The potential of education as a determinant for social in- and exclusion is undeniable. Recent studies on education and social equality have revealed how one's parents' level of learning opens (or closes) socioeconomic opportunities in 21st-century Germany. And yet, we can observe similar phenomena in Greco-Roman antiquity. Especially in the period from the 4th to the 6th century that witnessed serious political and social transformations, classical learning developed into a resource for (re)negotiating status. As "foreign" foederati acted as power brokers in a disintegrating Roman empire, established elites clung to education. This was especially the case in late Roman Gaul where the senatorial aristocracies struggled to keep the idea(l) of Romanitas alive – a concept centred around shared canons and institutions of learning.
The international conference "Gallia Docta" gathers feminae litteratae and viri litterati of our times to discuss learning and its limitations in late antique Gaul across national as well as disciplinary borders. For the first time, a conference explicitly addresses the role of women in Gallo-Roman society and the literary circles of their learned husbands. Thus, we aim to (re-)evaluate phenomena of social in- and exclusion through education in late antique Gaul. Though a parallelization of past and present seems tempting, we are aware of anachronistic analogies. A cultural-historical approach, however, may allow a structural comparison.
Speakers:
Martin Bauer (Innsbruck) Ulrike Egelhaaf-Gaiser (Göttingen) Veronika Egetenmeyr (Rostock) Susanne Froehlich (Greifswald) Peter Gemeinhardt (Göttingen) Nikolas Hächler (Zürich / Paris)
Hendrik Hess (Bonn) Judith Hindermann (Basel) Alison John (Ghent) Tabea L. Meurer (Mainz) Sigrid Mratschek (Rostock) Gernot M. Müller (Bonn) Immanuel Musäus (Greifswald)
Maik Patzelt (Osnabrück) Jakob Riemenschneider (Innsbruck) Raphael Schwitter (Zürich / Bonn) Danuta Shanzer (Wien) Christian Stadermann (Mainz) Roland Steinacher (Innsbruck)
Joop van Waarden (Nijmegen / Amsterdam) Willum Westenholz (Wien) Bernard van Wickevoort Crommelin (Greifswald)
Participation by invitation only
Information:
Natalia Zborka M. A.
Conference Office, Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald
17487 Greifswald, Germany
Phone: +49 3834 420 5021, Fax: +49 3834 420 5005
E-Mail: natalia.zborkawiko-greifswaldde