IAFOR > The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH) > ECAH2019 > Programme

Programme

The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH) is an interdisciplinary conference held alongside The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film (EuroMedia). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either conference will allow participants to attend sessions in both.

This page provides details of presentations and other programming. For more information about presenters, please visit the Speakers page.

Conference Outline

Friday, July 12, 2019Saturday, July 13, 2019

08:15-09:00 Conference Registration & Morning Coffee | Renaissance Foyer

09:00-09:15 Announcements & Welcome Address | Renaissance Hall
Brian Aycock, IAFOR, Japan
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan
Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Renaissance Hall

09:15-10:00 Keynote Presentation | Renaissance Hall
The Impact of Geography and History on Moulding the National Character and Identity: A View from Russia
Svetlana Ter-Minasova, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

10:00-10:45 Keynote Presentation | Renaissance Hall
Resisting the Cynical Turn: Projections of a Desirably Queer Future
Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, USA

10:45-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:00 Keynote Presentation | Renaissance Hall
Haute Couture in Occupied Paris and Beyond, in World War Two: Issues of Nazi Cultural and Economic Control and the Diffusion and Consumption of Luxury Paris Fashion in War Time
Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK

12:00-12:30 Plenary Panel | Renaissance Hall
Reimagining the Future
Anne Boddington, Kingston University, UK
Bruce Brown, Royal College of Art, UK
Matthew Coats, University of Brighton, UK
Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, USA

12:30-12:45 Conference Photograph | Renaissance Hall

12:45-13:45 Lunch Break | 2F Restaurant

13:45-15:00 Parallel Session I

15:00-15:15 Coffee Break | Library Terrace

15:15-16:30 Parallel Session II

16:30-16:45 IAFOR Documentary Photography Award | Renaissance Hall

16:45-17:30 Keynote Presentation | Renaissance Hall
Van Gogh’s Last Supper: Striking New Evidence
Jared Baxter, Independent Researcher, USA

17:30-18:45 Conference Welcome Reception | Library Terrace

19:30-21:30 Official Conference Dinner (optional extra)
Meet at the Hotel Lobby near the Bartholomew Square (back) entrance at 19:00

09:00-10:40 Parallel Session I

10:40-10:55 Coffee Break

10:55-12:35 Parallel Session II

12:35-13:35 Lunch Break

13:35-14:25 Parallel Session III

14:25-14:40 Coffee Break

14:40-16:20 Parallel Session IV

16:30-17:00 Featured Presentation | Tennyson Room
The Demise of Homo Sapiens: Thought and Perception in the Kingdom of Technology
Alfonso J. García-Osuna, Hofstra University, USA

17:00-17:15 Closing Session

Featured Presentations

  • Van Gogh’s Last Supper: Striking New Evidence
    Van Gogh’s Last Supper: Striking New Evidence
    Keynote Presentation: Jared Baxter
  • Haute Couture in Occupied Paris and Beyond, in World War Two: Issues of Nazi Cultural and Economic Control and the Diffusion and Consumption of Luxury Paris Fashion in War Time
    Haute Couture in Occupied Paris and Beyond, in World War Two: Issues of Nazi Cultural and Economic Control and the Diffusion and Consumption of Luxury Paris Fashion in War Time
    Keynote Presentation: Lou Taylor
  • The Impact of Geography and History on Moulding the National Character and Identity: A View from Russia
    The Impact of Geography and History on Moulding the National Character and Identity: A View from Russia
    Keynote Presentation: Svetlana Ter-Minasova
  • Resisting the Cynical Turn: Projections of a Desirably Queer Future
    Resisting the Cynical Turn: Projections of a Desirably Queer Future
    Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall
  • The Demise of Homo sapiens: Thought and Perception in the Kingdom of Technology
    The Demise of Homo sapiens: Thought and Perception in the Kingdom of Technology
    Featured Presentation: Alfonso J. García-Osuna
  • Reimagining the Future
    Reimagining the Future
    Plenary Panel: Anne Boddington, Bruce Brown, Matthew Coats & Donald E. Hall

Conference Programme and Abstract Book

The online version of the Conference Programme and Abstract Book is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

Click to download as a PDF

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule. All registered delegates who attend conference receive a printed copy of the Conference Programme at the Registration Desk on arrival. Only one copy of the Conference Programme is available per delegate, so please take good care of your copy.

Previous Programming

View details of programming for past ECAH conferences via the links below.

ECAH2018ECAH2017ECAH2016
ECAH2015ECAH2014ECAH2013
Van Gogh’s Last Supper: Striking New Evidence
Keynote Presentation: Jared Baxter

Having demonstrated, in academic journals and the media at-large, the likelihood that Vincent van Gogh painted a Symbolist depiction of the Last Supper, I revisit the subject, Cafe Terrace at Night (1888), by offering new evidence, a deeper understanding of the painter’s ethos and progress while he conceived it, and finally a call, a plea, to certain individuals, in the search to recover specific pieces of physical evidence.

New evidence includes: settling the case Cafe Terrace at Night should be considered Symbolist, van Gogh’s exposure to Frederick von Uhde’s depiction of the Last Supper from the 1887 Paris Salon, a robust evaluation of Paul Gauguin’s Vision After the Sermon (1888) as a response piece to Cafe Terrace, French art critic and Symbolist champion G. Albert Aurier’s original ownership and admiration of the painting, and the profound effects of two articles from the July, 1888 Revue des Deux Mondes that inspired Vincent to contrive for a brotherhood of twelve artist-monks who would forge a 'Southern Renaissance' that was distinctly Symbolist.

Read presenter biographies.

Haute Couture in Occupied Paris and Beyond, in World War Two: Issues of Nazi Cultural and Economic Control and the Diffusion and Consumption of Luxury Paris Fashion in War Time
Keynote Presentation: Lou Taylor

The themes of this conference propose discussion on ‘the ways in which we contextualise and process the past and issues inequality and iniquity and today’s rise in nationalism.’ All of these issues arise inevitably when we examine the history of Paris couture in WW2. In the midst of traumatic upheavals of World War Two, a text with such a focus - still a contentious issue - might seem perverse and my long commitment to examining this topic will be explained.

French couture fashion leading up to WW2 was an unrivalled, lucrative, international business, the jewel the crown of French culture. Once Paris was occupied from June 1940 and France divided, Otto Abbetz, the ‘German Ambassador’ in Paris, a keen Nazi, immediately activated Goebells’ Propaganda-Staffel policies for the establishment of Franco-German ‘cultural collaboration’. This was based on the premise that an active continuation of French intellectual life, re-aligned on a Nazi axis, would enhance the illusion that a ‘normal life’ was continuing in Paris -despite the deportation of Jews, the torturing of Resistants in the cellars of the Hotel de Ville, the looting of art collections and forced labour schemes. Hence the luxury high society life of the Tout Paris collaborating circles. Hence too the continuation of the work of Paris couture which can now be seen as a highly successful example of Nazi ‘cultural collaboration,’ despite the wishes of most of the couturiers. The trade could have been shut down in an instant but with their ‘ruthless sense of national and personal entitlement to own everything in their path‘ (Kershaw 1999:240) the Nazi authorities permitted its continuation.

This presentation will examine style development and making under conditions of extreme shortages, the consumers and resistors at home and in Allied and Occupied countries and the fate of Jewish fashion industry professionals in France, and all over Europe.

Read presenter biographies.

The Impact of Geography and History on Moulding the National Character and Identity: A View from Russia
Keynote Presentation: Svetlana Ter-Minasova

The fact that Geography has a considerable impact on a people's History and together they determine a people's way of life has been known since very old days: Herodotus, the famous "Father of History", stated it very clearly and convincingly in Ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. Indeed, the habitat of people determines their means of survival depending on their food supply and production, habits, traditions, national anthropological cultures, arts, etc.

Language as the main means of communication and both – a mirror and a tool of culture – reflects and at the same time moulds the national identity and the national character.

These statements are illustrated by examples from the Russian and English languages and cultures as the output of the geography and history of the nations speaking these languages.

Read presenter biographies.

Resisting the Cynical Turn: Projections of a Desirably Queer Future
Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall

While the current political moment certainly invites a sense of defeatism among those of us in arts, humanities, and cultural studies—and makes a retreat into cynicism and political apathy an attractive option—the times call for a renewed sense of commitment and a much more assertive response. We on the cultural left—especially in higher education—have a base level responsibility to lead the way out of our climate of reactionary nationalism and anti-intellectualism. We are the ones best able to imagine a different future and articulate its desirability. Practitioners in the arts, humanities, and cultural studies are best positioned to provide the utopic thinking that has the power to motivate. In returning to some of the core tenets of activist-based queer theory, and melding those with the tentative and probing dialogics offered by the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, we have tools to rally those who feel oppressed and defeated by current political rhetoric. A calculated, cautious, but deliberately vocal optimism serves the interests of our students, our profession, and our fellow citizens. The cultural right asks us to withdraw, to be silent, to give up hope—our best response is to do the opposite. By imagining and articulating a more egalitarian, cosmopolitan, and desirably queer future, we can direct attention to the true cynics—those who believe that top-down power will be accepted without question and that sexism/racism/homophobia can be normalized in order to divide, scare, and manipulate the masses. We—artists, writers, philosophers, and theorists—have the creativity and mental nimbleness to challenge and change the world, if we accept our responsibility as educators and re-commit ourselves to doing so.

Read presenter biographies.

The Demise of Homo sapiens: Thought and Perception in the Kingdom of Technology
Featured Presentation: Alfonso J. García-Osuna

The currency of the public discussion converging on issues such as fake news, sham testimonials, manipulation of images and political swindles signals the need for a vigorous, comprehensive debate regarding the state of our culture. Much is being said regarding this issue, with arguments aligning behind the general assumption that there is something amiss in the way in which we interact, create social capital and fashion political associations. This unease has animated this paper's attempt to isolate what circumstances might be historically specific to the current cultural malaise. Social critics, in their desire to find evidence of the fraud, duplicity and general immorality that is at the heart of our ailments, never tire of pointing to the political establishment as the foremost cause and offender. While not defending politicians under any circumstances, I will argue that the muddle and disarray that characterise current politics are incidental to a much more pernicious threat. What is commonly overlooked, especially by media analysts and observers, is the distinctive contribution of technology to the degradation of culture.

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Reimagining the Future
Plenary Panel: Anne Boddington, Bruce Brown, Matthew Coats & Donald E. Hall

Anne Boddington, Kingston University, UK
Bruce Brown, Royal College of Art, UK
Matthew Coats, University of Brighton, UK
Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, USA

Members of the Conference Organising Committee will discuss the conference theme of “Reimagining the Future” with reference to both the current regional and global political contexts, and taking inspiration from the morning’s speakers, set the scene for the hopes and expectations of the rest of the conference.

Read presenter biographies.