Reality - Virtuality - Representation

In March 2011, Prof. Dr Susanne Hartwig's Chair of Romance Literatures and Cultures organised the bi-annual German Hispanic Studies Conference in collaboration with the University of Passau. This was the largest specialist conference in the German-speaking world to focus on Spain and Spanish-speaking countries. Around 450 participants from academia and practice were expected in Passau.

From 23 to 26 March 2011, national and international guests exchanged ideas and engaged in lively discussions in over 300 lectures from sixteen thematic sections: The extensive programme presented new perspectives from literature, linguistics, cultural and media studies as well as from the guest section of the Spanish Teachers' Association. Bavaria's Minister President Horst Seehofer was the patron of the event.

Specialist focus
"Reality - Virtuality - Representation": The theme of the Passau Hispanic Studies Day was intended to stimulate an exchange of ideas on a highly topical subject and open up new questions. The central discussion approach highlighted the relationship between representation and reality of Spanish-speaking cultures in the past and present and asked about innovative research interests, methods and fields of research in the field. In particular, the focus was on the profiling of a Hispanic Studies that accepts the challenge of the new reality(ies) in the context of globalisation and transdisciplinarity, but also sees these in their historical constitution.

In addition to the academic programme, the congress also provided an opportunity to discuss current higher education policy issues from the perspective of the discipline, such as the question of changing job profiles in the information society or the situation of Hispanic Studies in Eastern European countries. The German Research Foundation (DFG) funded the congress with 31,500 euros.

Supporting programme
An attractive cultural supporting programme was also planned, including a guest lecture by Spanish director Basílio Martín Patino, a film screening followed by an audience discussion, a musical evening with guitarist, composer and percussionist Jürgen Schwenkglenks and a photo exhibition by Barcelona-based artist Jorge Guerrero on the theme of "La era virtual". The congress concluded with a gala dinner on the Passau excursion ship MS Sissi.

Principal Investigator(s) at the University	Prof. Dr. Susanne Hartwig (Lehrstuhl für Romanische Literaturen und Kulturen)
Project period	23.03.2011 - 26.03.2011
Source of funding	DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft > DFG - Internationales > DFG - Internationales - Internationale wissenschaftliche Veranstaltungen