Walter Benjamin International Conference 2016

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