Seeking Understanding
Asynchronous Session
I Write therefore I Am (Not): Reclaiming Negative Identities in Multilingual Literature
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Giulia Travaglini
Many contemporary multilingual authors face the challenge of positioning themselves in relation to purportedly monolingual cultural spaces. As argued by Yasemin Yildiz, this is due to the currency of Romantic notions of language, nationality, and literary creativity giving rise to a dynamic tension between monolingual and multilingual practices. Therefore, these writers often live and work in the state of asymptotic self-translation described by Mary Besemeres. A common way of experiencing and representing such as a state is by explicitly resisting notions of linguistic belonging and national literary identity. How do multilingual writers define their authorial identity in contexts where the notion of authorship is dependent on monolingual norms? How is resistance to monolingual imperatives channelled into new ways of relating to language? And how does the tension between mono- and multilingualism manifests itself in the literary representation of multilingual authorship? This paper focusses on the case of Jhumpa Lahiri and her use of negative constructions to (re)define her authorial persona and literary practice in Italian. Taking a cue from Riika Ala-Risku’s insight on the role of metalanguage in literary multilingualism, a close reading of metalinguistic passages from Lahiri’s multilingual works traces her evolution against the grain – from Pulitzer Prize winner writing in a global lingua franca to exophonic author in a national language that she is still learning – pointing the way to alternative ways of shaping the relationship between authors and their literary language(s).
Using the Past to Read the Present: Humanism, History, and the Study of Witchcraft
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Fabrizio Conti
This paper discusses the study of history as a central part of the humanistic tradition, naturally oriented toward a multicultural and interdisciplinary analysis and understanding of reality, which is also the core of liberal arts education. This topic is treated by taking the historical problem of witchcraft (both in terms of beliefs and persecution) as a case study, since it is a topic of cultural history which is interdisciplinary and multicultural by nature. Witchcraft, in fact, with its social implications, needs an interdisciplinary as well as a historical-comparative approach to be understood; it also has an eminently “multicultural” nature, being widespread in every geographical area from the past to the present; finally, witchcraft, as a historical issue, is linked to humanistic culture and the Renaissance since, at least in Western Europe, witchcraft beliefs began to spread precisely in the 15th century, the age of Humanism. Therefore, the study of history and, within it, witchcraft as a case study, seem to be themes intimately linked to humanistic education and capable of fostering an understanding of the past as well as a reflection on the complexities of the present.
The Phenomenology of Mental Illness: Moral Blame and Character Development
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
John Pauley,
Ava Carnes,
Ava Carnes,
Jack Campbell
In the paradigmatically humanistic discipline of philosophy, moral blame is often connected to character flaws. The person is responsible for their character as they freely make choices that determine the nature of their own character. In this paper, we discuss some classical virtues, following in the tradition of virtue ethics, and we then consider how mental illness can interfere with free choice and so normative character development. We do this by providing a phenomenology of two mental illnesses: anxiety and depression. If we are right in our analysis, the philosophical theory of virtue must be supplemented by abnormal psychology in order to see if human agents are truly responsible for their own character. In the final section of the essay we reflect on the implications of our analysis for moral education and the humanities/social science. In order to reach full agency, adolescents must be capable of normative character development. If mental illness inhibits this development, we cannot expect the resulting adults to be fully responsible for their character and this conclusion has many important implications for the concept and reality of moral blame.
