Invitation to an International Conference

Re-Learning to Be Human

Cultural Borders and Border Cultures

RVP Iași Center at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania

November 2-3, 2018 

Conference Program 

Theme

As part of RVP Iași Center’s project Re-Learning to be Human for Global Times: The Role of Intercultural Encounters, which focuses on the role of intercultural encounters, the November 2-3 conference attempts to investigate the meaningful experiences of cultural borders and the complex realities of border cultures.Discussions on these topics can take into account of the following aspects:

- A border is typically defined as an exterior limit, a surrounding line or the confines of a country, or any regions of land. However, a border can be also understood as a boundary that delineates a community and separates it from others. This sense of boundary can refer to what people consciously or unconsciously want to keep or change as their own cultural borders.

- A border marks the contiguity of several spaces or territories where different communities meet. It is a formalized place of transit which allows interaction and exchange of different peoples and cultures. Around the borders hybrid identities are produced by diverse and heterogeneous border-crossing activities. The emergence of border identities brings together dissimilar elements, which cannot be defined only by one side, but rather must be understood as a dynamic product of multi-facet interactions and exchanges.

- Border cultures thus become “fusion spaces” where two or more cultures not only share the same border territory but also interact and integrate with one another. As our world is increasingly shaped by the processes of hybridization and intermingling, different symbols and stories become more intimately interwoven with the locals. The borderland as a producer of new cross-cultural identities presages what could happen in many regions of the contemporary world characterized by multiple identities and deterritorialization.

- Cultures are neither stereotypical nor fixed, but shaped and reshaped through constant interactions with other cultures. Whereby people discover new meanings from their own (already hybrid) cultural understandings. A culture is not necessarily bound by a territory; rather it is people who are the carriers, movers, consumers, and inventors of cultures. When moving from one place to another, they carry their cultures – and borders – with them.

If we consider these particularities of cultural borders and border cultures, then borders can be considered to engender cross-cultural identities and hybrid identities in a continuous process of evolution. Thus, it is more meaningful to talk about the dynamic of life and the meaning of cultural realities. Hence, this conference invites contributions of, but not limited to, the following topics:

- Re-examining cultural borders

- Bridging cultural differences

- Cross-cultural identities and hybridization

- Border cultures: narratives from within and without

- Cultural and intercultural values in re-learning to be human for global times

It is hoped that scholars and thinkers from around the world will be able to share their experiences and understandings of intercultural encounters within, across and beyond cultural borders.

Abstract

Please send 300 words and a brief C.V. to Professors Dan Chițoiu [dan811@yahoo.com] and Oana Cogeanu [oa_na_co@yahoo.com] and cua-rvp@cua.edu by September 30, 2018. Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings.

Logistics 

There is no registration fee. All travel expenses and hotel costs will be covered by the participants (or their home institutions). The local organizer will help locate less expensive hotels and provide some meals during the conference.

Contact

Dan Chițoiu [dan811@yahoo.com]

Oana Cogeanu [oa_na_co@yahoo.com]

RVP Iași Center at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University

Iași, Romania