Histories and Futures of French Travelling Concepts

Understanding the development of the humanities and social sciences as intellectual adventures, the network will follow the lineages and afterlives of the French conceptual legacy. Although originating in academic French philosophy, the four central concepts we have selected have proven particularly adept at travelling across disciplinary, institutional, geographical and linguistic borders, thus constituting clear examples of “travelling concepts” in the sense proposed by Mieke Bal.

The objectives of the network are: i) to explore the status of the French conceptual legacy as a theoretical basis for current scholarship in the humanities; ii) to show how four now widespread concepts  from four domains—language (écriture), politics (l’universel), ethics (l’autre), and history (événement)—have travelled and mutated; iii) to draw methodological lessons on transdisciplinarity, international reception and concept formation from the use of French philosophy as “theory” in diverse academic and political contexts; and iv) to envisage possible futures for these concepts in the necessary responses to the challenges faced by new generations.

Anchored at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen, the network also includes Aarhus University, Stockholm University, Leiden University, and L’École des Hautes Études des Sciences Sociales, as well as associated members from other institutions.

Feel free to contact the organising group if you are interested in becoming a affiliated with the network.

Amanda Grimsbo Roswall, Kristian Olesen Toft and Anna Cornelia Ploug.

The inaugural meeting, which includes an open lecture by Giuseppe Bianco and a workshop, will take place on 19-20 March 2025, at the University of Copenhagen under the rubric “What are French Travelling Concepts?”. See calender.

The network will meet once each semester from 2025-2028. More information on subsequent meetings to follow.

For information on future events, please sign up to our mailing list by sending an email to Kristian Olesen Toft, Anna Cornelia Ploug, or Amanda Grimsbo Roswall. Please also contact us with any inqueries about the network.