Workshop
Authenticity
Freitag, 5. Mai 2017, 09.00-17.30 Uhr
Samstag, 6. Mai 2017, 09.00-13.00 Uhr
Haus zur Lieben Hand, Großer Saal
The graduate School Factual and Fictional Narration has been interested in the peculiarities of factual narration and the similarities and differences between factuality and fictionality. Part of this approach demands investigating the how and why certain media and genre try to generate a certain degree of authenticity, while others insist on their fictionality. Comparing authenticating strategies between and across media has proven a very productive study.
In particular, we are interested in how authenticity compares with concepts like truth, reality, the real, verisimilitude, mimesis, etc. When we looked at all the recent publications on authenticity, we were stunned to see in how many different disciplines that concept has become a key concept. Hence the idea of this workshop which tries to bring together people from different disciplines to discuss what they all mean by the term authenticity, which other concepts it is opposed to, and what exactly in texts, medias or objects would be considered to be authentic. We will therefore be looking at a multiplicity of uses and media that use authentification strategies in order to be able to discuss the similarities and differences, for instance in comparison with oral narrative.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT
The workshop will begin on Friday May 5th 2017. There will be two 90 minutes sessions before noon and another two in the afternoon. In each session one or two of our guest presenters will talk about their ideas on authenticity and its problematic (roughly 10 minutes each). The presenters will choose an essay (no more than 20 pages) for everyone to be read in advance, and the organisers may add a third essay to that list. The main work in the session will consist in discussion about the remarks of the presenters and the essays. The same format will apply on Saturday morning, i.e. two sessions of 90 minutes each. There will be also be one session assigned to a discussion group, working on essays chosen beforehand by the members of the graduate school.
On Friday evening we will have a plenary lecture by Prof. William Ian Miller.
Presenters:
- Thiemo Breyer (Colone)
- Florian Coulmas (Duisburg)
- Nick Groom (Exeter)
- Jeff Karem (Cleveland, OH)
- William Ian Miller (Michigan)
- Mikko Salmela (Helsinki)
- Julia Straub (Bern)
