International symposium "From the Grand Tour to the Orient-Express: curiosity, exploration, sociability".
In this symposium, we propose to study the way in which travelers crisscrossing the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, between the Grand Tour en Orient and the Orient-Express epic, were able to apprehend these countries, their inhabitants and their pasts. Our aim is to explore the social representations of travelers, as well as those of the populations they visited. Without limiting ourselves to reproducing the classic schemes for understanding these discourses, indebted to Edward Saïd, we shall historicize, contextualize and define these ambivalent perceptions according to the geopolitical considerations, ideological orientations and personal affinities of those who produced these discourses. In parallel, we'd like to study those places of sociability that are ships or and trains, following the example of the Orient-Express and its successor, the Simplon-Orient-Express, as well as its Asian extension leading to Iraq and Egypt, the Taurus-Express.
Design and coordination
- Madalina Vârtejanu-Joubert (PLIDAM/Inalco)
- Alexandra Kolakovic (Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Belgrade)
- Nicolas Pitsos (CREE/Inalco, BULAC)
Scientific committee
- Gilles Bertrand, Université Grenoble Alpes
- Simona Corlan-Ioan, University of Bucharest
- Blanche El-Gammal, Université Paris Nanterre
- Didier Francfort, Université de Lorraine
- Cristina Ion, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
- Sarga Moussa, CNRS, UMR THALIM
- Frosa Pejoska-Bouchereau, Inalco
- Sylvain Venayre, Université Grenoble Alpes