The Program in Hellenic Studies and the Center for French and Francophone Studies, Columbia University present:

Luce Irigaray and ''the Greeks': Genealogies of Re-writing
FRIDAY-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1-3, 2004

Conference Program | Poster

The conference explores the ways in which Luce Irigaray’s re-writing of Ancient Greek texts not only has marked contemporary criticism but also has transformed the body of Western discourse. Luce Irigaray, feminist philosopher and rebel Lacanian, pushes against the limits of Logos by not only revealing the blind spots that structure classic discourse, but also by unsettling its impulse to reduce difference. But are the texts of the Fathers undermined by Irigaray’s mimetic strategies of re-writing? Are they given a new authoritative voice? What kinds of questions about positionality, representation, language, and politics does the Irigarayan mimesis raise? In the context of innovative re-readings of classic texts in the light of psychoanalytic feminism, the appellation “the Greeks” – stereotypically invoked to denote “ancient Greek civilization” – is used critically. What are the theoretical, cultural, and political implications of the monologic emphasis on the Greek classical past? How can we trace its routes of re-writing and translatability into various contemporary identities? How does a de-authorization of the priority of “the classical” motivate new critical treatments of the canon of the “West”?

Co-Sponsors: Institute for Research on Women and Gender and the Center for Comparative Literature and Society with the support of the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University and the Department of Women's Studies and the Barnard Center for Research on Women at Barnard College.

Organized by: Elena Tzelepis, Conference Chair, Hellenic Studies, Columbia University; and Athena Athanasiou, Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens, Greece with Eric W. Ormsby, Director Emeritus, Maison Française, Columbia University and the special assistance of Karen Van Dyck, Hellenic Studies, Columbia University, Madeleine Dobie, French, Columbia University and Vangelis Calotychos, Hellenic Studies, Columbia University.

Major funding provided by: the Sterling Currier Fund, the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation; and the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Friday 3-6:30 pm;
Saturday 9 am-6:30 pm;
Sunday 9 am-1 pm;

Maison Française: Buell Hall, East Gallery

"Visions and Voices: in Celebration of Haitian Culture"
A colloquium on Haitian Literature featuring photography by jojo Voigt
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2004, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

10:00 am
Opening remarks: Madeleine Dobie, Chair, Center for French and Francophone Studies

"Bug-Jargal: la Révolution et ses Doubles"
Dominique Jullien, Department of French and Romance Philology, Columbia University
Chair, Peter Connor, French Department, Barnard College

11:15
"La République dominicaine et les dominicains dans les lettres haïtiennes"
Léon-François Hoffmann, Department of French and Italian, Princeton University
Chair, Gita May, Department of French & Romance Philology, Columbia University

12:30
Lunch Break

2pm
"The Spirit of the Thing: Radical Universalism and the Haitian Revolution"
J. Michael Dash, Professor, Department of French and Chair, Africana Studies Program, New York University
Chair, Kaiama Glover, French Department, Barnard College

3:15pm
"Exploding National Boundaries: Writing, Identity, and the Haitian Diaspora"
H. Adlai Murdoch, Department of French, University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana
Chair; Emmanuella Turenne, Center for Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University

4:15pm
Coffee break, Philosophy Hall Lounge

4:30pm
EvelyneTrouillot presents her acclaimed novel, Rosalie l'infâme
Chair, Rose Réjouis, Literature Program, Eugene Lang College
(Readings and Discussion in French and English)

6pm
Buffet Reception, 2nd Floor Buell Hall

Program organized by Madeleine Dobie, Olivia Harrison and Andrea Thomas with the Haitian Students' Association and Priya Wadhera, Samuel Skippon and the staff of the Maison française

Philosophy Hall Lounge, Columbia University

La Maison Française de Columbia University et le Metropolitan Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French présentent une journée de séminaires:

Le rire dans l'enseignement du français

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2005, 10:30 am - 5:00 pm

Conference Program | Poster