Planned interdisciplinary workshop on reception of Mein Kampf

[Stefan Baumgarten]

Aston University - Institute for the Study of Language and Society:
General announcement and invitation to interdisciplinary workshop on reception of Mein Kampf

The Institute for the Study of Language and Society at Aston University is organising a one-day workshop on the reception of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' in the Anglo-American world. This interdisciplinary workshop will be held in the school of Languages and European Studies. It is scheduled for autumn 2003 (exact date to be confirmed). Please forward this information to colleagues with research expertise or interest in this field. 

One of the main objectives of this conference is to discuss possible misinterpretations of the book's underlying ideology on the part of an English-speaking readership. The workshop will focus on the book's reception between 1926 to 1945, and the following issues will be addressed:

·        the origins of the book's misinterpretations in relation to key political events (e.g. the underestimation of the book's significance, its content and rhetorical force by contemporary observers)

·        the role of language and translation in the book's reception and (mis)interpretation as a corollary of this general underestimation

We would like to invite scholars from such diverse fields as Political/Social Theory, Literary Theory, History, Sociology, German Studies, or (Critical) Linguistics. We plan to have 4-6 presentations to be followed by general discussions. If you are interested in attending the workshop or in giving a brief presentation on an aspect of the above theme, please contact us at the following address:

Coordinators: 

Stefan Baumgarten [baumgars at aston.ac.uk]

Christina Schäffner [isls at aston.ac.uk, or cschaeffner at aston.ac.uk]

Postal address:

ISLS, School of Languages and European Studies

Aston University, Aston Triangle

Birmingham B4 7ET

Phone: 0121 359 3611; Ext. 4224/4289

Fax: 0121 359 6153 

For more detailed information on the historical background and workshop organisation please see the ISLS website:  http://www.les.aston.ac.uk/whatsnew.html/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/critics-l/attachments/20030130/626fd249/attachment.htm>