Multilingualism, Nationhood, and Cultural Identity. The Agency of Languages in Central Europe (1300-1900) and beyond. — 21 novembre 10h-13h, Centre LOURCINE Paris 1, 1 rue de la Glacière, salle 102 — avec :

Eloïse Adde (Central European University, Vienna)

Tamara Scheer (University of Innsbruck & University of Vienna)

Philippe Urfalino (EHESS, Paris)

Dans le cadre des séminaires du Réseau thématique (ex GDR) CNRS Connaissance de l’Europe médiane, le vendredi 21 novembre aura lieu dans un des locaux de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, au pied du métro Glacière, notre première réunion de l’année 2025-2026 :

 

Eloise Adde, Department of Historical Studies, Central European University, Vienna

Multilingualism, nation and “national” literature in Bohemia in the fourteenth century

Tamara Scheer, Institute for East European History, University of Vienna/Institute for Biblical Studies and Historical Theology, University of Innsbruck

Negotiating Nation in late 19th century primary sources from the Habsbourg Monarchy.

 

Philippe Urfalino, Centre des Savoirs sur le Politique – Recherches et Analyses, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales

Collections of Individuals. Louis Dumont and the concept of nation

Generally speaking, multiethnicity and the resulting multilingualism have often been viewed as obstacles to nation-building, according to the model that posits a nation requires a perfect “congruence” between an ethnic group and a political system (Gellner). Moreover, the traditional opposition between empire and nation tends to reinforce the idea that composite monarchies were ill-suited to fostering distinct identities. Yet, encompassing diverse lands and populations, the Holy Roman Empire appears, paradoxically, to have served as an incubator for national sentiment.

Departing from interpretations that emphasize competition among states to explain the rise of national identities and nationalisms, this seminar will instead explore the decisive role played by the multiethnic organization of Central European polities in rethinking these processes. It will examine the uses and agency of languages within a “pluriglossic” space.

Between Bohemia—where the use of the vernacular (Czech or German) became a political issue as early as the fourteenth century—and Poland or Hungary, where local vernaculars struggled to assert themselves, situations were manifold despite the growing diffusion of the national idea.

More broadly, we will reflect on the processes that create and define the collective, “the nation being a collection of individuals” (Louis Dumont). Language stands at the crossroads between the individual and the group, between the one and the many: it is the same idiom shared by all, yet uniquely enacted by each speaker who appropriates it. In Europe, language was never singular but inherently diverse—and therefore constantly subject to negotiation.

 

2.15.1.0
2.15.1.0

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
GDR CEM (7 novembre 2025). Multilingualism, Nationhood, and Cultural Identity. The Agency of Languages in Central Europe (1300-1900) and beyond. — 21 novembre 10h-13h, Centre LOURCINE Paris 1, 1 rue de la Glacière, salle 102 — avec : Connaissance de l'Europe médiane. Consulté le 16 décembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/1545l