“God is in thedetails” Areflection on methodology in the humanities
A conference organized within the activities of the Graduate School HumanaeLitterae, University of Milan, via Festa del perdono 7, Milan.
June, 10-11 2010
Conferencewebsite: users.unimi/godetails
Email:godetails@unimi.it
Call for papers
We invite papers for an interdoctoralconference, aimed at a reflection on the methodology in the humanities. Themain focus of the conference will be on texts, considered as the common groundbetween the different disciplines. The starting point is Erich Auerbach's statement,according to which, starting from a kind of observation focused on detail, onthe single distinctive mark - through a gradual widening of the perspective beyond the limits of specializedknowledge - itis possible to set the terms of a discourse which interprets the relationshipbetween general and particular:
It ispatiently impossible to establish a synthesis by assembling all theparticulars. Perhaps we shall be able to do so by selecting characteristicparticulars and following up their implications. this method consists infinding unusually fertile areas or key problems on which it is rewarding toconcentrate, because they open up a knowledge of a broader context and cast alight on entire historical landscapes. (Erich Auerbach, Literary Languageand Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages )
On the basis of the motto chosen for thetitle of the conference – used by artists and intellectuals coming fromdifferent backgrounds, such as Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Gustave Flaubert, AbyWarburg e Mies Van der Rohe - papersare encouraged to analyse one or more details of any object which can be readas text, in order to single out its distinctive features and, subsequently, toprovide its interpretation in a wider perspective. The research horizon shallbe widened in order to highlight and interpret the dialogue the textestablishes with systems on a higher level (cultural, historical, cognitive,etc).
Abstractscould start from the following questions:
- how does one comprehend the conceptual world (frame) of an author starting from the analysis of a single portion of a text (a passage in a literary or philosophical work, a historical essay, a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, a sequence in a film)?
- what kind of information does the birth (or the disappearing) of an artistic form provide on human cognitive skills or on a given historical period?
- how is it possible to link the details of spatial organization to a wider reading (aesthetical, cultural, or historical) of the landscape?
- how is it possible to put forward a hypothesis on human mind starting form single data (for example a logical paradox or a mathematical formula)?
- What kind of relationship is it possible to establish between a single case-study (for example one of local history) o a detail in a source (of any kind, from the official document to a film) and wider dynamics (historical, cultural, political or social)?
- how is it possible to assess the different ways of approaching texts? What are the advantages of the “sample method”? What different ways of research can integrate it?
Papers shall start from a concrete analysis of the object of research andhighlight aspects of the methodology, or foster a reflection on it. Abstractsproposing original applications of the suggested research perspective orengaging in a critical reflection on other already experimented methodologiesare particularly encouraged. Papers from outside the humanities are alsowelcome, provided that they stick to the suggested reflection.
Youngresearchers –graduate students in particular - are invited to submit. Each sessionwill be chaired by a faculty professor, while eminent specialists will bediscussants.
Discussants:
Carlo Ginzburg (ScuolaNormale Superiore )
Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo (Universitàdegli Studi di Padova)
Mario Vegetti (Universitàdegli Studi di Pavia)
Submissionguidelines:
Abstracts for20-minute presentation (with additional 10-minutes for discussion) should notexceed 500 words with an additional page for referencesand/or data, and should only include the title of the presentation. They should be sent as .pdf or .doc attachments to this address: godetails@unimi.it. The body of the emailshould also include paper title, author's name and affiliation.
Proposals will be anonymously peer-reviewed. Selectedpaper will be published in the proceedings of the conference. The officiallanguages of the conference are Italian and English.
Important dates:
March1, 2010 deadline for abstracts submission
March 15, 2010notification of acceptance
For any information please contactthe organizing comittee:Luca Daino, Maddalena Giovannelli, Sara Sullam, StefanoVersace at godetails@unimi.it