Please join the Department of Languages and Literatures for a virtual presentation by

Dr. Julien Desrochers

on

L’expropriation en Acadie au XXe siècle : représentations littéraires et culturelles

Depuis une quarantaine d’années, plusieurs écrivains et artistes de l’Acadie se sont inspirés, dans leurs œuvres, d’épisodes d’expropriation qui ont marqué l’imaginaire collectif acadien de façon significative. L’expérience de dépossession territoriale subie par les expropriés du Parc national Kouchibouguac, au Nouveau-Brunswick, ou du Parc national des Hautes-Terres-du-Cap-Breton, en Nouvelle-Écosse, a été racontée au travers de poèmes, romans, pièces de théâtre et chansons qui explorent les thèmes de la perte, de la mémoire, de la nostalgie, mais aussi de la résistance et du combat.  Que nous disent ces textes à propos du passé, du présent et du futur de l’Acadie? De quelles manières réussissent-ils à s’inscrire dans un contexte historique beaucoup plus large que celui des expropriations? Par quelles poétiques d’écriture ces œuvres se caractérisent-elles? Ces questions seront explorées afin de mettre en lumière la richesse de ce corpus encore peu étudié.

Acadian Expropriations of the Twentieth Century: Literary and Cultural Representations

Over the past forty years, a significant number of Acadian writers and artists have depicted twentieth century instances of expropriation in their creative works. These stories tell of communities forcibly displaced by the construction of Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick, and Highlands National Park in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Through fiction, poetry, theatre, and song, these cultural productions explore themes of loss, memory, and nostalgia alongside struggle and resistance. What do such texts tell us about the past, present, and future of Acadia? How can we read these texts in light of their larger historical and societal contexts? What poetics characterize these representations? In this presentation, questions such as these will help shed light on a diverse and understudied corpus.

Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Time: 11:00 am

 

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Please join the Department of Languages and Literatures for a virtual presentation by

Dr. Philip Comeau

on

Représentations d’identité acadienne sur quatre siècles

La langue est souvent décrite comme partie intégrante de la culture d’un peuple. Ce lien est d’autant plus important pour les communautés minoritaires. À la suite d’un survol des communautés acadiennes, je présente quelques traits linguistiques du français acadien afin de démontrer comment certaines formes peuvent exprimer une valeur sociale. Ensuite, je présente l’analyse d’un trait, l’adverbe de négation point, à partir de données du 18e au 21e siècle. Bien que le marqueur de négation point ait été attesté dans plusieurs variétés nord-américaines d’un point de vue historique, on ne le retrouve aujourd’hui que dans le sud-ouest de la Nouvelle-Écosse. L’analyse présentée suggère que ce marqueur de négation a un nouveau rôle : exprimer son appartenance à l’identité acadienne.

Representations of Acadian identity across four centuries

Language is often characterized as an important component of culture. This relation is even more essential for communities in minority contexts. Following a brief overview of Acadian communities and Acadian French, I provide examples of how language, and specific language forms, can be used to express social meaning. I then follow the trajectory of one feature, negative adverb point, based on data ranging from the 18th to the 21st century. While negative point was historically attested in many North American varieties of French, today it is productively used only in Acadian communities in southwest Nova Scotia. The analysis presented here suggests a new social value for negative point: that to express a local Acadian identity.

Date: Friday, June 11, 2021

Time: 1:00 pm

The lecture will be in French

 

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Please join the Department of Languages and Literatures  for a virtual presentation by

Dr. Corina Crainic

on

« Des étrangers aux Amériques. Acadia and beyond : the search for a place to call home »

La première partie de cette communication est l’occasion d’explorer les déplacements forcés et volontaires dans deux romans d’Antonine Maillet. Il s’agit de Pélagie-la-Charrette et de Madame Perfecta, œuvres phares de la littérature acadienne, rendant chacune compte de destinées féminines  inusitées. Dans la première, une femme hors norme mène son peuple dispersé à partir de 1755 vers l’Acadie originelle, quitte à traverser des frontières de manière illicite. Dans la deuxième, c’est d’une rencontre singulière qu’il s’agit, de deux femmes ayant élu domicile à Montréal, à l’époque contemporaine. The second component of this presentation is concerned with the common grounds Acadian literature as represented by Maillet shares with other French literatures of the Americas or the « Francophonies américaines ». We will examine feelings of loss, a need to find home, and a particular relationship to language. Pélagie-la-Charrette is analyzed within a framework that establishes its specificity and sheds light on its place within the Americas. These two discussions show us how this important Acadian author helped create a sense of belonging, for characters who experienced the Deportation but also ones they meet and assist as they too struggle in the search for home.

Please also see attachment for further information

Date: Thursday, June 1, 2021

Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

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"Transnationalism, Gender, and Inequality in 19th-Century Adultery Novels”

by

Dr. John B. Lyon - University of Pittsburgh

In nineteenth-century adultery novels, interpersonal relationships reflect national and transnational concerns. Pursuing an extraneous relationship while married is analogous to establishing a transnational relationship. As such, adultery novels reflect the transnational aspirations of emerging nations during this era. Yet this analogy is not only aspirational, for transnationalism also depends on the darker side of adultery with its inherent gender inequalities and troubled power relationships.

The paper discusses two nineteenth-century adultery novels – Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest, to argue that the transnational European aspirations prefigured in these novels were inseparable from their darker counterparts.

Friday, March 6, 3:00 pm, BAC 132

All are welcome!

Refreshments will be provided

 

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"Coup de projecteur sur le mathématicien Robert Langlands."

Dr. Alfred Gérard Noël 

University of Massachusetts, Boston

Résumé :

''Dans une lettre adressée au mathématicien Français, André Weil, en Janvier 1967, le  mathématicien Canadien, Robert Langlands, a esquissé un programme de recherche visant à répondre à certaines questions fondamentales qui nous préoccupent encore. Cette lettre est d’une grande importance historique et continue d’orienter la recherche mathématique. Je propose d’en discuter des multiples retombées scientifiques, philosophiques et sociales."

       The KCIC Auditorium

Thursday, February 13, 6:00 pm

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'Noble Savages' and 'Roman Decadence' - German and French Identities in Literature

Marlon Poggio (Université de Franche-Compté, Besançon, France)

 

Marlon Poggio’s talk will lead through the history of literature focusing on the portrayal of German and French identity and the relationship of both nations, beginning with the Roman historian Tacitus’ opposition between savage Teutons and civilized Romans, stopping at points in history like the French Romanticist’s literary discovery of Germany, and ending with a look at the works of influential German and French thinkers of later periods.  

Friday, September 21

3:00 pm

BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

 

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February 9, 2018; 3:00 pm; BAC 236

Hermann Broch and Totality-Thinking

Elisabetta Beghini, PhD Student, University of Heidelberg, Germany

Hermann Broch (1886-1951) started his life in the textile sector and began as a forty year old to study mathematics, philosophy and psychology at the University of Vienna. He didn’t intend to become a writer. Nevertheless he became a writer as soon as he understood that the study of Mathematics, his primary field of interest, has no reference to man; it is an abstract system of knowledge. The idea of man is first expressed by mystical knowledge. According to Broch the way natural sciences investigate the world and observe its rules leaves out the role of man. This is investigated by the humanities and writers. It is only through the union of the sciences, philosophy and mysticism that man can understand the totality of the world. In this sense, Broch promotes totality as the basis of human thought. The talk will focus on his works  The Unknown Quantity (1933), The Death of Vergil (1945) and The Guiltless (1950) as examples.

Refreshments will be provided.

All are welcome!

 

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February 2, 2018; 3:00 pm, BAC 236

The Oriental Carpet and Modern Art and Literature

Dr. Hans-Günther Schwarz, McCulloch Chair in German
Professor of German and European Studies, Dalhousie University

The oriental carpet has played a role in Western art and literature since the time of Homer. It appeared around 1400 in Italian Madonna paintings, became an indispensable part of Dutch interiors in the 17th century, and maintained this role in realist painting of the 19th century. It was part of Western interiors caught by the imitative spirit of writers and painters.

With the symbolist movements in art and literature in the mid-nineteenth century, the carpet assumed a new role and became a model for a new style of painting. Instead of imitating the object world, works of art became purely imaginative, relegating the human eye to a secondary role. “Surface, ligne, couleur” replaced realist representation. This new idea of art was based on the carpet. With it came the ornamental orientation which was expressed by the act of “deréaliser” and “déformer” (Césanne, Gauguin, Maurice Denis). This artistic ideal culminated in the destruction of any observable reality in German expressionism (“Wirklichkeitszertrümmerung”).

Lukács in his Heidelberger Ästhetik (1916) sees the carpet as the ideal art, the architect Semper sees it as “Urkunst” (1853), the founder of all art. Textiles change the nature of texts. The common Greek derivative is often forgotten, but the carpet also influences poetry and the novel from Goethe, Heine, Hugo von Hofmannstal, Rilke, Stefan George to Else Lasker-Schüler.

In English literature, Oscar Wilde‘s The Decay of Lying gives the carpet its due. Henry James’ The Figure in the Carpet and Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage connect carpet and art and make it into a symbol of man’s existence.

Refreshments will be provided.

All are welcome!

 

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"Tragedy, Serenity and the Unreal. From Goethe to  Oscar Wilde."

by

 Lina Rieth

PhD candidate University Marburg, Germany

Abstract: The presentation will discuss key concepts of the tragic genre regarding George Steiner’s The Death of Tragedy and texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Oscar Wilde. Steiner raises the question whether the new world view after the French Revolution had an impact on the overall perception of the tragic. This leads to look at the broader issue of the relation between world view and artistic perception. Is it the world view that has an impact on art and the artistic perception? Or is it not possible that it is rather the perception of art that shapes the way how we look at and discern the world? As a vital example in the German romantic period, Goethe’s concept of right measure and his principle of ‘Heiterkeit’ give essential insights to the shift away from the literary form of tragedy. In West-östlicher Divan Goethe’s aesthetics shed light on the great influence by the arts of the orient on his artistic perception. Considering Oscar Wilde’s essay The Decay of Lying, Goethe’s impact on Oscar Wilde’s perception of art shows interesting parallels in their artistic attitude and the major significance of freedom and the unreal. At the heart of Wilde’s aesthetics thought is the demand to recognize art as a fully independent entity free from reality. The concept of tragedy always has been linked to reality. Wilde’s tragedy Salomé marks an important, unique piece in the history of the genre. Based on the reinterpretation of Wilde’s exceptional work, this analysis hopes to first argue that tragedy is not dead. Secondly, it hopes to reveal that only art is successfully capable to combine contradicting concepts like tragedy, Heiterkeit, reality and the unreal.

 

March 17, 2017

3:00 pm , BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided

All are welcome!

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"Goethe's Western Eastern Divan and the Idea of Freedom."

by

Ladan Torkamani

PhD Candidate University of Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract: The concept of ‘freedom’ has always been connected to politics. In European literature the topic of ‘freedom’ has often been equalized with individual or political freedom. The freedom of mind as it has been thematised by Kant, Schiller, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, is the foundation of this thesis. The other basis is the idea of freedom, das ‘unbedingte Freie’, as it is explained by Goethe in his Noten und Abhandlungen, and in his description of Persian poetry, Hafez’ Divan and the oriental fairy tales, which stay as an opposition to Islamic religion and prophet Mohammed (chapter “Mahomet”). Goethe discovered Hafez’ Divan when he read the German translation of the poems by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall in 1814. Goethe associates both Hafez’ Divan and the oriental fairy tales with pleasure and freedom. Both terms, pleasure and freedom, are in opposition to the educational and purpose oriented European literature. Goethe writes his biggest poem collection under the great influence of Persian poetry and the oriental fairy tales. He turns away from the European methods of the Enlightenment and classicism and chooses the free way of the orient. The central question of this presentation is whether freedom of mind is possible in literature, art and even as a preparation for political freedom.

 

February, 3, 2017

Refreshements will be provided

All are welcome!

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"Le réalisme merveilleux d'Alejo Carpentier : une intersémiotique biculturelle."

by

 Dr. Bernard Delpêche

Acadia University

Friday, January 27th, 2017

3:00 pm

BAC 236

The lecture will be in French

Refreshments will be provided!

 

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La fiction historique d’Au gré du vent

par

Martine L. Jacquot

Le roman Au gré du vent… (Éditions La Grande Marée, 2015) de Martine L. Jacquot recrée la vie à la fin du XIXe siècle en particulier en Nouvelle-Écosse autour du personnage d’Adèle, jeune acadienne originaire de Pubnico, qui se fait témoin d’une époque en pleine transition. L’auteure parlera de ses recherches sur les contextes historique, économique et social tant aux niveaux provincial que national – et même au-delà  –  entourant l’écriture de ce roman.

Biographie :

Globe-trotter et collectionneuse de mots, Martine L. Jacquot est diplômée de la Sorbonne, de l’université de King’s College, de l’université Acadia et de l’université Dalhousie où elle a reçu un doctorat ès lettres. Elle écrit à plein temps entre la Nouvelle-Écosse et de multiples destinations nécessaires pour renouveler son inspiration.

Romancière, poète, nouvelliste, essayiste et auteure jeunesse, elle a publié une trentaine de livres, dont l’essai Duras ou le regard absolu (Presses du Midi, 2009), le roman Les oiseaux de nuit finissent aussi par s’endormir (David, 2014, finaliste au prix littéraire Antonine-Maillet-Acadie Vie) et le roman Au gré du vent (La Grande Marée, 2015, couronné du prix Européen de l’Adelf à Paris).  Elle a été plusieurs fois finaliste aux prix Éloizes, Radio-Canada et France-Acadie.

Comme ses personnages, elle est en constante quête de l’essentiel en dépit de la folie humaine. Son ouvrage L’année aux trois étés (AfricAvenir/Exchange&Dialogue—Douala/Berlin/Vienne) relate ses découvertes en Russie et au Cameroun. Elle a fait des lectures sur quatre continents, contribue à des publications telles que Ashtarowt au Liban et est rédactrice en chef de la revue Les cahiers canadiens à l’université de Volgograd. Son recueil de nouvelles Les enjoliveurs du temps paraîtra prochainement.

November 25, 2016

 BAC 237

3:00 - 4-00

 

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“Postcards from the Edge of the U.S. Embargo on Cuba” OR “The Business Case for a Sustainable Cuba”.

by

Julia Sagebien

Dalhousie University

The case for a sustainable Cuba has existed on the Cuban side since the 1990s as a result of the 'Accidental Eden' brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the tightening of the US embargo and the adoption of proactive national sustainability policies. In a post-embargo scenario, however, the rate of economic growth and the sheer heterogeneity of the business sector will necessitate the attraction of the right kind of sustainability-oriented partners and financing sources in order to preserve what has been attained and prevent the environmental degradation of the island. Future sustainability-oriented partners, however, will need more than solidarity motivations. Many will also require require a business case.

This evolving business case for a sustainable Cuba will have to achieve an optimum balance between business competitiveness, economic wellbeing, and the preservation of long-held social and environmental values. Five economic sectors show great promise in this regard: 1) sustainable tourism, 2) organic agricultural production, 3) renewable energy, 4) coastal zone development (tourism, ports, waste management, fishing, urban development, etc.), and 5) mining. However, the greatest triple-bottom line return for both Cuba and for foreign business partners lies in the emerging Post COP 21 global low-carbon reindustrialization.

This presentation will discuss the intersection between sustainability, economic development and business partnerships. The session will touch upon Cuba's long-term sustainability programming and on the sectors that lend themselves to commercially viable sustainability-oriented investments and business partnerships.

 October 28, 2016
3:00 pm
BAC 237
Refreshments will be provided!

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“Family portraits: Post-memory and Identity in the Cultural Productions of the Children of the Disappeared.”

 by

                                               Dr. María Soledad Paz 

Abstract:

The representation and reinterpretation of political violence and human rights violations has been a central theme in 21st Century Argentinean cultural productions. There is an extensive collection of texts speaking to the surviving children of approximately 30,000 people who were detained and subsequently disappeared during the country’s last military dictatorship (1976-83).  These texts explore alternative discourses and approaches to creating personal memories, negotiating post-memory, and constructing a personal identity. Although we recognize several key discourses at work in these texts, our presentation will be geared towards the authors’ use of photography as a tool for mitigating, reinterpreting and representing the tragic past of the children of Argentina's disappeared. We will explore examples of novels and documentaries that include original photography to close the temporal and emotional gap between two generations. We will argue that these cultural productions constitute a new phase in the evolution of the artistic discourse of the desaparecidos; a phase which is the product of both social and political circumstances, and the temporal distance and emotional perspective of their author.

 October 21, 2016
3:00 pm
BAC 237
Refreshments will be provide
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"L'apocalypse sur le mode de la dérision: nouveaux enjeux de la littérature québécoise"

by

Dr. Ursula Mathis-Moser

Quelle que soit l'étiquette que nous choisirons pour désigner l'extrême contemporain - postmodernité, hypermodernité, etc. -, nous vivons actuellement un sentiment d'impuissance et de crise renforcé, en Amérique du Nord, par les répercussions des événements de 9/11. En même temps, les écrivains cherchent de nouvelles voies pour «survivre en temps d'apocalypse » en redécouvrant l'humour et l'ironie qui « brûle tout ce qu'elle touche » (Douglas Coupland). Dans la littérature québécoise contemporaine, l'apocalypse sur le mode de la dérision, de l'humour et de l'ironie constitue la toile de fond de plusieurs textes littéraires (Dickner, Langelier, etc.). Dans ma conférence, je comparerai le roman « métapocalyptique » Tarmac (2009) de Nicolas Dickner avec Éroshima (1987) de Dany Laferrière, texte « précurseur » pour ainsi dire, pour cerner les facettes d'une possible « littérature de l'apocalypse » typique du Québec.

Professeure en littératures françaises, francophones et espagnoles à l’Université d’Innsbruck, en Autriche, madame Ursula Mathis-Moser se consacre depuis plus de 30 ans au rayonnement de la langue et de la culture des francophones d’Amérique. En 1983, elle fait un premier séjour en Louisiane, qui lui fait découvrir la richesse et la diversité du fait français en Amérique. Cela l’amènera à une exploration passionnée des francophonies nord-américaines. À la fin des années 1980, le Québec attire son attention et devient le centre d’intérêt de sa carrière professionnelle, mais madame Mathis-Moser s’est aussi intéressée aux francophonies de l’Ouest canadien, du Manitoba, de l’Acadie et d’Haïti. Depuis 1995, elle dirige le Centre d’études de la chanson québécoise de l’Université d’Innsbruck, où elle a intéressé de nombreux étudiants aux questions québécoises. Depuis 1997, elle dirige également le Centre d’études canadiennes de la même université, le premier centre du genre en Autriche. Madame Mathis-Moser a de plus travaillé de 2008 à 2011 en tant que rédactrice adjointe de la Revue internationale d’études canadiennes du Conseil international d’études canadiennes. Depuis 2011, elle est aussi chercheuse associée au Centre de littérature canadienne de l’Université de l’Alberta. Dans le cadre de ses activités professionnelles, elle s’est battue pour faire respecter le fait francophone et pour mettre sur un pied d’égalité le français et l’anglais. Le parcours de madame Mathis-Moser montre sa véritable passion pour les cultures francophones d’Amérique. Au cours de sa carrière, en plus d’avoir reçu le titre d’officier de l’Ordre des palmes académiques, elle a reçu de nombreux prix, dont le prix Jean Éthier-Blais de la critique littéraire en 2004, pour son ouvrage Dany Laferrière. La dérive américaine

Le Conseil supérieur de la langue française a décerné le 26 septembre 2012 dans la salle du Conseil législatif de l’hôtel du Parlement, à Québec, l’Ordre des francophones d’Amérique à sept personnalités éminentes de la francophonie dont à Madame Ursula Mathis-Moser.


Friday, September 30, 2016

3:00 pm

BAC 237

Refreshments will be provided!

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Departmental Seminar Series

Fall 2015

presents

"SOME BASIC CONCERNS FOR THE STUDY OF CATALAN CINEMA"

Dr. Jerry White

Associate Professor of English
CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN EUROPEAN STUDIES
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

This talk will introduce Catalan cinema, with special attention paid to its connections with Quebec cinema.  In both countries we see a strong realist tradition, a heavy reliance on publically-funded infrastructure, and a strong but not totalizing engagement with the politics of language.  As in Quebec, cinema has also played a key role in the modernization and, for lack of a better word, the civic-ization of the  nationalist movement (that is to say, the tranformation of an ethnic nationalist movement into more of a civic nationalist, and utlimately separatist movement). The overall goal is to provide a kind of "Catalan Cinema for Beginners," with the assumption that said beginners will have some knowledge of and interest in Quebec culture.

Friday, 6 November 2015, 3:00 - 4:00, BAC 236

Refreshements will be provided!

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THE REVEAL: HIDDEN WALL PAINTINGS IN ANNAPOLIS ROYAL'S SINCLAIR INN

by

Anne Shaftel, Art Conservator

Water dammage at this National Historic Site - one of the earlierst surviving Acadia buildings - has leed to the discovery of 175 -year ofd paintings. Come learn about the finding, its national importance, and the need to restore and preserve the murals.

Friday, 23 OCTOBER 2015, 3:00 - 4:00 pm BAC 236

Refreshements will be provided!

 

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"Hearts of Darkness: Conrad, Kafka, and Colonialism"

by

Dr. Peters

McGill University

Friday, March 20

3:00 pm

Beveridge Arts Centre 236

Refreshments will be provided!

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Book Launch 

You are invited to celebrate the publication of the essay collection

“ Decadence in Literature and Intellectual Debate since 1945”

edited by

Dr. Diemo Landgraf

Acadia University

 Friday, 28 November, 2014

5:00 pm

Beveridge Arts Centre 325

Refreshments will be provided!

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"Existe-t-il des « génies méconnus » en littérature ? Le cas de Han Ryner"

Dr. Vittorio Figerio

Dalhousie University

Friday, 28 November, 2014

3:00 pm

Beveridge Arts Centre 237

The presentation will be in French.

Refreshments will be provided!

 

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"Intoxication and the Aesthetics of Modern Poetry"

(Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarmé)

Dr. Thomas Klinkert

Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

3:00 pm

BAC 244

Refreshments will be provided!

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TECHNOLOGY INIITIATIVES IN E-LEARNING:

LANGUAGE LEARNING AT THE BARBADOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

by

Paul Blackman

Barbados Community College

Harrison McCain Visiting Professor

3 October 2014

3:00 pm

BAC 239

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED!

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A Sociopragmatic Analysis of Requests in

Peruvian Spanish and Canadian English

by 

Susana Landgraf

Mannheim University / Acadia University

14 March 2014

3:00pm

BAC 236

 

Presentation will be in English

Refreshments will be provided!

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« Between Policy and Practice : International Bilingual Education in Rural Peru »

by

Anna Saroli

Acadia University, Spanish Section

The presentation will be held in English

January 24th, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

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«De la Shoah aux Chagos: Re-telling Mauritian History à la francophone»

by

Dr. Rohini Bannerjee
Associate Professor

International Francophone Studies
Department of Modern Languages and Classics, St. Mary's University

November 15th, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

The presentation will be held in English

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

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 In Search of the ‘roman nouveau’: Reading R.L. Stevenson in 19th-Century France »

by

Dr. Kate Ashley

Acadia University

October 18, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

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The French Section of Acadia University

in collaboration with the

Deep Roots Music Festival

presents

Le Nouveau monde

Atelier de création

by

Dr. Georgette Leblanc

de l’Université Sainte-Anne

Description

Chaque personne porte en elle une voix, un personnage, un héros.  Inspiré de son plus récent livre intitulé "Prudent", l'auteure vous fait vivre les étapes de création nécessaires pour faire vivre sa voix.  Son expérience authentique.

The workshop will be held in French

September 27th, 3:00pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

Venez nombreux!

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«Dialogues avec la littérature. La réalité, peut-elle se passer de la fiction? »

by

Dr. Blanca NAVARRO PARDIÑAS

Professeure titulaire en études françaises et hispaniques

Université de Moncton, campus d’Edmundston

et

Dr. Luc VIGNEAULT ‪ 

Professeur titulaire de philosophie

Université de Moncton, campus d’Edmundston

Abstract :

Reconnaître qu'il existe une dimension cognitive dans la littérature permet de dépasser l'opposition stérile entre le discours de la vérité objective et celui de la fiction. L'imaginaire est une fonction essentielle de notre représentation de la réalité et, en ce sens, les grands récits de l'histoire littéraire nous apprennent peut-être autant que nos livres d'histoire ou nos connaissances scientifiques. La réalité, peut-elle se passer de la fiction? 

The presentation will be held in French

Sept. 20, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

 

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"Organicisme et identité dans les oeuvres de Maurice Barrès et de Ernst Jünger" 

by

Marlon Poggio

University of Freiburg, Germany

 Abstract:

Le seuil de l‘époque autour de l’année 1800 implique, selon le sociologue Niklas Luhmann, une dédifférenciation fonctionnelle intrinsèque à la modernité. Cela dit, les différents sous-systèmes sociaux opèrent de plus en plus de façon autonome, au sens propre du terme – selon leurs propres lois. Par conséquent, médecine et belles lettres commencent à être codifiées différemment, et là où elles s’entrecroisent, où elles communiquent, une codification est traduite dans une autre. Or, on ne peut considérer cette « traductibilité » comme simple réduction de sens, car, loin de là, elle nous offre une potentialité épistémique au plan européen, qu’on essayera de cerner de façon exemplaire par une analyse de textes francophones et germanophones : Comme, à la suite des Lumières et de la Révolution, la rationalité va prendre le dessus, tout au long du 19ème siècle, les sciences médicales nous offrent des modèles organicistes et évolutionnaires, auxquels les hommes de lettres montrent un fort intérêt. Chez Gobineau, puis chez Barrès un organicisme anti-progressiste fait événement ; on montrera que ces œuvres auront une influence anti-moderniste sur Ernst Jünger ; et on montrera aussi que, surtout des topoi médicaux des œuvres décadentes dans un contexte franco-allemand aident à forger une identité nationale des deux pays, mais aussi une identité européenne. Lors de notre communication, l’on considérera, brièvement et en grandes enjambées, les textes des auteurs précurseurs de Barrès et Jünger (bien entendu sous un angle médical et pour bien cerner les traditions dans lesquelles les isotopies médicales chez Barrès et Jünger s’inscrivent) ; mais surtout se basera-t-on sur une interprétation des métaphores et isotopies organicistes et médicales chez Maurice Barrès (cf. Les Déracinés) et Ernst Jünger (cf. Auf den Marmorklippen) : Quel impact ont-ils dans la continuité identitaire de ce qui est « français » et de ce qui est « allemand », et même dans ce qu’on peut appeler « européen » ? Dans quelle mesure ces métaphores dans les œuvres des deux auteurs permettent-elles que les identités s’entrecroisent ? Et quels chemins nous frayent-elles pour sortir de la Décadence ?

The presentation will be held in French

March 15th , 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

 

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“Testimony, fiction and political violence in contemporary Colombia.”

by

Dr. Andrés Arteaga 

Department of Modern Languages and Classics,  St. Mary´s University

Abstract:

Colombian society has experienced a series of struggles and internal conflicts since the foundation of the Republic in 1810; however, there is a period in Colombian historiography known as “La violencia” (1948-1958) where one can track some of the major ideological and political characteristics of Colombian contemporary violence. Since that time the country has experienced an increasing conflict between the guerrillas groups (FARC, ELN, M-19, EPL) the paramilitary militias, the drug cartels and the Colombian army; leaving in the middle of this five decades of war with thousands of civilians killed, more than four million persons internally displaced, kidnappings, and a society divided and traumatized.

In 2011 the Colombian government approved a new law called “Victims and Land Restitution Law (Law 1448 of 2011)” where the Colombian state not only recognizes an internal civil conflict but also implements a series of judicial reforms seeking reparation and compensation among civilian victims of this war. As a consequence of this, a new law established the National Centre of Historical Memory where academics, artists, politicians, activists and the civil society as a whole have the major task of reconstructing the past and remembering the events that took place during these tragic years. At the same time, this centre, and other academic and artistic initiatives, is meant to help build the transition from war to a post-conflict country for present and future generations of Colombians.

In this paper, he will address this important step towards a new Colombia from a psychoanalytical point of view where trauma and writing occupy an important aspect of social reconstruction. He will also explain how collective trauma could be healed through written testimony and fiction by showing some examples of an ongoing research project in which he is working with Colombian refugees in Canada.

March 8th , 3.00 pm, BAC 236

 Refreshments will be provided!

 All are welcome!

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"Looking for Interculturality in Study Abroad Research Data"

by

Dr. John Plews

Associate Professor, St. Mary's University, NS

This presentation examines what Canadian foreign language study abroad students say about intercultural experiences, paying attention to how they narrate new subjectivities and how they relate these subjectivities to prior identities. It discusses the probable network of multilingual self-constructions, the issue of decisive conversion, the construction of prior subjectivities, and the Canadian co-optation of interculturality.

February 8th, 2013

BAC 236, 3:00 pm

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

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“'The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD': Regret, Protestant Memoirs and the Effects of Divine Providence."

by

Nicole Corbett

Ph.D. candidate, McGill University

Abstract:

 Is it possible for a person to express regret if they believe all events unfold according to God’s will? And, if so, how would he or she justify expressing this emotion? Would this individual regret the same things as people who did not share this belief? Would he or she express regret in the same manner? While 18th century memorialists are extremely likely to express regret in their Memoirs, and to do so in a variety of manners, protestant memorialists differ in one important respect. Unlike other memorialists, French protestant, disciples of John Calvin, adhered to the doctrine of divine providence put forward by this theologian. According to Calvin, God did not only create the world, he continues to reign over it, determining not only the course of human history, but the actions of each human being, of each creature even. Nothing, not even a sparrow falling to the ground, can take place without God having expressly willed it. As a result, Calvin admonishes his followers to joyfully accept whatever occurs, while forbidding them from murmuring against their creator. Focusing on the Memoirs written by the following protestants: Blanche Gamond, Élie Marion, Abraham Mazel, Jean Cavalier, Jean Marteilhe, Jacques Fontaine, Pierre Corteiz, Jacques Bonbonnoux and Antoine Court, I will explore how belief in divine providence affected the regret expressed in 18th century protestant Memoirs. Before broaching this subject, however, I will first briefly focus on the history of French protestants following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) in order to establish that the above memorialists, persecuted by the Catholic majority, had numerous reasons to express regret; any decrease in the expression of this emotion is not mere coincidence but a conscious choice on their part. I will also briefly explore the doctrine of divine providence upheld by Calvin in order to better understand why this doctrine affected the regret expressed by protestant memorialists. To do so, I will focus primarily on passages from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and on his sermons, especially his sermons on the book of Job.

November 23, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshements will be provided!

All are welcome!

 

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"The shade of Diderot in Le Château des Désertes by George Sand."

Dr. Romira Worvill

Acadia University

Abstract:

In her own time, George Sand was known not only as a controversial novelist but also as a successful playwright.  Following the success of her stage adaptation of her novel François le Champi (1849), contemporary critics began to note similarities between her dramatic style and that of Jean-Michel Sedaine a well-known author of eighteenth-century drames.  These are plays which embody the theatre aesthetic launched in the mid eighteenth century through the theoretical writings and model plays of Sedaine’s famous friend, Denis Diderot. In Sand’s correspondence too, particularly that with her friend and theatrical collaborator, Pierre Bocage, modern critics have observed that Sand frequently formulates her ideas about play-writing and stage technique in terms which suggest the theory of Diderot.  However, nowhere in her vast correspondence or in her various autobiographical texts does she ever mention that she has read Diderot’s dramatic work or taken it into account.  The present paper proposes a solution to this paradox.  It will show that Sand’s novella entitled Le Château des Désertes (completed in 1847, shortly after a period of theatrical experimentation) can be read as an intertext for and reference to Diderot’s major reflexion on the theatre and dramatic illusion, Le Fils naturel et les Entretiens sur le ‘Fils naturel’ (1757).  It will present the argument for recognising Le Château des Désertes as Sand’s acknowledgment of her debt to Diderot and it will also address the question of why she never spoke more explicitly about Diderot’s dramatic theories in any of her other writings.

October 26th, 3:00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

All are welcome!

 

____________________________________________________________

«A Sports-Hero and Playboy in the New Technical Age after 1900, Oskar Kafka and His Cousin»

Dr. Tony Northey

Professor Emeritus, Department of Languages and Literatures, Acadia University

Abstract :

As a bicycle and motorcycle racer and passionate, if sometimes reckless, motorist, the sportsman and playboy Oskar Kafka represents a hero-figure of the new technical age between 1900 and the First World War. In 1910 he also harbored ambitions to become the first person in Bohemia to fly an airplane. This talk will trace the achievements of his early life and examine the importance of the burgeoning field of international sports and technology in the age of modernism. It also discusses some observations about aviation tech-heroes in a newspaper (feuilleton) article, “The Aeroplanes at Brescia” by Oskar’s (later famous) cousin, Franz, which might well have been inspired in part by this enterprising sportsman.


This lecture might be especially interesting for people interested in history, sociology, sports (history of sports, especially motorized sports), automobile & aviation enthusiasts. Copies of the short story "The Aeroplanes at Brescia" can be otained ahead of the lecture. Please contact the Department at 585-1500.

September 21, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

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Departmental Seminar Series

2011-12

« Dépasser les clichés de la vulgarité : une revalorisation du vulgaire? »

 

presents

Angéline Galampoix

Acadia University

 tl_files/sites/french/vulgarite.jpg

Résumé:

« Merde de merde, je veux pas dans ma maison d’une petite salope qui dise des cochoncetés comme ça. Je vois ça d’ici, elle va pervertir tout le quartier » s’exclame Turandot, personnage de Zazie dans le métro, de Raymond Queneau. Voilà bien un charmant assemblage de vulgarités (typiquement?) françaises! Ces grossières perles de langage choquent sans doute les yeux et les oreilles des bien-pensants par leur trivialité, leur caractère obscène, ou encore par leur violence. Pourtant, comment être choqué par le langage vulgaire, qui est pourtant –en théorie, et à l’origine- simplement celui du commun des mortels? En effet, étymologiquement, la vulgarité n’est que le « caractère de ce qui est courant, commun au plus grand nombre; c’est le caractère de ce qui est prosaïque, terre à terre ». De même l’adjectif « vulgaire » ne désigne à l’origine que  ce « qui est admis ou pratiqué par la grande majorité des personnes composant une collectivité, ou appartenant à une culture; c’est ce qui est répandu. » Pourrait-on en déduire, en ce sens, que la vulgarité, si laide qu’elle puisse sembler, relève de la convention sociale?

Alors comment s’opère ce glissement entre les deux significations du vulgaire? Qu’est-ce qui peut transformer ce qui est de l’ordre de la simplicité et du populaire en marque de non-respect des codes de moralité et d’élégance? Outre l’analyse du regard des étrangers  sur les stéréotypes du Français moyen (supposé grossier), et celle du regard des élites françaises sur le reste du peuple, on s’arrêtera surtout sur l’analyse de la vulgarité vue à travers le prisme de la littérature, du cinéma, ou encore du théâtre de la France des XIXe et XXe siècles. Il sera même question ici de rendre à la vulgarité ses titres de noblesse, telle la perle baroque parmi d’autres joyaux…

(This talk will be in French)

March 30, 3.00 pm BAC 236

Refreshments will be provided!

 

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March 16th , 3.00 pm , BAC 236

 « Le théâtre comme métaphore dans l'œuvre non-théâtrale de Michel Tremblay »

by

Dr. Robert Proulx

Acadia University

 

Résumé :

                C'est le théâtre qui a donné à Michel Tremblay une renommée internationale.[1] Son œuvre théâtrale qui compte plus de vingt-six pièces originales, huit adaptations et un livret d'opéra connaît depuis près de quarante ans un succès considérable au Québec et à l'étranger. L'écriture dramatique, qu'il a découverte en particulier par la lecture des tragédies antiques, a été une telle révélation pour Tremblay qu'elle lui a non seulement inspiré son imposante œuvre théâtrale, mais a aussi profondément marqué son écriture. À un point tel que même lorsqu'il pratique un autre genre, que ce soit le roman ou le récit autobiographique, des traces flagrantes de théâtralité y subsistent.

                Ce sont ces marques, qui peuvent prendre des formes diverses (dialogues, monologues, mises en scènes réelles ou imaginaires, métaphores, comparaisons, commentaires ressemblant à des didascalies), que nous ferons ressortir dans l'œuvre non-théâtrale de Tremblay. Si elles relèvent de différents procédés, elles participent toutes d'un large mouvement de mise en abyme du théâtre dans un autre genre littéraire et trahissent, du même coup, la force motrice irrépressible du théâtre dans l'écriture de Tremblay.

(This talk will be in French)

Mots clés : Michel Tremblay – écriture – mise en abyme du théâtre - métaphore


[1] Depuis la création des Belles-Sœurs en 1968, qui allait bouleverser le paysage théâtral québécois, Michel Tremblay n’a fait que confirmer son statut d’écrivain majeur, tant au Québec qu’à l’étranger. […] Son œuvre théâtrale et romanesque, traversée par une constante réflexion sur l’acte créateur, est indissociable de Montréal et du Québec [et offre une] ample métaphore de l’humanité souffrante et rayonnante. (Le Monde de Michel Tremblay, Gilbert David et Pierre Lavoie, quatrième de couverture, 1993).

 

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February 10th, 2012, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

“Le Bolivarisme et le Nkrumahisme: Actualités de deux idéologies politiques dans les relations internationales du XXIe siècle.”

by

Cheikh Nguirane 

Acadia University

Abstract:

Le Bolivarisme et le Nkrumahisme sont deux courants idéologiques politiques  du XIXe et XXe siècle et dont les essences reposent successivement sur les idées de Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) et de  Kwamé Nkrumah (1909- 1972). Ayant évolué dans deux contextes différents, Bolivar « el libertador » et Nkrumah « l'Osagyefo » sont deux figures emblématiques qui ont participé de manière décisive à l’émancipation de leur peuples. ‘Libération’, ‘Indépendance’ et surtout ‘Unité’ voilà les trois mots qui ont inscrit  ces deux hommes dans les annales de l’histoire de l’Amérique Latine et de l’Afrique.

Décidément, Bolivar et Nkrumah sont morts, et l’on ne retrouve d’eux que des ‘reliques’ dispersées que leurs disciples se sont appropriées. Loin d’être épuisé, le Bolivarisme, tout comme le Nkrumahisme, est indépassable parce que les circonstances qui l’ont engendré ne sont pas encore dépassées. L'Amérique latine et l’Afrique ne voulant point rester en marge de la réalité planétaire caractérisée par la mondialisation, entendent embarquer outillées et mieux préparées dans le train de l'évolution. De nos jours, les discussions ne portent pas sur la nécessité de leurs projets d’intégration mais sur la meilleure manière de la réaliser. Quels sont les éléments qui ont forgé cette volonté commune, inébranlable, de s’unir ? D’où viennent les difficultés qu’ils n’arrivent pas encore à franchir ? Surtout quels types d’intégration les héritiers du Bolivarisme et du Nkrumahisme ont-ils envisagé pour s’adapter aux mutations croissantes du monde? Pour répondre à ces interrogations, l’étude tentera d’examiner le Bolivarisme et le Nkrumahisme dans une perspective comparative tout en insistant sur les fonctions et orientations qui  leurs sont assignées en ce XXIe siècle.

L’étude n’est pas à ranger dans un chapitre du Who’s Who. Egalement, il n’est pas question d’étendre nos investigations dans les méandres de l’histoire coloniale ou postcoloniale de l’Amérique du sud et de l’Afrique. Par des soucis d’ordre méthodologique, l’étude s’est limitée sur quelques figures illustres du Panthéon nkrumahiste et bolivarien.

(This talk will be in French)

Refreshments will be provided!

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January 20, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

“Substitution and subversion: political censorship in Un chapeau de paille d’Italie by Eugène Labiche”.

 

tl_files/sites/french/JB lecture 1.jpg

 

by

Dr. Janice Best

 Acadia University

Abstract:

                Between 1848 and 1852, French playwright Eugène Labiche wrote 44 plays, among which was Un Chapeau de paille d’Italie, first performed in 1851, a masterpiece of the technique of the “quiproquo”, and Labiche’s first major success at a full five-act play. Substitution is the principal motor of farce in general and of Labiche’s work in particular.  In Un chapeau de paille d’Italie, places, objects and people are constantly taken for something other than what they are.  Guests at a wedding mistake the head of a mannequin for a bust of Marianne, the official symbol of France’s Republic. This bust allowed Labiche to create two worlds – a fashion shop where the main character has gone to buy a new hat and a mayor’s office where the wedding guests mistakenly believe they have come to attend a civil ceremony. The “quiproquos” or substitutions in this play allow Labiche’s characters to save appearances while at the same time questioning the values and morality of bourgeois life and its institutions. Government censors understood this and demanded numerous changes to the scenes in which Labiche mocked authority figures. Despite the suppressions made by the censors, ridiculing the bourgeoisie and criticizing power remain the principal themes in Labiche’s work. In this talk I will examine how Labiche’s use of the technique of the “quiproquo” allowed him to escape the censors’ efforts to make his plays less subversive.

(This talk will be in English)

Refreshments will be provided!


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November 25, 3 p.m., BAC 236

  "Darwinism in Theodor Fontane and Late Nineteenth Century German Literature"

by

 Dr. Christian Thomas

Acadia University

Abstract:

The surge of science and technology in the 1850s was accompanied not only by the rise in authority of scientific discourse but—thanks to the print media "explosion"—also by its popularization. While in his early travel literature (e. g. Ein Sommer in London (1854)) the German writer Theodor Fontane stylistically adopted this discourse for its persuasiveness (see Braese, 2010), it, together with its content,  becomes a (critical) focus in itself in the later novels of society, especially regarding its materialist-determinist implications. To illustrate, the talk focuses on the partial aspect of Darwinism/biologism.  After an introduction, to the German reception of Darwinism, its notional interference with already established biologisms, then to Fontane and his artistic objectives (Realism essay, Zola critique), the author's nuanced novelistic treatment of Darwinism/biologism is discussed; comparisons with German Naturalism add perspective.

(This talk will be in English)

 

Book Launch, followed by a signing ceremony

Sonia Thon’s new book: Contexto, estilo y forma en la obra de Jorge Luis Borges y Manuel Puig (Context, Style and Form in the Work of Jorge Luis Borges and Manuel Puig). New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2011.

 November 4th, 3.00 pm, BAC 236

Abstract:

This book uses a combination of linguistic and theoretical perspectives to uncover deeper layers of meaning in a selection of intricate short stories and novels of popular Argentine writers Jorge Luis Borges and Manuel Puig. Each of the eight essays contained in this book applies rigorous linguistic, socio-historical and cultural analyses to resolve dilemmas, decode clues, clarify ambiguities, and connect voices within and without their narrative discourse. The collection contributes a broader and more contextualized interpretation to the existing studies on these authors.

(This talk will be in English)

Refreshments will be provided!

 

“Le roseau persistant: le parler acadien et ses racines médiévales”

by Daniel Long, Head of French Studies, Université Sainte-Anne

October 28th, BAC 236, 3.00 pm

Abstract / Résumé :

Il est communément admis que le franco-acadien tire ses origines de la langue du XVIe siècle principalement, comme l’ont illustré les études de Pascal Poirier, de Geneviève Massignon et d’Antonine Maillet. Les transformations significatives qu’a connues le français de la Renaissance sont certes discernables dans le parler des Acadiens d’aujourd’hui. Pourtant, le franco-acadien a conservé de nombreuses caractéristiques de la langue médiévale, c’est-à-dire de l’ancien français mais surtout du moyen français (XIVe et XVe siècles). Plusieurs particularités dialectales acadiennes ont donc une origine assez lointaine; elles témoignent d’une époque où la langue française était dans une phase d’évolution rapide, où un pouvoir central plus faible a favorisé la prolifération de variétés régionales qui se sont enracinées profondément dans l’ensemble du territoire français. Les origines proprement médiévales du parler acadien se reconnaissent surtout dans la prononciation (diphtongues et affriquées spécifiques, consonnes disparues du français moderne, etc.) et le vocabulaire (termes, expressions et acceptions archaïques). Le dialecte de la Baie Sainte-Marie, en particulier, est singulièrement ancien, d’autant qu’il est resté pratiquement inchangé jusqu’à très récemment. Il s’agira donc d’identifier et de décrire les éléments du franco-acadien qui proviennent de la langue du Moyen Âge, et de chercher à expliquer comment ce parler a pu traverser les siècles en conservant un nombre important de ces traits distinctifs.

(This talk will be in French)

Refreshments will be provided!

Daniel Long’s talk is supported by funds from the Departmental Scholarly Activities Fund (article 25.54)

 

"Humour Called to Active Duty: Soldier Laughter and Comical Situations in German Literature about the First World War."

  by Jakub Kazecki, Assistant Professor of German, Department of Modern Languages, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut. 

Sept. 23, 2011, 3 p.m. BAC 236

Abstract:

This paper investigates the appearances and functions of humour and laughter in selected works of German literature that thematise the First World War: novels and short stories based on autobiographical experiences written by authors during the Great War and in the Weimar era (1919-1933). The well-known works, such as All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929), Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger (1920), or The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig (1927) very often use humour to justify violence and power structures constructed by the narratives, regardless of their ideological assignment and popular and critical reception. The paper also examines the role of humour and laughter in the construction of gender roles, with a concentration on soldier masculinity. In addition, the parodic imitations of All Quiet on the Western Front, the German text All Quiet on the Trojan Front by Emil Marius Requark (1930) and the movie So Quiet on the Canine Front by Zion Myers and Jules White (1931), are discussed as significant polemical contributions that use humoristic strategies to undermine or stress the elements of the original text.

(This talk will be in English)

Refreshements will be provided!

Jakub Kazecki’s talk is supported by funds from the Departmental Scholarly Activities Funds (article 25.54)

 


Languages and Literatures Departmental Seminar Series

2010 – 2011

 

Friday, March 11th, BAC 132, 3.00 pm,  Almut Siepmann,

 German Section, Department of Languaguages and Literartures, Acadia University

"Is Creative Writing Work?"

 

Abstract:

  Even though creative writing is an inner pleasure for people who consider themselves as creative writers, it is a lot of work to fill the in the blanks. On the one hand writing means being read, but even if it is just in front of or by a circle of friends, it suggests that one has to give away a lot about oneself. Written work does not necessarily imply that the writer has been in situations s/he writes about, but some people assume that and make conclusions about the writer’s character. Sometimes it is difficult to put everything out there and share stories. Sometimes writing is private and being criticized about it is unbearable. Sometimes writing goes wrong. Sometimes writing does not work out properly. But sometimes writing does and can paint pictures and has the power to create joyful moments or just gets people to think about some subjects from different angles than they were used to.  All of these facts usually don’t stop a writer who does it for inner pleasure. They usually never stop me, and therefore I am glad to present two of my very own short stories and put them up for debate!

The stories are called “Do you want to know?” and “Candra”. They will be read out and then the creative process will be reconstructed, because these stories are above all constructed, writing them is the smallest aspect. Afterwards, there will be time to discuss their structure and content and constructive criticism is more than welcome.

The talk will be in English.

Refreshments will be provided!

 

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Friday, February 11th, BAC 132, 3.00 pm,  Chloé Jouteux and Quention Fouville

Department of Languages and Literatures, Acadia University

 

« La satire politique dans les médias en France / Political Satire in the French media »

 

 La satire politique est une tradition populaire assez ancienne en France. Autrefois présente dans les journaux et les cafés-théâtres, elle s’est installée progressivement à la radio et la télévision. Après avoir dressé un panorama des principaux acteurs de la satire politique dans la France contemporaine, nous nous interrogerons sur son impact sur la société française en général, et le monde politique en particulier. Peut-on rire de tout ? Quelle est la limite entre la satire pure et la critique politique teintée d’humour ? Nous tenterons d’esquisser une réponse à ces questions à travers des exemples variés.

 

                Political satire is a rather old popular tradition in France: once present in newspapers and small theatres, it became gradually a part of contemporary radio and television. First, we will draw up a list of the main actors of political satire in contemporary France, then we will explain its influence on French society in general, and on French politicians in particular. What can one make a mockery of? What is the limit between mere satire and a humorous criticism of a policy? We will try and answer those questions through a wide range of examples.

 

Refreshments will be provided

 

This talk will be in French

 

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Friday January 28, Dr. Diemo Landgraf

“Answers to Nietzsche, answers to the decadent novel in the European fin-de-siècle literature

3 p.m. Beverage Arts Centre 132, Acadia University

(This talk will be in English)

Abstract:

            Decadence as a literary motif is introduced first in France in the first half of the 19th century by authors like Baudelaire and Gauthier. It then becomes a key word for a literary movement and serves some writers for self characterization. With the general concern about vital and cultural decline in Europe at the fin de siècle, artists and thinkers all over Europe take part in an intertextual discourse on decadence. One of the most important philosophical contributions in this context are Nietzsche’s writings, which, based on ideas of authors like Bourget and Schopenhauer, revolutionize European views on morality and culture. The present project aims to analyze a series of novels which can be interpreted as answers to Nietzsche’s distressing philosophical ideas. Some of the texts on which Landgraf will focus are the early works of André Gide, Azorín, Pío Baroja and Gabriele D’Annnunzio.

 

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Friday November 26, Dr. May Abou Zahra, « Didactique cognitive et gestion mentale: pour une approche pédagogique » 3 p.m. BAC 132.

Abstract

Les technologies de communication facilitent l’interaction interpersonnelle et communicative : E-mail, SMS, Networking social en ligne comme Facebook et YouTube fait partie de la pratique des étudiants. Cependant, cette génération ne possède pas de stratégies pour comprendre ce qu’ils lisent à l’écran ou pour développer leurs différentes compétences en utilisant les TIC. Comment peut-on évaluer ces compétences? Comment peut-on prédire ces difficultés chez l’apprenant? Notre recherche répondra à ces questions en proposant une nouvelle conception pour le développement de test d’évaluation de lecture et ou de micro-tâche en classe ou à distance. Ce travail fait partie d’un projet de recherche en cours en collaboration avec UQAM. Je présenterai le design d’une application basée sur Agent intelligent pour mesurer les compétences linguistiques et cognitives du processus de lecture à l’écran. Le cadre méthodologique de ce travail se situe dans une perspective de didactique cognitive - d’enseignement à 3 dimensions- et une pédagogie active (Rosenshine, 1986, Lebrun, Marcel, 1999, 2007, E.Bialo et J.Sivin, 1990, voir aussi les travaux de l’institut des sciences cognitives à l’université du Québec à Montréal  (L. Laplante…). Nous prenons aussi en considération les travaux qui ont permis d’établir des relations entre les modèles cognitifs et les difficultés de compréhension de lecture (Anderson (1982), Gorin et Embretson (2006)). Nous aurons recours à l’évaluation des tâches concernant le raisonnement abstrait (Carpenter, Just et Shell (1990), Embretson (1999), Riopel M (2006)). Des exemples d’illustrations seront présentés.

 

Test Design with Cognition in Mind

Didactique cognitive : Test design

One day all the multimedia course content already developed might be easy to read and use on a book-sized screen. Many students may have difficulty reading a text on the screen; so we need to begin experimenting using basic literature in introductory courses, in plain-text format on our current tools, if we hope to take full advantage of that future when it arrives (Charles Hannon, 2008). What is the best practice to evaluate cognitive and linguistic skills for screen reading? How can we provide strategies to link the use of ICT and the development of skills of the next generation of student? These questions will be discussed in order to see how can we measure and evaluate student skills. This study is a part of a work-in-progress project with Quebec University on the process of screen reading. We are attempting to identify generative components for the evaluation of comprehension items through the cognitive fragmentation of item difficulty. The framework of the project is a cognitive approach focusing on 3 dimensional teaching and active learning, (Rosenshine, 1986, Lebrun, Marcel, 1999, 2007, E.Bialo et J.Sivin, 1990). We also consider the work that helped establish relationships between cognitive models and reading difficulties, (Anderson, 1982, Gorin and Embretson, 2006). I will present an approach for screen reading evaluation; the conceptual design of a computer system that we are going to develop for reading assessment (a system based on intelligent agents.).

Index terms: difficulty modeling, cognitive task, comprehension tests, item generation, and ICT effectiveness. (This talk will be in French.)

 

 

Friday October 29, Dr. Romira Worvill, “Deconstruction of the battle scene in Les Aventures de Télémaque by François Fénelon”

François Fénelon wrote Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699) as pedagogical material for his illustrious pupil and heir to the French throne, the Duc de Bourgogne.  His adventure story contains many lessons on kingship, the art of good government and the nature of war, but the implied critique of the policies of Louis XIV, which some read into the text, led to Fénelon`s disgrace and exile from Paris and the court.  Fénelon`s epic is also stylistically innovative.  As well as being written in prose, it contains many descriptions which are either inspired by existing paintings (i.e. they are examples of ekphrasis) or are imagined as if they were works of art.  These descriptive techniques are known as `literary pictorialism` (Jean Hagstrum, The Sister Arts, 1958).  Literary pictorialism can serve a number of different purposes.  It may be purely decorative but it can also be used to communicate ideas not explicitly formulated in the text.  The present paper will examine Fénelon`s use of literary pictorialism in four accounts of battles and show how his descriptions can be seen as a challenge to the tradition of heroic battle painting, particularly as manifested in the famous series of works entitled Les Batailles d’Alexandre by Charles Le Brun.

 

2.30 p.m. BAC 132

(This talk will be in English)

Wednesday October 20, Dr. Svante Lindberg, assistant professor of French, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, “Le roman migrant contemporain au Québec et en Suède: quelques réflexions comparatistes »

Abstract / Résumé :

Dans cette communication, Svante Lindberg présentera quelques traits théoriques actuels dans l’étude du roman dit migrant ou post-exilique au Québec et en Suède. En ce qui concerne le Québec, Lindberg évoquera les contributions théoriques de Régine Robin, Simon Harel, Pierre Ouellet et Sherry Simon. Dans le domaine suédois et scandinave, il fera référence aux travaux de Wolfgang Behschnitt, Satu Gröndahl et Ingeborg Kongslien. Lindberg présentera ensuite quelques romans représentatifs afin d’illustrer différentes manières de parler de migration et de post-exil dans le roman actuel. Il s’agira de textes de Dany Laferrière, Nicole Brossard, Michel Noël, Annica Wennström et Jonas Hassen Khemiri, entre autres. Il sera question de la migration d’un pays vers un autre, de la migration « intérieure » ─ par exemple la migration d’une minorité culturelle (amérindienne ou sâme) vers la majorité (québécoise ou suédoise) ─ ainsi que de la thématique du post-exil et de la migration telle qu’utilisée par des auteurs provenant de la culture majoritaire.  L’exposé aboutira à quelques réflexions comparatistes sur l’état de cette catégorie de textes dans les deux pays en question.

 

2 :30 p.m. BAC 132

(This talk will be in French)

 

Friday January 28, Dr. Diemo Landgraf, “Answers to Nietzsche, answers to the decadent novel in the European fin de siècle literature”

3 p.m. BAC 132

(This talk will be in English)

 

Friday February 11, Vigdis Elard, Quentin Fouville, Chloé Jouteux, “Presentation by our three lecteurs / lectrices from France”

3 p.m. BAC 132

 

Friday March 11, Julia Hoffmann and Almut Siepmann, “Presentation by our two PAD lecturers from Germany”

3 p.m. BAC 132