The 21st European Meeting of Cultural Journals is taking place in Paris this weekend (26-29 September). This year's meeting is organized by the European network of cultural journals, Eurozine, and its French partners Sens Public, Multitudes and Esprit, in cooperation with Ent'revues. The conference is part of the "Saison culturelle" of the French EU presidency 2008 and will take place in the Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration. More than 100 editors and intellectuals will be participating.

The conference will explore multilingualism in Europe and its relation to critical publishing against the backdrop of media transformation and the consolidation of network structures. It is divided into three thematic areas:

1) Multilingualism/Territories/Migration. How can we think about the relation between place, language, and self-definition in a postnational world without promoting identitarian linguistic politics? What language is spoken by what Europe? What are the communicative prerequisites for transnational public spheres? Can we accept approximate translations in a multilingual context instead of a lingua franca? How are we to deal with otherness and the borders of translatability?

2. Networks/Common(s). What forms of collaboration can be recognized, what are their languages, what are their media? What structures arise and what degree of institutionalization do these new associations require? How much "in common" does a network need ­ how much "in common" can plural societies tolerate?

3. Publics/Publishing. Ten years after the foundation of Eurozine, the editors of the partner journals will return to what for them are central issues: How do print and online media behave in relation to the (multilingual) public sphere? How can political and cultural journals exploit the transformation of the media in a progressive manner? Can they do so? What, then, is the mandate and the impact of journal publishing?

The opening address on Friday 26 September will be given by the poet Michel Deguy during opening cermony at the Hotel de Ville. On the morning of Saturday 27 September, a panel on "Multilingualism – migration, territories, Europe" will be made up by: Abram de Swaan (professor emeritus of social science, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands); Clarisse Herrenschmidt (researcher, CNRS, France); and Ruth Wodak (professor of discourse studies, Lancaster University, UK); chaired by António Sousa Ribeiro (Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, professor of German studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal).

The Saturday afternoon panel on "Networks/Co-knowledge" will be made up by Barbara Cassin (philosopher and philologist, research director at CNRS, France); Geert Lovink (media theorist, Institute for Network Cultures, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands); Gérard Wormser (publisher, Sens Public, France); chaired by Paul Mathias (writer, France).

On the morning of Sunday 28 September, workshops will be held on the following topics: a) "The production of knowledge: Digital publishing and open archives" (Chair: Yannick Maignien, Adonis/CNRS); "Publics and publishing: Maghreb – Europe" (Chair: Daho Djerbal, NAQD, Algeria); "The translation of cultures" (Chair: Ghislaine Glasson Deschaumes, Transeuropéennes, France); "La Cité des Normaliens" (Film screening, Yann Kilborne, director, France).

On Sunday afternoon, an internal session will be held for Eurozine partners to discuss the past, present and future of Eurozine. Éduard Glissant (writer and literary critic, Martinique) will deliver the closing address at the Théâtre National de la Colline on Sunday evening.

See here for more details for conference particpants (including travel and accomodation) and full programme.

Published 2008-09-24