Walter Benjamin International Conference 2016
- Títol:
- Walter Benjamin International Conference 2016
- Quan:
- Div, 30. Setembre 2016 - Diu, 2. Octubre 2016
- Categoria:
- Altres Activitats Històric EN
Descripció
Walter Benjamin International Conference 2016
Civil wars in contemporary times
Girona - Portbou, from September 30 to October 2, 2016
Organized by:
Walter Benjamin Chair, memory and exile (University of Girona, UdG)
Exile Memorial Museum (MUME) - La Jonquera
Walter Benjamin International Conference, 2016
"Civil wars in the contemporary age"
Walter Benjamin's thoughts and varied transverse interests highlight his reflections on violence and his criticism of any speech exalting warlike experience. The disasters caused by the Great War and the subsequent brutalization of the political arena created extremely serious civil confrontation situations throughout Europe. The Berliner philosopher's generation was immersed in a turbulent Europe affected by the crisis of liberalism, the rise of Stalinist-style Soviet communism, the rise of fascism and the outbreak of civil strife, the paradigm of which was the War Spanish civil. In the year that marks the 80th anniversary of that conflict still alive in the memory of our country, it seems essential, following the wake of Walter Benjamin, to pay attention to the concept of Civil War as a historical category . In this sense, it is necessary to address this concept in all its complexity and ambiguity or, assuming that it is the same, to assume that these warlike processes do not allow dual reductionist gaze.
So, in this international colloquium that has the source of inspiration in Walter Benjamin's critical sharpness, on the one hand, a historical and cultural tour of the various junctions that they have fostered and which are causing the proliferation of civil conflicts; on the other hand, bearing in mind the heavy memorialistic burden of the civil conflagration of 1936, special consideration will be devoted to this historic event during the course of the colloquium. Likewise, in a necessary exercise in presentism, the causes and consequences of current civil conflicts - the "new wars in the global age" as expressed by political scientist Mary Kaldor - will be addressed in many parts of the world and at the same time, they will take into account issues such as the transmission and visual representation of such violence. One aspect, without a doubt, has a very significant influence on the configurations of public opinion. Another undeniable theme of the discussion is the pursuit of peace. The seriousness of these war events, in which the civilian population is the main victim, forces the discussion to also discuss the importance of developing and rooting peace policies and conflict resolution.
Program
Degree Room, Faculty of Arts, University of Girona
Ferrater Square Mora 1, Girona
9:30 pm: Institutional parliaments and presentation
10:00 p.m. Conference: The Defeated: Europe and the Aftermath of the Great War, 1917-23, Robert Gerwarth, Center for War Studies, University College Dublin
11:00 am: Conference Public memories of the wars in Europe today, Jordi Guixé, European Observatory on Memories ‐ UB
12: 00h: Coffee break
12:30 pm: Presentation of the book Walter Benjamin. The limits of democracy (Galaxia Gutenberg, 2016) by Lluís Montull. Conversation between the author and Maximiliano Fuentes, director of the Walter Benjamin Chair, Memory and Exile
1.30pm: Lunch
3.30pm: Portbou Conference 1937: The Political and Literary Epiphanies of W. H. Auden, George Orwell and Stephen Spender, Miquel Berga, Pompeu Fabra University
4.30pm: Lecture The Image in Contemporary War. Concerning the photographs of Guillermo Cervera and David Ramos, Plácido Garcia ‐ Planas, director of the Democratic Memorial - Generalitat de Catalunya
17: 30h Coffee break
18: 00h Round table From the home sofa. Visual representation and reception of the horror of others, Imma Merino, University of Girona, Nicolás Sánchez Durá, University of Valencia, and Xavier Antich, University of Girona. Moderated by: Lluïsa Faxedas
7.30pm: End of the first day
Saturday, October 1st
Ca l'Herrero Civic Center, Portbou
Méndez Núñez Street, 2
10: 00h: Conference Current armed civil conflicts and new forms of direct violence: how to leave Walter Benjamin to manage and build peace, Rafael Grasa, Autonomous University of Barcelona and former President of the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP)
11:30 am: Round table Civil wars and forced population movements. The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean and the European Union, Rafael Grasa, Autonomous University of Barcelona and ICIP, Blanca Garcés ‐ Mascareñas, Pompeu Fabra University and Center for International Studies and Documentation in Barcelona (CIDOB), Ricard Garcia Vilanova, photojournalist. Moderated by: Plácido Garcia ‐ Planas, Director of the Democratic Memorial
1.30pm: Tribute to Walter Benjamin (Portbou Cemetery), with institutional interventions
14: 00h: Lunch
4.30pm: Intimate Foreigners Conference: Civil Wars and National Issues in Twentieth Century Europe, Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas, Ludwig Maximilians ‐ Universität - LMU, Munich
5.30pm: Round table Memory and history: the civil war in Catalonia and Spain, José Luis Martín Ramos, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Javier Rodrigo, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Sandra Souto, Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). Moderated by: Jordi Font, Memorial Museum of Exile
7.30pm Institutional closing
Sunday, October 2
8: 00h Walking route Banyuls-Portbou, with the artistic intervention: "They hid behind the trees", by Anna Dot.
A project framed within the cycle "The Voyage of the Arts" of the Center for Contemporary Creation Nau Côclea de Camallera.
Departure from Portbou. You must sign up for the Tourist Office of Portbou before October 1, 2016. Telephone (0034) 972125161. Bus price: 5 euros
Registration for the conferences before September 25 at: Aquesta adreça de correu-e està protegida dels robots de spam.Necessites Javascript habilitat per veure-la.
Download the program in PDF.
Organization:
WB and MUME Chair
In collaboration with:
Democratic Memorial, Institut Català per la PAU, EUROM
Supported by:
Girona Provincial Council, Girona City Council and the Alt Empordà County Council