Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
> Blaise Pascal Instituut > Girard Studiekring > COV&R 2007
FOCUS AND PREVIEW
April 27, 2007
At this very moment I live in one of the most interesting countries in
Europe. This is the opening line of an essay written by the Dutch novelist, Margriet
de Moor. In her essay, which was published in one of the Dutch daily
newspapers on 10th March 2007, de Moor explores the potential of the
Netherlands as a laboratory to study tolerance. Actually, to claim to live in
one of the most interesting countries in Europe is almost considered an act of megalomania
in the eyes of the Dutch, used as we are that things are done rather
unobtrusively. And yet, Margriet de Moor articulates
an intuition that over the last two years has grown into a more or less
outspoken truth.
From the very beginning
this truth has been part of the process of organizing the COV&R
Conference 2007. The steering committee met for the first time on 5th
November 2004, just three days after the killing of Theo van Gogh.
By the time the second meeting was held on 25th February 2005, Geert
Mak had published his seminal pamphlet as a
reaction on the killing and in support of a
culture of vulnerability. During the
months that followed more pamphlets and articles saw the light, some written in
a polemical and others in a more impressionistic style, but all exposing the
difficulties of the Dutch intellectual and political elites to come to grips
with the issues at stake: vulnerability and tolerance in a multicultural
society at the crossroads of local values and global tendencies. Moreover, and
quite surprisingly to the Dutch, foreigners had joined in as well.
The intuition that the
debate in and about the Netherlands does epitomise fundamental questions
concerning vulnerability and tolerance in todays world, as is written in the
call for papers, has proved to be true, even more so over the last half year.
The COVR 2007 Conference, therefore, is a unique opportunity to join the debate
and to explore these questions from a mimetic point of view. We are happy that
a number of interesting speakers has agreed to take part in this
endeavour.
Speakers
The opening session will take place at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the university
that bestowed René Girard with his first honorary doctorate in 1985. Mgr.
Ad van Luyn s.d.b., the
bishop of Rotterdam and chairman of the Netherlands chapter of Pax Christi will open the conference. Being involved
with Pax Christi and representing the Catholic Church
in its relations with the Jewish community Bishop van Luyn
has shown a keen interest in a peaceful and just solution to the conflict in
the Middle East. Being based in Rotterdam, the most controversial multicultural
city in the Netherlands Bishop van Luyn has been
outspoken on issues concerning migration, stressing an approach to immigrants,
which stimulates them to participate and not necessarily to integrate.
We invited Ian Buruma to
deliver the keynote
lecture and are happy that he agreed to do so. Buruma, born in the Netherlands but
having lived most of his life in Japan, UK and United States, is the author of
Murder in Amsterdam and also known as the co-author, together with Avishai Margalit, of the widely acclaimed
essay Occidentalism. The West in the Eyes of its Enemies (2004). In an
earlier book, Gods Dust. A Modern Asian Journey (1989), Buruma
deconstructs a romantic view on modern Asia. A common theme in all his books is
the rejection of stereotypical cultural dichotomies. Buruma
portrays the complexities of the lives people live and narrate, constrained and
motivated as they are by their personal and collective histories. In his latest
book Murder
in Amsterdam, he applies this approach on the situation in the Netherlands
and draws a sharp and insightful picture of the different actors in the Dutch
drama. Buruma holds the mirror and this hasnt been
that pleasant for some of the most prominent actors. It comes to no surprise
that from the moment of publication the book has triggered a new thread in the
debates, both in the Netherlands and in international fora
(see the link on the COVR 2007 website). Or to formulate it in the words of Buruma, the book, like Maks
pamphlet, has gradually turned into a bludgeon, a verbal stick to beat up people whose views one dislikes.
While Buruma
will focus on the developments in the Netherlands, Wolfgang
Palaver (University of Innsbruck) will follow up on his lecture and
explore the potential of the mimetic theory to further clarify the tensions and
complexities presented by Buruma.
Mgr. van Luyn,
Ian Buruma and Wolfgang Palaver are only three of the
many speakers during the conference. First of all, René Girard should be mentioned. He will speak on representations
of animal scapegoating at the neolithic
site of Çatalhoyuk in central Turkey. Jean-Michel Oughourlian
will address issues of envy and resentment in the current terror wars. He will
be followed by Henri Beunders, professor of History of Society, Media and Culture at the
Erasmus University, Rotterdam, whose lecture will focus on the role of the
media in the formation of envy and resentment. Multiculturalism, resentment and
democracy are the topics Stefano Tomelleri is going to address. Roberto Farneti has agreed to open
the session on Reconciliation as the
conversion of negative into positive reciprocity with a talk on theories of
conflict in Western thought. Mark Anspach will speak on revenge and reconciliation and Sergio Manghi
(University of Parma) will look at reconciliation in Batesonian
therapy. Joachim Duyndam,
chairman of the Netherlands Levinas Study Circle has
agreed to give a keynote on self-sacrifice, with Sandor Goodhart as respondent. A special session will be
devoted to complex systems. Here the speakers are David Chavalarias (Centre de Recherches et Epistémologie
Appliqué (CREA) and Gusti Eiben (University
of Maastricht). The lecture of the Dutch theologian Erik Borgman (Radboud
University Nijmegen) has the title The Weak Presence of Grace. A Theological
Plea for the Return to the Ambivalences of Modernity. Another speaker is the
Iranian Islamic scholar and 2004 laureate of the Erasmus Prize, Abdulkarim Soroush.
Papers
But let us not forget to mention the sixty participants who have sent
abstracts of their papers. They come from different parts of the world,
including South Africa, Colombia, Australia, Japan, Portugal and the Czech
Republic. Together the abstracts present a promising picture of the varied ways
in which the theme of the conference can be approached. We are looking forward
to the discussions and exchange of views stimulated by the paper presenters. In
order to facilitate pre-conference communication the abstracts,
together with the contact information of the authors, are posted on the conference
website. We would kindly urge the paper presenters to send us their papers before 1st June 2007, so
that we can make them available to all participants before the conference
starts. By having the papers available in advance the steering committee aims
to organize more space for discussion during the conference.
Accommodation
A well framed programme requires space for socializing and relaxation.
We are preparing a recreational programme on Friday evening, with some
specially designed city walks through parts of the old city of Amsterdam,
followed by a dinner cruise on the canals. Meanwhile Kontakt der Kontinenten
has ample possibilities for relaxation. There are playing grounds for sports
ranging from jeux de boules
to volleyball. There are bicycles for hire and on Sunday a special bicycle trip
is scheduled for those who like to stay a little longer.
All together we are confident that
both the programme and the venue guarantee an inspiring conference. We are
looking forward to welcome you all on the 4th July in Amsterdam.
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