Departmental Colloquia Bring Together Students and Faculty Across the Languages

Four sessions of the Romance Languages Colloquia in Fall 2003 brought students and faculty from French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish together to discuss current research projects as well as issues of theory and the profession.

The semester began with the August 28 roundtable entitled, “Perceptions of Medieval Studies from Inside and Out” lead by Dr. Noel Fallows, Professor of Spanish, Dr. Amélia Hutchinson, Lecturer of Portuguese, and Dr. Catherine Jones, Associate Professor of French. Each panelist spoke of the initial decision to dedicate his or her scholarship to the field of medieval studies noting the attraction of its alterity and the allure of manuscript culture and archival research. The audience was treated to an explanation of how to date and compare manuscripts in the preparation of a critical edition by Dr. Fallows, a discussion of the formation of the field of medieval literature in the 19th century and its current trends by Dr. Jones, and an introduction to understanding manuscript images by Dr. Hutchinson.

On September 25, Dr. Simone Castaldi, Instructor of Italian, presented a portion of his doctoral dissertation, defended at Brown University, entitled, "Adult fumetti and the postmodern, poetics of the Italian sequential art in the seventies and eighties." Dr. Castaldi displayed and explained the aesthetics of numerous fascinating images from his own collection of now rare Italian comic books, contextualizing their ephemeral references to contemporary Italian politics and art history.

The third session of the semester was a roundtable held October 23 and entitled, “Francophone and Transatlantic Studies: The Necessity of Redefining Disciplinary Boundaries.” The session was lead by Dr. Leslie Feracho, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Dr. Jean-Pierre Piriou, Professor of French, and Dr. Elizabeth Wright, Assistant Professor of Spanish. The panelists discussed their personal decisions in defining their own fields of scholarship and their thoughts about future trends. They also compared their experiences of professional practices in Europe and North America. The audience was able to consider the merits of reworking traditional fields such as Golden Age Literature in the work of Dr. Wright, the historical emergence of Francophone studies in the presentation of Dr. Piriou, and the problematics of hybrid identity and culture that dissolve the need for boundaries, but increase the need for comparative scholarship, in the work of Dr. Feracho. A lively discussion of professional choices regarding passion and practical matters followed.

On November 20, Dr. Timothy Raser, Associate Professor of French presented his recent research to be published in the volume, Baudelairean Discourses, edited by Sonya Stephens of Royal Holloway, University of London. His presentation was entitled, “Recognizing Beauty: Baudelaire's Art Criticism and his Dispute with the Canon.” The audience was lead to reconsider dominant views in Baudelaire criticism regarding his critiques of contemporary art. Dr. Raser analyzed Baudelaire’s use of citation and Kant’s theory of aesthetics, explaining for the audience images by Baudelaire’s choice of an exemplary modern painter: Constantin Guys.

The Romance Languages Colloquia are held one Thursday a month from 5-6 p.m. in 320 Gilbert Hall. The Romance Languages Fund provides coffee and croissants. Please see the UGA Master Calendar or the Romance Languages Events page for upcoming colloquia in Spring 2004.