Exchange and Circulations: Cultural Contacts and Processes of Transfer

Conveners: Charlotte Krauss (IKG 56, Freiburg University) and Clara Royer (CEFRES).

Within the last 30 years, the research on cultural transfer – with its emphasis on processes of selection, distribution and reception – has proven itself as a productive research area. The questions concerning the responsibility of actors, paths of communication and rooms of encounters and transfers have taken on greater significance. The semantic reinterpretation of cultural objects, as a result of every transfer, has been proven to be an essential part of the analysis in reference to the aspects of time and space. Depending on the context, cultural goods take up different meanings, and thus the change of setting (dépaysement) can be used as a key term in the study of transfer.

Although Germany and France were first the focus of interest, the paradigm of cultural transfer nowadays has been expanded to other regions, which previously had been examined only peripherally (Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, etc.). The research of cultural relationships is a core theme of CEFRES (French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences) in Prague and of the International Graduation School 1956 “Cultural Transfer and Cultural Identity” of the University Freiburg, which is primarily researching the relationships between Germany and Russia beginning from the late 17th century. The workshop “Exchange and Circulations,” which is organized with the cooperation of both institutions, focuses on the topic of cultural exchange and theoretical concepts, and is looking forward to receiving proposals that may relate to the following areas:

• Circulation of cultural goods and artifacts
• Actors and networks of cultural transfer
• Spaces of exchange: Voyages, migration, professional networks, etc.
• Theoretical concepts and methods of transfer

Length of papers: 20 minutes.

Language: English.