Las IX Jornadas Filológicas son organizadas por tres universidades establecidas en la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia. Se trata del principal evento de estudios clásicos en nuestro país, el cual, sin embargo, ha contado siempre con invitados internacionales reconocidos por su contribución al desarrollo de este campo disciplinar. Esta novena edición de las Jornadas estará dedicada al tema de la migración y la ciudadanía en el mundo antiguo y tendrá como propósito último establecer paralelos fructíferos y formular propuestas aplicables a las problemáticas actuales suscitadas a partir de los flujos migratorios y las políticas que toman los Estados para enfrentarlos.  

Argument

Migration is a basic human right, as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13). However, many governments have enacted restrictive measures in the face of mass migrations around the world. These measures, whose purpose is to protect the rights of citizens and the stability of countries ideally, are in many cases controversial, for they tend to underestimate the phenomenon and ignore the rights of migrants. It should also be borne in mind that those individuals who are persecuted on account of religious, racial, political, or any other grounds, as well as those living in extreme poverty, have the right to freedom of movement in search of a place to live with dignity, according to the aforementioned statement (Art. 14).

As Colombian citizens, we have found ourselves in both positions. Because of violence or economic reasons, since the Colonia era we have emigrated to other countries and we have been internally displaced in our own country. Currently, Colombia is the second country in the world with the largest number of refugees because of the Venezuelan migration crisis. Our territory has been uninhabited and forcibly inhabited due to factors beyond the control of most of its inhabitants. Thus, inhabitant andcitizen cease to be synonyms and, frequently, permanent residence in a territory is no longer a sufficient condition to be recognized as citizen. Several questions arise from these circumstances: What are the factors that explain and / or justify migration? What are the criteria upon which citizenship should be built?

Similarly, in the ancient world, the Greek and Roman peoples faced the issue of migration (ἀποικία/migratio), as well as tensions triggered by population displacements. These things lead to a constant recasting of the concept of citizenship. For the Greeks, colonization was a source of economic growth, of geographical and demographical expansion, but also an “exhaust valve” in crisis situations. For the Romans, incorporating new citizens was a core strategy of dominance, a mechanism to increase the number of taxpayers, and a fundamental instrument of cultural enrichment. Never as in the Roman world was the influence of the migrant or the colonized so nurturing and accepted: cultural heritages and diverse historical experiences modified the social fabric of the Empire in a complex process of reciprocal influence and mutual adaptation. Nevertheless, the tensions triggered by the displacement of the Germanic peoples during the early centuries of the Christian era must be counted among the key factors that hastened the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In this framework, it is also worth asking: What were the causes, the dynamics and the benefits of migration in the ancient world? What were its advantages and disadvantages? How did it change the socioeconomic, symbolic, and cultural scenarios? What was the influence of such a process on the construction of new identities?How was each new identity preserved or transformed? How were resulting tensions heightened or resolved? How did each state respond to such challenges? How was the notion of citizenship constructed and transformed as a result of having contact with the other, the foreigner, and the newcomer?

In view of the parallels between today's world and that of millennia ago, we believe that addressing the issue from the perspective of the classical authors can contribute to clarify what citizenship means, to define in general terms what it means to migrate, to propose strategies to overcome the tensions involved in hosting the immigrant, etc. Finally, it is an invitation to mull over the conditions that can lead to a more equal world for all individuals regardless of their origins and without overlooking their diversity.

As in previous versions of the Philological Colloquium, a well-deserved homage will be paid to a Colombian scholar whose merits and achievements in the fostering and study of the ancient world deserve to be recognized. Such is the case of Jairo Iván Escobar, who graduated from the National University of Colombia and received his Ph.D. at the University of Wuppertal. He devoted his life to ancient philosophy, specifically to the study of Plato. As a tenured professor of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Antioquia and a as founding member of the Latin American Association of Ancient Philosophy, he made lasting contributions to the field of Platonic studies and to building a renowned philosophical community in and out of Colombia. After leaving behind a worthy scientific legacy, including a good number of publications related to Platonism and other fields of philosophy such as critical theory, he died prematurely in November 2017.

Professors and students interested in Classical Studies are invited to submit presentation proposals about migration and its impact on the notion of citizenship on the Greek and Latin cultural universe. Topics addressing the main issue could include the following, among others:

• Migration and reasons to migrate in the ancient world.• Historical, economic, socio-political, and cultural consequences of

migration.

• Criteria for 'citizenship' in Antiquity.

• Mythological, literary, and artistic images of uprooting and exile.

• Borders in a world before or after the constitution of a nation.

• The challenges of integrating the migrant into his or her new place of habitation.

Special guests will include Dr. Christophe Rico (Polis Institute, Jerusalem) and Dr. Juan Signes Codoñer (University of Valladolid). Other guests will be announced in upcoming announcements.

Thematic panels

Thematic panels should consist of presentations about one central issue, a research problem, or a particular author. These panels should be composed of 3 to 5 people; they should have a maximum length of 2 hours, including discussion with the public. The panels will have a coordinator who will give a brief presentation of the proposed ideas (maximum 100 words) and an abstract of the papers (between 150 and 300 words). This is an ideal space for presenting the work of research groups or research initiatives.

Presentations

Those interested in participating with a presentation that is not included in a thematic panel should send an abstract not exceeding 300 words. Its length will be 20 minutes followed by a 10-minute discussion.

Requirements

The issues, of both the panels and the presentations, should be related to the ancient Greek and Roman cultures (classical philology, linguistics, literature, history, philosophy, classical tradition, rhetoric, law, etc.).

All papers or thematic panels should include the full name of the author(s) and institutional affiliation, if any.

Proposals for thematic panels and communications can be submitted in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French or English.

The deadline for submission is April 15, 2019.

Proposals should be sent via the following form:

Thematic panels

goo.gl/forms/CKqIBFLcHIXUBqVl1

Presentations

goo.gl/forms/i9zOZFSHonSk4x4c2

Scientific Committee

• Dr. José Molina Ayala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• Dra. Gemma Bernardó Ferrer, Universidad de los Andes
• Dr. Vicente Cristóbal, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• Dr. Martin Dinter , King's College London
• Dr. Ronald Forero Álvarez, Universidad de La Sabana
• Dra. Viviana Gastaldi, Universidad Nacional del Sur
• Dr. Juan Felipe González Calderón, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Dr. David Konstan,Brown University-New York University