International Seminar on
LANGUAGES AND CULTURES IN CONTACT IN THE ROMANCE NOVEL
UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA
(Canary Islands, Spain)
June 21st-23rd 2017
Romance novels have often been dismissed by critics because of their
nature as a popular genre and for being written and read largely by
women. However, in the last decade a number of scholars have approached
the study of the romance novel with critical rigor and avoiding the
condescending treatment of previous analyses. Quite often in romance
novels we encounter characters that have very different backgrounds:
come from different countries and cultures, speak different languages,
belong to very different social strata or are, in some other way, an
“Other” to the rest of the characters and/or the intended readers. This
International Seminar invites proposals in which the main characters or
other important characters in the text can be considered as “Other”,
with special consideration given to linguistic and cultural others.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- English-language novels that take place in the Canary Islands or other Atlantic /Caribbean islands
- Paradise discourse
- Cross-cultural clashes
- Languages in contact: codeswitching and/or language mixing
- Bilingualism, biculturalism and identity
- Metalinguistic references and/or speech representation
- The “Other” as a romance hero or heroine
- Gender discourses
This International Seminar is organized by the “Discourse, Gender &
Identity” Project Group (grant FFI2014-53962-P, funded by the Spanish
Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and the Research Team
“Sociolinguistic & Sociocultural Studies” working at the ULPGC
Department of Modern Languages. We invite proposals for paper
presentations which must be sent as an email attachment by
January 31st 2017 to
isabel.gonzalezcruz@ulpgc.es
Abstracts will not exceed 350 words (excluding the references) and will
outline the topic to be discussed in 20-minute sessions followed by ten
minutes for discussion. The following details should also be provided in
the abstract: 1) Title of paper 2) Name and affiliation of each author
3) email address of each author 4) between 3 and 5 keywords.
All proposals will be reviewed
within four weeks of submission. The main language of the Seminar will be English but presentations in Spanish will also be considered.
Further information about registration, accommodation and details about
publication of selected papers will be provided shortly in a second call
for papers.
