International Conference « BORDERLINES and BORDERLANDS II »
organized by the Resarch Center « Espaces/Ecritures » - Université Paris
X -

June 22, 23 and 24, 2006
Université de Paris X
Salle des Conférences – Bât. B

 
                                         
                      BORDERLINES and BORDERLANDS II

The two notions of borderlines and borderlands may be associated with
the question of a "no man's land", this fluctuating space between two
ill-defined scenes whose frontiers/boundaries are often undecipherable.
Crossing a borderline often implies impending danger involving life and
death (physical or psychological). Yet borderlines and borderlands also
call forth encounters and exchanges (personal, cultural…) and not only
anguish.
The expression of the First Nations (Inuit, Native American, Maori, ...)
woven from the Earth and entwined in their particular myths of origin is
paradoxically confined everywhere to the margins of the mainstream
societies which have colonised their lands. Art and political claims
have recently broken the long silence imposed on these outcasts and
outsiders.
The ex-centricity of some works of art, of their making and their
creators bring us back to the question of the frame. One speaks of
frames, limits, boundaries, demarcation lines, but also of border zones,
borderline states, in-between spaces, and exchanges between different
milieus. New fabrics and territories are being discovered in the fields
of the humanities and biological sciences.
Borderlands and borderlines make us reflect about the un-known and the
Uncanny encountered in unknown territories, and also about the figure of
the other.
The go-between (be he a dragoman or a smuggler) is the emblematic figure
of this elusive geographic, cultural or symbolic space ; he opens the
way and traces the pathway (poetic or political). The 'smuggler of
memory' – a term coined by Jacques Hassoun – may help us build bridges
between the generations and the civilizations threatened by contemporary
barbary.

 The conference is organized by Dr Corinne Alexandre-Garner.

Please send abstracts before December 20, 2005 to
Elisa Mazza
elisa.mazza_at_u-paris10.fr

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Received on Fri Dec 09 2005 - 15:19:15 EST