»Relevance and Narrative (Research) - An International Symposium« (Wintersemester 2014/15)
(30.09.-02.10.2014)
Despite the recent overuse of the term 'relevance' and the political and social significance attributed to 'relevant' actions and objects (of study), 'relevance' has not yet been sufficiently conceptualized. While quite a number of publications spanning the sciences and humanities feature 'relevance' in their titles, only a handful are dedicated to a thorough analysis of, and reflection on, the concept of relevance itself. This symposium on "Relevance and Narrative (Research)", to be held at the Center for Narrative Research at the University of Wuppertal, suggests conceiving of relevance and narration as two closely related, perhaps even inseparable, entities. We invite scholars to think about how the interdependence of relevance and narration can be more adequately described, and to discuss the narratological, social and political implications of the analytical concepts associated with these ideas.
We expect that, over the course of this symposium,
1. narratologists (in the widest sense of the term) can contribute to clarifying the meaning(s) of '(ir)relevance', and that their attempts to conceptualize these politically loaded terms will stimulate innovative approaches to the study of literary texts and cultural objects, thus providing new insights into various fields of social, cultural and literary studies; and that
2. this conceptualization of 'relevance' will offer innovative perspectives on traditional and current aspects of narrative research (e.g. the relationship between text and context, questions of genre, or narrative perspective), ideally leading to the construction of new narratological tools and models.
Prof. Dr. Matei Chihaia: chihaia@uni-wuppertal.de
Prof. Dr. Katharina Rennhak: rennhak@uni-wuppertal.de
