2023
Contested boundaries and uncharted entanglements in Evelyn Conlon’s Moving About the Place
Guest lecture: Melania Terrazas.
Aug. 30, 2023 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
Kafka Tales of the Twenty-First Century: Guest Lecture by Barbara Siller
Lecturer Dr. Barbara Siller, University College Cork, will give a talk on “Kafka Tales of the Twenty-First Century – Doors, Walls, and Fences in The Gurugu Pledge (2017) by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel and Lights in the Distance. Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (2018) by Daniel Trilling”.
Time and place: Mar. 30, 2023 2:15 PM – 4:00 PM, Harriet Holters hus, seminarrom 038
About the lecture
Contemporary narratives which foreground stories of migrants in borderspaces often tell of conditions and situations which are comparable to the ones narrated in the parable Before the Law (1915) by Franz Kafka.
In this contribution Siller will explore two selected fictional and non-fictional narratives, namely The Gurugu Pledge (Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel 2017) and Lights in the Distance. Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (Daniel Trilling 2018) by employing Kafka’s metaphor of the man waiting in front of the door.
Further insights in the narrated borderspaces are gained through Simmel’s understanding of the door and Balibar’s thinking about borders.
Whereas often in the public discourses of political elites the border appears as an abstract entity, these narratives transform the border into a palpable entity as they foreground the perspective of those who experience them.
To grasp the structure and the deeper meaning of the border, it is crucial to listen also to these voices.
The lecture is arranged in collaboration with the research groups Border Readings and Migration, Borders and Identity in Discourses and Narratives.
Cited Bibliography
- Balibar, Étienne: We, the people of Europe? Reflections on Transnational Citizenship. Princeton/Oxford 2004.
- Kafka, Franz: Vor dem Gesetz. In: Der Prozess. Zürich 2008, 182-189.
- Laurel, Juan Tomàs: The Gurugu Pledge. A Novel. Sheffield/London et al. 2017.
- Trilling, Daniel: Lights in the Distance. Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe. London 2018.
- Simmel, Georg: Bridge and Door. In: Theory, Culture & Society. London, Vol. 11. 1994, 5-10.
About Barbara Siller
Barbara Siller is Lecturer in the Department of German and the Programme Director of the MA Applied Linguistics within the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
She is the co-convenor of the Cluster «Rethinking Spatial Humanities» (casilac.ie).
Her research interests lie in the areas of literary multilingualism, literary topographies, memory studies, identity narratives, Austrian and Comparative literature, translation and self-translation.
Recent publications
(Forthcoming) Poetic niches and deep times in Sepp Mall's poetry (2023). Utopian Studies. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Mehrsprachige Texte in der 'deutschsprachigen' Literatur (2023): Barbara Siller, Sandra Vlasta, Áine McMurtry (eds.). Open access: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1246814.
Multidirektionale Erinnerungsnarrative und gendersensible Erzählperspektiven in Sabine Grubers Roman Stillbach oder Die Sehnsucht (2022). In: Markus Ender; Ulrike Tanzer; Anon Unterkircher (eds.): Mitteilungen aus dem Brenner-Archiv, 41, 53-66.
Contaminated soulscapes and landscapes in Maja Haderlap’s Engel des Vergessens/Angel of Oblivion (2020). New German Critique, 47 (1):197-215
Literarische (Mehr)Sprachreflexionen (2020). Barbara Siller & Sandra Vlasta (eds.). Wien: praesens Verlag. http://www.praesens.at/praesens2013/?p=7121.
Organizer
Border Readings Group
2022
Migration discourses and metaphor over time
Guest lecture, Charlotte Taylor
Time and place: Nov. 23, 2022 3:00 PM, room 14, PAM
In this talk, I focus on continuity and change in metaphorical framings of emigration and immigration over two centuries’ of press reporting from the Times newspaper.
While there has been extensive analysis of migration discourses in a contemporary time frame, we have relatively little understanding of how longstanding these discourse frames are, how they have developed over time, or what alternative framings have been lost through time.
This is where the kind of long-scale diachronic study made possible by combining corpus linguistics and (critical) discourse analysis can make a vital contribution.
However, the analysis of discourses over such an extended period also brings methodological challenges and, as chronologically ‘long-distance’ corpora become possible, we are pushed to develop new tools for analysis. Here, I argue that metaphors are particularly well-suited to diachronic discourse analyses because are intrinsically evaluative, permitting the investigation of ideological functions; they enable us to access non-obvious meanings; and they allow us to abstract out above the lexical level thus allowing for language variation over an extended period.
In the talk, I will draw out how the metaphors of migration have developed over time, who is the target of the metaphor in different time periods, and which metaphors have remained relatively stable and thus constitute part of our inherited discourse frame for discussing mobility.
Book launch
REPRESENTING 21ST-CENTURY MIGRATION IN EUROPE
Time and place: Mar. 8, 2022 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Zoom
Online book presentation
REPRESENTING 21ST-CENTURY MIGRATION IN EUROPE
Performing Borders, Identities and Texts
(New York: Berghahn)
Edited by Nelson González Ortega and Ana Belén Martínez García
Published Feb. 2022
Editors will present the volume and be joined by contributors who will discuss the main findings of each chapter.
2018
Erratic bodies, transitional borders, and recent migration in Europe: Representation and identity negotiations in public discourse, literature, and the arts
September 27-28, 2018
Hannah Ryggen room, Lucy Smith hus, University of Oslo
The 2015–2016 phenomenon labeled the “migrant crisis” and the “refugee crisis” generated intense discussions in the public spheres of various European societies, as well as in their private spheres. An important part of these discussions was identity negotiations: who are “we” and who are “they”? What do we want our societies and public spaces to be like? What are our values? Migration has caused visible changes in public spaces, and in the ways that receiving and transit countries see themselves, their past and future, and neighboring countries.
Call for Papers
In this workshop, we are particularly interested in examining (a) visual and multimodal phenomena, be it multimodal representation of migrants and migration, or transit and receiving societies, and (b) representations of migration, migrants, or transit and receiving societies in literature and the arts. The phenomena we will focus on include multilingual discourse, audiovisual testimonies, documentaries, graffiti, and graphic novels.
The first part of the workshop will concentrate on the public sphere: on official, semi-official, and private discourse with migrants and migration as its topic. The second part will concentrate on the representation of migration and migrants in the arts and literature. Particular attention will be given to the relation of the two general umbrella topics reflected in the two parts of the workshop.
We welcome contributions addressing these topics that are based on original, unpublished research. The workshop’s scope is Europe as an entire region. We also welcome contributions dealing with some other regions that comparatively include a view on Europe.
On the basis of the contributions to the two workshop parts (clusters), we will prepare either two special issues of academic journals or will consider including some of the contributions in an edited volume. The workshop will also serve as a basis for developing applications for funding at the national and international levels.
Abstract submission
Please send paper proposals (maximum 300 words plus references) in English to: migrations2018@ilos.uio.no. The abstracts should clearly relate to the workshop topics, indicate the area(s)/countries dealt with, state the research questions, identify the empirical material, and outline the method(s) used. Your proposal should also contain the title of your presentation, your full name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address, as well as your discipline.
Deadline for submitting abstracts: March 31st, 2018.
Acceptance notification: April 30th, 2018.
Additional information
The workshop presentations will be twenty minutes followed by ten minutes for questions and discussion.
Limited funding for accommodation might be available to support two or three doctoral students or applicants who are able to establish a lack of support for funds to attend this particular workshop, and only if they apply with highly relevant abstracts. Indicate whether you would like to be considered, and justify your case when applying.
Program
Thursday, September 27th. Migration and the Public Sphere
- 8:45–9:15 am Registration and Welcome
- 9:15–10:00 am Keynote Address
- Mitja Velikonja. The New Other: The Ideological Image of Refugees in Contemporary Slovenia
- 10:00–10:20 am Break
- 10:20–11:20 am Migrants in the Media (I)
- Mateusz-Milan Stanojević and Višnja Čičin-Šain. Not All Immigration Flows Are Created Equal: Some Are More Dangerous than Others - Andreja
- Vezovnik and Ljiljana Šarić. Symbolic Absences: Visualization of Migrants in Croatian and Slovenian Public Broadcasters’ Online News
- 11:20–11:30 am Break
- 11:30–12:30 pm Migrants in the Media (II)
- Elizaveta Kachaturyan. The Migrant Crisis in Italian Newspapers: The Role of Titles and Pictures
- Dragana Kovačević Bielicki. Norwegian “Rape Prevention Classes” in Foreign Media. A Multimodal Analysis
- 12:30–1:40 pm Lunch
- 1:40–3:10 pm Migrants and Desire, Facts and Fictions
- Prem Poddar. Erratic Passports and Economies of Desire
- Odile Heynders. Truths, Facts, and Fictions: Representations and Experiences of Migration
- Olga Michael. Reading the Self and the (Refugee) Other in Christos Tsantis’ Migozarad
- 3:10–3:30 pm Break
- 3:30–5:00 pm Borderscapes and Other Migrant Landscapes
- Johan Schimanski. Can Border Narratives Change Public Conceptions of Borders? The Norwegian–Somali Borderscape in Literature, Public Debate, and Knowledge Production 2
- Ximena Alarcón-Díaz. INTIMAL: Migrant Women’s Sonic Statements of Presence
- Melanie Küng. Refugee Tales: Opening up a Space for Displaced People
- 5:00–6:00 pm Special Guest Donato Ndongo. Blanco: Sienta a un negro a su mesa (in Spanish, with English translation)
- 7:00 pm Dinner
Friday, September 28th. Representation of Migration and Migrants in the Arts and Literature
- 9:15–10:00 am Keynote Address
- Silvia Camilotti: What Happens to Bodies When They Are Overwhelmed by History? Migration as Represented in Contemporary Italian Literature for Adults and Children
- 10:00–10:20 am Break
- 10:20–11:50 am The Politics of Migration in Art, Theater, Graphic Novel
- Jovana Mastilovic. Artivism as an Alternative to Austerity Measures and Greece’s Refugee “Crisis”
- Elizabeth Challinor. “Good” Theatre? Caught Between the Emotions, Theatricalization, and Politics of Forced Mobility
- Álvaro Llosa Sanz. Erratic Values, Transitional Voices: Europe as Borderland in the Spanish Graphic Novel La grieta (2013–2016)
- 12:00–1:00 pm Lunch
- 1:00–2:30 pm Cinema and Migration
- Laura Camacho Salgado. Erratic Bodies in Cinema: An Autopsy of Clandestine Bodies and Nations
- Alice Cati and Maria Francesca Piredda. The Italian Policies for Migrant Cinema. Modes of Representation and Production in the MigrarArti Project
- Carolina León Vegas. Space and Focalization in the Representation of the Migrant in Contemporary Spanish Film
- 2:30–2:50 pm Break
- 2:50–4:20 pm Migration, Literature, and Narration
- Ana Belén Martínez García. Written vs. Audiovisual Testimony: Narrating the Migrant Self
- Mattias Aronsson. Migrant Literature Migrating. The Case of Fatou Diome’s Le Ventre de l’Atlantique and Its Swedish Reception
- Carmen Zamorano Llena. Against the Fear of Complexity: (Re)envisioning the Alterity of the Muslim Migrant in Elif Shafak’s Honour
- 4:20–4:40 pm [video recording conference] Ludmilla A’Beckett. The Theme of Migration in A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
- 4:40–4:50 pm Closing
Organisers
- Nelson González-Ortega
- Ljiljana Saric
- Álvaro Llosa Sanz
- Johan Schimanski