Perspectives on Malagasy heritage as transmission and regeneration of a living patrimony
Regards croisés sur le patrimoine malgache, transmission et régénération d’un héritage vivant
Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Abstract
Reflections on this theme have arisen from encounters relating to the film Songs for Madagascar, completed in 2016. Given the rich significance of the question of heritage, the main issues are how to keep alive and even continue to shape and transmit this legacy with its roots in the past and the present. Heritage requires continuous regeneration so that future generations can built on it and adapt it to the present without losing its identity
Announcement
Date and location
International Colloquium, Friday 24 February and Saturday 25 February 2017 at the University of La Réunion
Argument
The DIRE Institute of the University of La Réunion and the Maison des Langues of University of La Réunion wish to announce an International Colloquium, " Perspectives on Malagasy heritage as transmission and regeneration of a living patrimony". Reflections on this theme have arisen from encounters relating to the film Songs for Madagascar, completed in 2016. The film is a continuation of the cultural and musical themes already explored by producer and director team Marie Clémence and César Paes in their previous films including amongst others Mahaleo, Angano Angano and L'Opéra du bout du monde. It focuses on a group of leading Malagasy musicians, the Madagascar All Stars, who are united in their aim to transmit, protect and valorise the patrimony of Madagascar, its cultural heritage and the natural heritage of the Indian Ocean islands. The group is a coming together of six celebrated singer songwriters: Dama Mahaleo, Justin Vali, Régis Gizavo, Erick Manana, Eusèbe Jaojoby, and Olombelo Ricky. The Colloquium will take place on the 24th and 25th of February and, in collaboration with En QuêteProd., will be preceded on the 23rd February by the first screening on La Reunion of the film Songs for Madagascar. It will also be accompanied by a series of concerts by the Madagascar All Stars in partnership with la compagnie Acte III and the theatre Les Bambous. A first part of our reflections will focus on Malagasy cultural heritage and highlight the synergies that enabled the co-production of Songs for Madagascar, between Professor Ulrike Hanna Meinhof and her research centre for Transnational Studies at the University of Southampton, Laterit Productions, and the engaged activism of the artists of the group Madagascar All Stars.
A good framework for identifying what constitutes our cultural and natural, tangible and intangible heritage is provided by the UNESCO declarations on heritage. Their valorisation promotes both cultural diversity and sustainable development. It also underlines the profound interdependence between material and immaterial, between cultural and natural heritage. Both shape identities and determine ways of being in the world, to engage in an original form with questions of identity, and social and environmental concerns. UNESCO’S concept of heritage encompasses both traditional cultural objects such as monuments, sites, works of art and various intangible cultural contributions that in a pluralistic way construct the identities of a group whilst also preserving universal features open to others. Such intangible heritage comprises a variety of cultural expressions such as usages and customs associated with traditional festivals, regional languages, popular oral beliefs for which Vako drazana, hira gasy or maloya offer examples. It also connects with the natural environment and characteristic natural phenomena and unique landscapes, such as a special fauna and flora, the Tsingy of Bemaraha, the Cirques of La Reunion. Another very interesting aspect concerns including as cultural heritage important historical and cultural figures who emblematize the identities and history of a people. Given the rich significance of the question of heritage, the main issues are how to keep alive and even continue to shape and transmit this legacy with its roots in the past and the present. Heritage requires continuous regeneration so that future generations can built on it and adapt it to the present without losing its identity. In a globalized, interdependent world, how can this local and rich anchor of the past meet the challenges of tomorrow?
Our reflections on the theme Perspectives on Malagasy heritage as transmission and regeneration of a living patrimony can be developed along the following diverse dynamic axes as well as cross-cutting topics:
Axis 1: Exploration of heritage and its challenges
- The arts in the service of the preservation of cultural, environmental and identity heritage
- The impact of music on social and environmental questions
- Language as a carrier of intangible heritage
Axis 2: Identity heritage through the eyes of the Other
- Transnational exchanges as hybrid, mixed and vibrant intercultural interactions
- Circulation and (re-) appropriation of the heritage of the “Other’
Axis 3: Innovative means for circulating and regenerating cultural heritage
- Re-creating, re-writing, re-covering, re-cycling traditional heritage material (e.g. through literature, cinema, and other genres)
- Fictionalising major figures in history, literature, culture
- Contemporary appropriations of heritage material
- Unpublished research experiments, innovative transdisciplinary collaborations that highlight heritage
Procedures
Proposals for papers, maximum 15 lines, accompanied by a brief bio-bibliographic notice, should reach the organizers
before January 25th 2017,
at the following address: noro.rakotobe-dalberto@univ-reunion.fr
- Notification will be sent out before 01 February 2017
- Accommodation and travel expenses are the responsibility of the researcher.
Scientific Committee
- Ulrike Hanna MEINHOF (Professor, Centre for Transnational Studies, Department of Modern Languages, University of Southampton)
- Yu-Sion LIVE, (MCF, Dire, Université de La Réunion)
- Noro RAKOTOBE D’ALBERTO (PhD, Agrégée de Lettres Modernes, DIRE, Maison des Langues, Université de la Réunion)
Subjects
- Representation (Main category)
- Mind and language > Language > Literature
- Mind and language > Representation > Heritage
- Periods > Early modern
- Periods > Modern
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural identities
- Society > Geography > Geography: society and territory
- Society > Geography > Nature, landscape and environment
Places
- Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines - Université de la Réunion
Saint-Denis, Réunion (97490)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Keywords
- Madagascar, patrimoine, culture, littérature, société, musique, cinema
Contact(s)
- Noro Rakotobe D'Alberto
courriel : noro [dot] rakotobe-dalberto [at] univ-reunion [dot] fr - Ulrike Hannah Meinhof
courriel : U [dot] H [dot] Meinhof [at] soton [dot] ac [dot] uk
Information source
- Noro Rakotobe D'Alberto
courriel : noro [dot] rakotobe-dalberto [at] univ-reunion [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Perspectives on Malagasy heritage as transmission and regeneration of a living patrimony », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2017, https://doi.org/10.58079/wl6