A General Introduction to 2017 World Humanities Conference

Presentation

Liege will host the World Humanities Conference from Sunday, the 6th, to Saturday, the 12th of August, 2017. Co-organized by UNESCO, the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences(CIPSH), and the World Humanities Conference–Liège 2017 Foundation, this congress will gather about 1800 participants from all over the world working in the fields of science, politics, art, and communication, as well as representatives of international, governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The title of the conference is:-World Humanities Conference. Challenges and Responsibilities for a Planet in Transition;-Conférence Mondiale des Humanités. Défis et responsabilités pour une planète en transition.

Until the Second World War, the Humanities were at the heart of both public debate and the political arena. In recent years, their role has faded, and they have been marginalized. It is crucial to stop their marginalization, restore them, and impose their presence in the public sphere as well as in public policies. It is not about demonstrating that the humanities are useful, but to determine their scope and how they can contribute to resolving the main challenges of the third millennium.

Anthem of Humanity

Prior to the World Humanities Conference of August 2017, the 2016 campaign “Debout Citoyen!” (Stand up, Citizen!) led to the creation of an anthem by Rhonny Ventat, a famous Liégeois composer, saxophonist, and “Ambassador of the Province of Liege,” to induce human reflection.

Rhonny Ventat describes the progress of his work as follows:

The peoples have always complied with their conditions or have stood up for their rights and their life quality. The anthem describes this process. At the heart of this work, before the great final “gathering” of the peoples, a quotation appears to the song “Valeureux Liégeois” expressing the obvious connection to the Liégeois identity and its culture that opens up to others…In the course of the anthem, the instruments gather together in that unifying whole without differences and without frontiers, hoped for ever since the beginning of human history.”

Download Anthem

Venue

Liège: LIEGETOURISME

Partners

UNESCO wishes to revitalize the humanities through a global event where the most qualified representatives of the main disciplines will face the great challenges of our time.

The CIPSH, founded in 1949,is one of the non-governmental organizations established by UNESCO to assist it in its mission(like the ICOM, the ICOMOS, the ICSU, etc.). It comprises several scholarly federations:

• International Union of Academies(UAI) (=the international union of academies for humanities and social sciences);
• International Union of History and Philosophy of Science/Division of History of Science and Technology (IUHPS/DHST);
• International Union of History and Philosophy of Science/Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPS/DLMPS);
• International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR);-International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES);
• International Union of Prehistoric and the Protohistoric Sciences (UISPP);
• International Federation of Associations of Classical Studies (FIEC);
• International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM);
• International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP);
• Permanent International Committee of Linguists (CIPL);
• International Committee of Historical Sciences (CISH-ICHS);
• International Committee for the History of Art (CIHA);
• Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS);
• Consortium of Humanities Institutes and Centres (CHCI);
• International Geographical Union (IGU-UGI);
• International Association of Aesthetics (IAA).

These disciplines are mainly represented in the Faculties of Philosophy and Letters (the “humanities” in the traditional sense, Geisteswissenschaften in German), but representatives of other Faculties (Social Sciences or Natural Sciences) can be integrated.

As the Local Organizing Committee recognized by UNESCO, the World Humanities Conference–Liège 2017 Foundation gathers the Province, the City and the University of Liege across the political spectrum.

President

The President of the World Humanities Conference is H.E. Adama Samassekou, former President of CIPSH, former Minister of Education of Mali, former Chairman of the African Academy of Languages, Chairman of the MAAYA network.

Honorary Committee

President:

• M.Paul-Emile Mottard,Député-Président du Collège provincial de Liège

Vice-Présidents

• M.Willy Demeyer
• Bourgmestre de la Ville de Liège
• M. Albert CorhayRecteur de l’Universitéde Liège

Membres du Comitéd’Honneur de la Fondation CMH–Liège 2017

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

It is co-chaired by:

• Professor CHAO Gejin (China),Chairman of CIPSH;
• Professor Jean WINAND, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Liege.

It includes 75 Belgian and foreign scholars (French-speaking and Dutch-speaking) chosen by the University of Liege, CIPSH and UNESCO. It will be responsible for selecting the keynote speakers, the forum subjects and the thematic sessions, the refereeing of the papers, the presidency and secretarial work of the sessions and workshops.

Members of the Programme Committee

World Humanities Conference Foundation

This Foundation associates the University of Liege, the City and the Province. It is chaired by Paul-Emile MOTTARD, Deputy-President of the Provincial College of Liege. The Vice-Presidents are the Rector of the University, Albert CORHAY, and the Mayor of the City, Willy DEMEYER. The Foundation is charged with the management of the financial, administrative, communicational and logistical aspects of the Conference. It is bound by convention to CIPSH and UNESCO.

The Foundation administrators are, for the Province of Liège, Mr. Bernard Pourveur, Mr Jean-Pierre Burton and Mr. Michel Coppé, for the City of Liège, Mr. Jean-Marie Verdière and Mr. Jean-Christophe Peterkenne, and for the University of Liège, Mr. Albert Corhay and Mr. Jean Winand.

General Secretariat

It is provided by Professor Robert Halleux, Member of the Institut de France and of the Royal Academy of Belgium assisted by a team of young scholars:

• Isadora Vandamme
• Blanche El Gammal
• Stany Mazurkiewicz
• Jan Vandersmissen

It provides daily management, preparation of documents and programmes and the organization of meetings.

Core Group

It assists and advises the General Secretariat and gathers a small group of experts coming from partner institutions and international scientific community:

• President Adama Samassekou(Mali),former President of the CIPSH;
• Professor CHAO Gejin (China),President of the CIPSH et Co-President of the Programme Committee;
• Professor Luiz OOSTERBEEK, ecretary-General of the CIPSH;
• Professor François DJINDJIAN, Vice-President of the CIPSH;
• Doctor John CROWLEY, representative of Mrs. Nada Al-Nashif, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO;
• Mr. Michel COPPÉ,representative of the Province of Liège;
• Mr. Jean-Christophe PETERKENNE, representative of the City of Liège;
• Dean Jean WINAND,President of the International Programme Committee and representative of the University of Liège;
• le Professeur Robert HALLEUX, Secretary-General of the Conference;
• Doctor Michel ANDRÉ;
• Professor Rosi BRAIDOTTI;
• Professor Madeline CAVINESS-Doctor Jean-Luc DE PAEPE;
• Professor Satoko FUJIWARA;
• Professor Chantal GRELL;
• Doctor Lazare KI-ZERBO;
• Martial ZE BELINGA.

Program

SECTION I. HUMANITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Session 1. Environmental Anthropology, Interpretation and Creativity
Session 2. History of the Natural Environment and Climate
Session 3. Humans and the Environment: Adaptations and Modifications
Session 4. Humans and the Environment in the Industrial Era
Session 5. The Humanities in Environmental Management
Session 6.Environment, Societies and Values

SECTION II. CULTURAL IDENTITIES, CULTURAL DIVERSITIES AND INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS: A GLOBAL MULTICULTURAL HUMANITY

Session 1. Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Identity and its Components
Session 2. Cultural Identity and Diversity in Dynamic Perspective
Session 3. Internal Analysis of Interculturalism
Session 4. Dynamic Analysis of Interculturalism
Session 5. Roads of Dialogue, Paths of Knowledge and Cultural Routes

SECTION III. BORDERS AND MIGRATIONS

Session 1. Conceptual Analysis
Session 2. Borderscape: Borders as Organization of Space: Tracing and Marking
Session 3. The Dynamics of International Migration
Session 4. Migration, Culture and Values

SECTION IV. HERITAGE

Session 1. Regarding the Notion of Heritage
Session 2. Threats to Tangible Heritage
Session 3. Threats to Intangible Heritage
Session 4. New Patrimonialisations
Session 5. Heritage Reclaimed

SECTION V. HISTORY, MEMORY AND POLITICS

Session 1. Epistemological Perspectives
Session 2. The Work of the Historian in its Political Context
Session 3. Commemorations, Celebrations and Remembrance
Session 4. From Eurocentric History to Multipolar History
Session 5. Collective Memory and the Consequences of War

SECTION VI. THE HUMANITIES IN A CHANGING WORLD. WHAT CHANGES THE WORLD AND IN THE WORLD? WHAT CHANGES THE HUMANITIES AND IN THE HUMANITIES?

Session 1. Surveys on the Evolution of the Humanities
Session 2. Digital Worlds
Session 3. The New Research Landscape
Session 4. Old Texts, New approaches
Session 5. Publication and Assessment
Session 6. The Humanities, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Social Sciences
Session 7. Humanities, Education and Culture
Session 8. Gender Studies

Concluding Session
Rebuilding the Humanities, Rebuilding Humanism

Download Program

Interactive map for complexe Opéra and site du XX août!

Crédits photos : Service provincial de la Communication, Getty Images

For more information, please visit the 2017 WHC website.