Interconnectivity is defined as the state or quality of being connected together: it often involves sets of cause-and-effect interconnections that operate between and within peoples and places. By definition, inter connectivity crosses and challenges physical or abstract boundaries: it emphasises that no object of study can be viewed in isolation as local events can have global outcomes. This holds with any types of research object, including language contact and migration, cultural crossings and flows, historical events, scientific and technological frontiers, and environmental issues.
While interconnectivity has always taken place in human history, we now live in times of unprecedented, fast-paced networks and connections, with complex and unpredictable feedback loops. How does interconnectivity cut across, challenge, and transform the perception of boundaries, be them national borders, language barriers, local policies, environmental laws? The special focus of the 2020 International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities seeks to explore the transcultural dimension of interconnectivity in all aspects of humanities. The conference invites to look at local issues in a global perspective, and how cause-and-effect relationships cross scale from the local to the global and from the global to the local.
José-Luis Ortega, Associate Professor, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Anna Morbiato, Assistant Professor, Department of Asian and North African studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Umberto Ansaldo, Head of School, Professor of Linguistics, The University of Sydney, Australia
Luc Steels, ICREA Research Professor, Institute for Evolutionary Biology (UPF/CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
Shaul Bassi, Professor, University of Venice Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy
Asunción López-Varela, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of English Studies, Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain
Click to watch plenary session prior to the discussion
Live Zoom: July 3 - 17:00 Madrid, Spain
Click to Attend Via Zoom (ID: 850 7232 4312 Password: 209360)
Connecting Baghdadi Jews: The Jewish Press between India and China
For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards re given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active academic interest in the conference area. The Award, with its accompanying responsibilities provides a strong professional development opportunity for early career academics. The 2020 Emerging Scholar Awardees are listed below.
Virtual Posters present preliminary results of work or projects that lend themselves to visual representations. View the posters below.
Virtual Presentations are grouped by general themes. Each presenter's formal, written paper will be available to participants if accepted to the journal.