Collision, connection, cohesion: doctoral study day
UR ReSO (4582), Paul-Valéry University Montpellier 3
The Study Day for ReSO doctoral students (Research on the South and the East) will be held at Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University, Saint-Charles site, on Monday December 16, 2024. The day is open to young researchers as well as doctoral students from any university.
Argument
Through this multidisciplinary study day, we propose to explore the interactional dynamics running through societies and shaping languages, literatures and cultures. The collision can be seen as an encounter or a conflict. It is caused by a movement which can be human, artistic or even scientific. The connection can be interpreted as a possible continuation of the collision. It is marked by the establishment of links between heterogeneous groups. Finally, cohesion can be defined as a strong solidarity that emerges through the union of individuals.
Following this first reflection, our three concepts can constitute an angle of approach in the study of languages, arts or even literature. They have encouraged the emergence of numerous research in the human and social sciences, for example on the role of cultural influence and its lasting impact in the evolution of civilizations. They are interested in understanding and describing the consequences of human movements (immigration, refuge) or economic and political movements (colonization and coloniality, globalization, soft-power of Nye, 2004). More recently, technological advances and the popularity of social networks have updated communication spaces and meeting methods.
We will seek to understand the temporalities, places and modes of these notions. The civilizational, linguistic and intercultural analysis of exchanges highlights the major stages of development of societies over time. The complex process of collision, connection and cohesion can be characterized by times of violence or decisive connections and represented in numerous ways.
Art participated in highlighting crucial moments. Major works like Guernica by Picasso (1937) or El tres de mayo by Goya (1814) are representations of the ravages of war but also a form of demand and condemnation. Very recently, the invasion of Ukraine was a stark reminder of the war for many Europeans. Twenty Days in Mariupol by Mstyslav Chernov, recently awarded the Oscar, exposes all this violence. In this regard, we can emphasize the contrast between the conflicts (or collisions) encountered in art and the conflicts of real life. In the first case, following the pattern of ancient Greek tragedy, a conflict must always be followed by a resolution (catharsis) in order to reestablish ethical order. In real life, on the other hand, conflict, in other words injustice, is often not restored and remains unpunished. In other words, such a conflict remains devoid of connection and coherence and leads us to question the notion of ethics (Soual, 2011).
In literature, accounts such as Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man (1947) offer poignant perspectives on the horrors of war and their impact on humanity. At the beginning of the 1930s, the publication of La revue du monde noir founded by Paulette Nardal, René Maran and Léo Sajous is an ambivalent example. The Clamart salon allowed numerous human encounters and connections, literary cohesion and a massive collision through the rejection of colonialism.
Concerning the notion of space, intercultural zones, whether intellectual, artistic or commercial, have been essential vectors for the dissemination of knowledge and innovations, enriching societies and shaping unique identities. From a linguistic and discursive point of view, the notions of cohesion (Jaubert, 2005), connection and collision are omnipresent: ruptures or contact of languages in time or space (languages in decline, pidgins, Creole, etc.), learning a second language, argumentation (Plantin, 1996).
The rapid growth of technology and new communication media in daily habits result in the appearance of new interactional spaces. Indeed, the online press and social networks (X/Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc.) are all new areas of study concerned by this JED.
Finally, if we can give a specific existence to the concepts of connection, cohesion and collision and admit them as a point of entry and exploration of multiple disciplines, we can also raise questions on the epistemological level. Indeed, how are these notions represented in research? Can they be linked? If yes, in what way? The SHS questions themselves on methodological and scientific levels. What place for interdisciplinarity and collaborations between different fields?
Research areas
1. Discourse and language practices
Languages – Role of language policies in the world, exploration of the issues of linguistic diversity and the place of multilingualism, contacts and influences between languages: Creoles, Pidgins, Sabirs, etc.
Discourse – Construction of discourse (textual cohesion, co-reference, rhetoric), argumentation as a symbol of collisions: controversies, interactions, hate speech, etc.
2. Arts and literature
Emergence and circulation of stories shared between plurality and uniqueness, immigration in narration, the arts as reflections of tensions and harmonies, political criticism…
3. History and civilizations
Study of spaces in interaction, mechanisms at work in relationships within different communities, population movements and diasporas, connections and intercultural contacts in digital spaces…
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Contribution and communication methods
Proposals should be 500 words maximum. They will be accompanied by an indicative bibliography (3-4 references max) and a short bionote introducing you (surname, first name, institution, thesis title, research theme, etc.). Proposals must be sent before October 31 to the following email address: [email protected]
Communications will be limited to 20-25 minutes and will be followed by 5-10 minutes for discussions. The study day will be held in French.
Indicative timetable
Submission deadline: October 31, 2024 inclusive
Return of the committee: November 6, 2024
Study day: December 16, 2024
steering Committee
Lara NOUGARET and Jean MOURIER — Paul-Valéry Montpellier University, UR ReSO
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Bibliography
JAUBERT Anna (2005), Cohesion and coherence. Studies in textual linguistics, ENS Éditions
LEVI Primo (1947), If it’s a man
NARDAL Paulette, SAJOUS Léo and MARAN René (1931-1932), La revue du monde noir, Paris, Éditions de la revue monde.
NYE Joseph (2004), Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, New York: Public Affairs
PLANTIN Christian (1996), L’argumentation, Paris, Seuil.
SOUAL Philippe (2011), “Conflicts and reconciliation in ethical life according to Hegel, Revue Philosophique de la France et de l’école, 2011/4, Volume 136, p.507-526.
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