HomeRepresenting the world: techniques, society, and beliefs
Representing the world: techniques, society, and beliefs
Représenter le monde : techniques, société et croyances
Published on Thursday, February 18, 2021
Summary
As part of the 2020-2021 edition of the inter-university doctoral Seminar Synoikismos, the committee is organising a thematic conference on May 4, 2021, at the “Université Catholique de Louvain”. This year’s theme is The representation of the world in Antiquity. On this occasion, we have the pleasure to invite PhD students and young researchers of Belgian or foreign universities whose research topic is related to this subject to present their project.
Announcement
Presentation
As part of the 2020-2021 edition of the inter-university doctoral Seminar Synoikismos, the committee is organising a thematic conference on May 4, 2021, at the “Université Catholique de Louvain”. This year’s theme is The representation of the world in Antiquity. On this occasion, we have the pleasure to invite PhD students and young researchers of Belgian or foreign universities whose research topic is related to this subject to present their project.
Main topics
The topic will be addressed from four perspectives:
- Imagination as an answer
Related to the theme of the artist in residence at the UCLouvain this year, we propose as the first perspective “the imagination as an answer”. Did the Ancients always tend to represent the world faithfully and realistically? If not, in which forms and for what reasons did they depict it figuratively? To what extent did the imagination play a role? This first perspective is also linked to the beliefs and their importance in Antiquity. How did they influence the representation of the world? This first theme also opens the debate on religion and the link between the religious beliefs, divinities, and representations of the world.
- Concrete and literary representations
The second perspective of this conference is the concrete and literary representations of the world by the Ancients. What are their techniques to represent the world they live in? Did their idea of the world have an impact on their techniques, their constructions, or their buildings for example? On the other way around, how their worldviews appear through their material culture? Besides, how did they express their environment and their way of life in and through their letters and literature? The letter is indeed a particularly rich example, since it can be seen as well as a literary and textual tradition, but also from the point of view of the material environment of the writing (alphabet, supports, etc.).
- Governance and society
The third perspective refers to the link between the concrete organisation of the society and the representation of the world. How did the Ancients' perception of the world, or their beliefs, influence the way they governed and organised the nation? Can the state, the city, or any other centre of power, at any given time, be considered as a “microcosm”, a mirror of the outside world? In this sense, did the ruler or man of power have to govern like nature governs the world, or differently? Did the Ancients make a conscious choice to govern the nation according to their vision of the world, and if so, how do they state this choice? These are just a few examples of how this third perspective could explore the notions of governance and society.
- The modern representation of the ancient world
The last perspective inherent to our fields of research is the representation of the ancient world over the centuries. How is Antiquity depicted by Moderns and how does their vision change over time? Is it set and similar for all disciplines? This last theme is therefore intended to be a place for debate and reflection on our current representation of the ancient world.
The questions and approaches are relatively vast, although undoubtedly connected by the common guiding thread of the world’s representation, and we remain open to all suggestions. Consequently, any PhD student who thinks his/her subject could be part of the programme, even if the question is not included above, should not hesitate to propose it, arguing the link with the present conference’s thematic.
Submission guidelines
PhD students (at any stage of theirs researches) who are interested in presenting their work are kindly invited to submit an abstract of the subject (250 words), and a short biography (150 words max.) to the Synoikismos Seminar (seminar.synoikismos@gmail.com)
for March 01, 2021,
at the latest. Each talk (in French or English) will last up to 30 minutes and will be followed by 15 minutes of discussion.
Organizing committee
- Doriane Moenaert (UCLouvain – INCAL) : moenaert.doriane@uclouvain.be
- Anthony Peeters (UCLouvain – INCAL) : anthony.peeters@uclouvain.be
Subjects
Places
- Salle du conseil FIAL - Collège Erasme - Place Blaise Pascal 1
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (1348)
Date(s)
- Monday, March 01, 2021
Attached files
Keywords
- antiquité, représentation, synoikismos, croyances, techniques, société, séminaire, littérature, imaginaire
Contact(s)
- Séminaire Synoikismos
courriel : seminar [dot] synoikismos [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Anthony Peeters
courriel : seminar [dot] synoikismos [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Representing the world: techniques, society, and beliefs », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, February 18, 2021, https://calenda.org/841206
