15 May 2024. Call for Papers deadline has been extended for this International and interdisciplinary symposium, October 23-24, 2024. Hosted by TROCA research unit, Department of Humanities, in person at The University of New Caledonia and online, in partnership with the University of Toulon and the University of Savoie Mont Blanc.
Research proves that so-called “Celtic” cultures, whether original, reinvented or revitalised, are present in the Pacific – however controversial and protean the term “Celtic” may be. In Australia and New Zealand, certain diasporas (Welsh and Cornish, for example) have maintained their traditions, languages, beliefs and religions while adapting to their new geographical, cultural and political environments. Others have revived, revitalised and even recreated their “Celtic” identity in the tropics, in order to differentiate themselves from the British English colonialists, like their fellow Celtic nations in the British Isles (Celtic Revival, Celtic Nationalism or Pan-Celtism from the second half of the 19th century onwards). In New Caledonia, 371 Breton families chose exile over poverty, settling there in the second half of the 19th century. The same was true for a number of Irish, Scottish and Welsh immigrants, for whom New Caledonia was a second or even third stop after Australia or New Zealand.
This interdisciplinary and diachronic symposium aims to bring together historians, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, literary scholars, historians of religion, ethnomusicologists, mythologists and folklorists, etc., to discuss themes such as migration, connections, cultural and ethnic blending, languages, religions, continuity, creation and revitalisation of identities and cultures, customs, festivals, Neopaganism, memory(-ies), oral literature, and oral history, etc. This symposium will analyse the diversity and the historical, cultural, linguistic and identity-related richness of these so-called “Celtic” diasporas, and question “Celtic” identities in the Pacific. It will also highlight the cultural and ethnic blending between these diasporic communities and indigenous peoples, such as the Irish-Australian Aborigines, or in New Caledonia, where certain tribes may have mixed Kanak and Irish origins.
Proposals (French or English) should include an abstract of up to 300 words accompanied by a brief bibliography, and a biography of up to 100 words. They should be sent before May 15, 2024 to the following two addresses: Noémie Beck (noemie.beck@unc.nc) and Frédéric Armao (armao@univ-tln.fr). Papers will be of 20 minutes’ duration followed by 10 minutes’ question time. It is intended that a subsequent publication will include a number of papers from the symposium.
