An international conference planned for October 2018 at York University seeks to gather researchers from various fields interested in Lusophone studies, and is accepting papers until Nov. 30.
The three-day conference, Expressions of Lusofonia, will look at research in the Lusophone field that falls within the mission of York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, specifically within the disciplines of social sciences and humanities.
The University will host this global conference with two international committees (an organizing committee and a and scientific committee). The conference is of particular importance to York as the University has the largest numbers of researchers working in the Lusophone world of any university in Canada.
Organizers anticipate the conference will explore a number of broad questions, including:
• What synergies have been established between researchers of the Lusophone world?
• What is the status of Lusophone studies internationally?
• What has been the development of Portuguese language within the contexts of second and third language learning?
• Which Lusophone literary, cultural, and artistic expressions have found a place among different publics?
The Portuguese language has taken on a global position in a world of super-diversity, of migratory movements and social, political, economic, and technological upheavals. This reality is clearly manifested on the Internet, in large part due to the constant growth of the Lusophone communities around the world and the intensification of local and diasporic relationships.
Today, perhaps more than ever, Portuguese language is a unifying factor and a predominant source of identity in those countries where it is an official language, as well as their expatriate communities. In addition, the interest in the Portuguese language is visible in its value as a transnational language in the global economy, a value evidenced in the growing demand in Asia and Latin America.
The Lusophone world has created several congregational structures at various levels (The International Institute of Portuguese Language, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, the Observatory of the Portuguese Language, to name a few), which have produced synergies and movements between its transnational communities, thus contributing to Lusofonia’s rising international visibility.
This conference will take place in Toronto, where several communities from Lusophone countries and regions, such as Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Macau, and Goa, co-exist harmoniously within the city’s cultural fabric.
York University will be recognized as one of the two Canadian universities that offer a degree in Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies (BA or honours minor), and will celebrate 10 years of existence in 2018. York University also hosts the Canadian Centre for Azorean Research and Studies (CCARS), the Associação de Estudos Lusófonos/Lusophone Studies Association and Projeto de História Luso-canadiana/Portuguese Canadian History project.
For more information on the conference or on submitting a paper, visit the conference website.