[Dino] Conference: Multilingualism and multiculturalism in Finno-Ugric literatures

[Satu Gröndahl]

CALL FOR PAPERS

11th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS FOR FENNO-UGRIC STUDIES
9-14. 08. 2010., Piliscsaba, HUNGARY

http://fu11.btk.ppke.hu/


  Symposium 14 ? ????????? ? 14


    Multilingualism and multiculturalism in Finno-Ugric literatures

*Org. Laakso, Johanna <johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at> ? Domokos, Johanna
<jdomokos at humnet.ucla.edu>
*

Cultural dialog, difference and diversity reflected in the present  
multicultural
literatury critisim should move the traditional ? de facto  
reductionist ? literary
perspective toward a more inclusive focus on intra- and intercultural  
diversity and
polyvocality. After the African American initial push in the 1950-60s,  
the multicultural
movement has been rekindled universally since the 1980s by ethnic and  
immigrant groups,
women, handicapped people, and people with varying sexual preferences.  
The multicultural
perspective on literature does not want to exclude these voices and  
themes that revolve
around their lives. Moreover it is interested in the heterogeneous  
aspect of literary
processes and looks to the intertwining of all the (sub)cultural  
components in a literary
world. The three most dynamic social factors in the presently ongoing  
process of
multiculturalisation (globalization, migration and ethnic  
revitalisation) have caused a
deep transformation in the production of meaning. Apart from the  
excitement or anxiety
these elements may produce, it is undoubtedly important to rethink the  
meaning of
literature ? as (multi)cultural practice ? and the role of humanistic  
knowledge in its
construction. Multicultural literature offers a special framework for  
the analysis of old
and newly formed literary processes by focusing special attention on  
cultural, political
and social differences in literary communication. This multicultural  
space gives birth to
a multiplicity of culturally-inscribed subject positions, a  
displacement of normative
reference codes, and new meanings.
The literatures of the Finno-Ugric peoples offer numerous interesting  
examples of
explicit and implicit multilingualism (overt use of many languages  
within one text,
overtly multilingual authors, "covert" presence of other languages,  
etc. ). For a variety
of historical and ideological reasons, this multilingualism has  
largely been neglected,
in both literary studies as well as in linguistics. This symposium  
seeks new avenues of
research into literary multilingualism in the Finno-Ugric world,  
within the broader
context of connections between Finno-Ugric literary studies and  
linguistics, focusing on
questions such as the following:

    * - How and to what extent do linguistic research methods and
      theories of code-switching, language contact and multilingualism
      apply to research on the phenomena of literary multilingualism?
    * - Are there characteristics common to or typical of the
      multilingualism in Finno-Ugric literatures?
    * - How does the construction of "linguistic landscapes" by
      (references to) multilingualism relate to the multilingual
      realities in which many Finno-Ugrians actually live?
    * - What techniques do Finno-Ugrian authors use in order to
      highlight the contrast between their language and the neighbouring
      or majority language? What kind of impact does multiculturality
      have on linguistic structures (interference, transference,
      code-switching, nonce-borrowing etc.)?
    * - How do Finno-Ugrian authors use multilingual phenomena for
      constructing their ?Finno-Ugritude??

The symposium will consist of the contributions of 10-15 invited  
speakers and a general
discussion open to all participants of the CIFU.