45 Amandine Martin (Université de Grenoble-Alpes)
La perception du paysage japonais dans les récits de voyage britanniques : la montagne comme repère romantique (1858-1910)
17.15–17.45 Closing Remarks
How to attend
The event will take place via Zoom and is free of charge, but registration is mandatory. You will receive further details after the registration.