The Humanities Conference will be held at the University of Iceland this weekend. The conference starts on Friday 13 March. The Conference theme is light; a contribution to the United Nation‘s International Year of Light. The theme will be tackled from various points-of-views.
Three symposiums will be conducted entirely or partly in English; “Language is the light of the mind”: Is English in Iceland a Threat or Evidence of an Enriched Linguistic Repertoire” will address the question of the position of English in Iceland and its relation to Icelandic language and culture. All five talks in this symposium will be in English and address this dynamic topic in a variety of ways. The symposium “Að varpa ljósi á framandi heima”, where translation as a theoretical problem is dealt with, starts with three talks in English considering general themes in the area, and specific issues concerning translation between English and Icelandic. The symposium on light in literature and film, “birtubrigði”, opens with a talk by visiting Professor Michele Broccia on light in the poetry of Philip Larkin – the rest of that symposium is in Icelandic. Links with more information (mostly in Icelandic):
A special symposium in English, the Trouble with Memory, will be hosted in connection with the Humanities Conference this year by the Ireland-Iceland Memory Studies Network. The panels will focus on Irish and Icelandic issues with special emphasis on memory and memorialisation. Subject areas include The Middle Ages, Landscape, Heritage, Crisis, War, and Travel. Papers will deal with one or more of the above issues, either from a comparative perspective or with an emphasis on one of the two countries.
The Ireland-Iceland Memory Studies Network is supported by the Centre for Studies in Memory and Literature, University of Iceland, The Irish Memory Studies Network, The Humanities Institute University College Dublin and the Humanities Institute at the University of Iceland.