Intercultural Transfers – 35 Years after the First Attempts to Establish a New Paradigm

The concept of intercultural transfer implies a displacement as well as a reinterpretation linked to this displacement. Therefore, the idea is also closely related to the concept of space. While structural anthropologists tend to establish systems that fix identities in a collection of possible thoughts and behaviours, Franz Boas promoted an anthropological approach that emphasizes forms of mutual contamination of peoples and languages with quite a different understanding of space. Boas’ theories follow on from Ratzel’s anthropogeography, which intimately combines anthropology and geography. The physical composition of spatial configurations (e.g., mountains, isthmuses, steppes) is a fundamental factor in his attempts to explain encounters between cultures. Additionally, the main works of Carl Ritter contain important traces highlighting the connection between geography and anthropology. Using different examples, they shed light on the anthropo-geographical dimension of the research on intercultural transfers.

Organized by the Frankreichzentrum and the Centre for Area Studies of Leipzig University, this international conference will focus on transfers within the Franco-German or German-Russian spaces, the Caucasus countries, Turkey, Siberia, Central Asia, Vietnam, China, Greece, and Africa while trying to make theoretical advancement in the discussions about applying a perspective based on the spatial turn to intercultural transfers.