Dear Colleagues,
We have the pleasure of inviting you to „Migratory Voices: Mediterranean Unity In Diversity” International Conference and the Mediterranean Network PEN Meeting organized by Croatian PEN Centre in collaboration with French PEN Centre, Slovene PEN Centre, Trieste PEN Centre, and the University of Zadar (Department of Italian Studies Department of French and Francophone Studies, Department of Hispanic and Iberian Studies).
The Conference and the Meeting will take place in the city of Zadar (Croatia) from 10th to 13th October 2019.

The Event includes three-day Conference programme, Mediterranean Network PEN Meeting, and literary readings open to academic, PEN and general audiences.


Conference scope and the background of the Event:
„Migratory Voices: Mediterranean Unity In Diversity” is the title of the project that builds its programmatic scope on one of the core values that the contemporary European Union inherited from its culturally rich historical past: on the value of inclusion exemplified in the concept of “unity in diversity (lat. discordia concors) as the harmonious combination of the opposites, and its adjacent concepts of remembrance, but also of tolerance, curiosity and openness leading to mutual understanding.
The framework of the Mediterranean PEN Network (with the International conference as its central event) is connecting local cultures, sets of knowledge and values with more general European context of dealing with the actualities such as migratory “problem” in cultural, historical and civic context of understanding.
Many Mediterranean countries have been undergoing traumatic transition characterized by massive displacement of people connected to various forms of intolerance, racism, violence, abuse and social exclusion under the guise of protecting the national and ideological homogeneity. Conflict as the common outcome of ostentatious capitalism and political propaganda monopolizing cultural and intellectual production, hampers the survival of humanistic values that had been developed in the long history of the Mediterranean culture.
The heritage of the Mediterranean culture is in the concept of the Encounter with the Other, where crossing the geographical boundaries also implies opening the space for dialogue. The times we live in now are characterized by the collapse of global security in Europe. However, we can get into grips with the global crisis characterized by the fear of the Other by changing the concept of «we versus them» with the open, non-inclusive, dialogical dynamics of «you and me» that has already proved as possible in the historical context of cultural exchange and the flow of the written word in the Mediterranean region.
Zadar is the city situated at the crossroads of Mediterranean cultural and literary paths. Zadar appeared for the first time in history in the 4th century B.C. as a settlement of the Illyrian tribe of Liburnians – the name Jader was mentioned, and through history it changed into Idassa, Jadera, Diadora, Zara during Venetian rule and later Italian up to today’s name of Zadar. The Siege of Zara or Siege of Zadar was the first major action of the Fourth Crusade and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders. Zadar is the ideal location for promoting and revaluating multiculturalism and the exchange of ideas, the dialogical potential of the Mediterranean cultural space in the context of Europe today through various historical/artistic/cultural-studies based approaches, discussions, literary testimonies and readings.
“The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II” by Fernand Braudel, revolutionized the study of Mediterranean history on its publication in 1949. In the scholarly period “after Braudel”, experts from diverse fields of research (interested in cultural aspects of the region, maritime history, naval history, the history of the early modern world and the historiographical legacy of Braudel, but also experts on history of population, cultural geographers etc., are trying to re- evaluate, re-conceptualize and re-actualize “Mediterranean studies” in the actual context of recent migrations, and in the context of EU-s identity policies and polities on cultural diversity, civic standards for intercultural dialogue and other important issues. However, the importance of the creative, literary “migratory voices”, and the importance of bridging the cultural “gap” with literary translation is one of the most important aspects of the “Mediterranean spirit”.
Although functioning as a global and dynamic network of interrelated forces, or contemporary World is endangered by new tendencies of extreme nationalism, xenophobia and intolerance. „Human geographies“ connected to the Mediterranean coastal cities, and diverse „linguistic landscapes“ of the Mediterranean region – make the topic that is valuable in the current debates on national languages, the regional languages and dialects, but also debates on migrant languages that have collectively marked the public space of the Mediterranean as it used to be and as it is today.

Technical Information:
We accept conference proposals in the following languages: French, Italian, Spanish, English and Croatian.

Deadline for sending Abstracts: 15-08-2019
Notification of acceptance: 01-09-2019
Deadline for the payment of the Conference fee: 15-09-2019

Please, send your proposal in one (1) single document consisting of the following:
• name and surname
• affiliation (if applicable)
• contact (address, e-mail)
• proposed presentation title*
• a presentation abstract* (max. 500 words, plus 5 keywords)
• a short CV of the author* (max. 250 words)

*both in presentation language and in English

Please, ensure that you include your surname as the first word in the file name of the document you send, followed by the acronym of the conference MC_PEN (e.g. Smith_MC_PEN)

We kindly ask you not to send any additional documents beyond the material requested above.

Send your proposals at:
pen@pen.hr


Conference fee

The conference fees are put towards the costs of running the conference.
• The conference fee for academic participants who arrange their own accommodation is 70€


Payment details:

Sveučilište u Zadru / University of Zadar
Mihovila Pavlinovića 1
23 000 Zadar
Hrvatska

IBAN HR1124070001100609482
SWIFT OTPVHR2X Proforma invoice 58100

Bank details:
OTP Hrvatska d.d.
Domovinskog rata 61
21000 Split, Croatia
Purpose: 'Participant's Name – Mediterranean Conference Fee '

Looking forward to seeing you.

Yours sincerely,

Organizing Committee
Sibila Petlevski, Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb - Chair
Iva Grgić Maroević, University of Zadar
Vanda Mikšić, University of Zadar
Mario Županović, University of Zadar
Tomica Bajsić, President of the Croatian PEN Centre