How could concepts like ‘fatherland’ and ‘honour’ succeed to create war euphoria all over Europe in 1914? Would this be possible today? In 2014, we speak quite similar to the people who lived in 1914. The languages have changed just a little and so have the concepts at use. However, European societies of 1914 and of 2014 are very different.
There is no single definition of the concept ‘honour’ for instance, that fits at any time and in any context. Key concepts are, in other words, fluid but yet substantial for public communication and understanding. This workshop aims at exploring social and political realities during the First World War by means of focusing on key concepts that have been and still are central in European countries, such as ‘nation’, ‘patriotism’, ‘man’, ‘honour’, ‘courage’, ‘Europe’. These concepts will then be compared to our contemporary understanding, whilst reflecting their societal and personal significance as well as their lasting potential to mobilise political and civic action.
Throughout the workshop you will get the possibility to investigate and discuss how central terms of our language both shape and are shaped by the social context. A study of concepts as ‘containers of meaning’ might recover how our language is embedded in political and cultural processes revealing a lot of the historical as well as the contemporary contexts of the term. Key concepts can thus shed light on important societal conditions – in this case of the Great War period and of today.
Workshop speakers:
Lise Kvande, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
Nils Naastad, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
Mari Varanes, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
Anders Hassing, University of Copenhagen, Denmark