An international workshop dedicated to the textual and visual representations of northern light in past and present, organised Junior Full Professor Joanna Kodzik (MIARC) together Per Pippin Aspaas, head of library research, (UiT, University of Tromsø - Arctic University of Norway), will be held at Pavillion Panhard UVSQ/ University Paris Saclay on 23 January 2024.
This interdisciplinary workshop will gather historians and art historians as well as specialists in Scandinavian studies, from France, Norway, Denmark and Iceland as well as students from the Arctic Studies Master Programme at UVSQ/ University Paris Saclay to discuss the communication strategies concerning northern lights in historical sources from the 18th century on from Europe and the Arctic. The papers and discussions will connect past and present interests in research.
PROGRAMME of the INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP:
9:30-10:45 PRESENTATIONS ON HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF AURORA BOREALIS BY
STUDENTS OF THE ARCTIC MASTER PROGRAMME (UVSQ)
10:45-11:00 coffee break
11:00-11:40 Sylvain Briens (Sorbonne University):
“Boreal Poetics - The northern lights in 19th-century literature” (« Poétique boréale - Les aurores boréales dans la littérature du XIXe siècle »)
11:40-12:20 Muriel Brot (UMR 8599 CNRS/Sorbonne Université):
“Aurora borealis in French dictionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The emergence of a lexicographical entry” (« Les aurores boréales dans les dictionnaires français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Émergence d’une entrée lexicographique. »)
12:20-13:30 lunch break
13:30-14:10 Per Pippin Aspaas (UiT, University of Tromsø):
“The light from the north: Scandinavian investigators of the aurora borealis during the European Enlightenment”
14:10-14:50 Æsa Sigurjónsdóttir (University of Iceland):
“The Aurora Borealis in Nordic art” («L'Aurore Boréale dans l'art nordique»).
14:50-15:30 Léo Becka (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University):
“The observations of the northern lights during the La Recherche (1836-1839) a scientific and sensory experience” (« L'observation des aurores pendant les expéditions de La Recherche (1836-1839), une expérience scientifique et sensorielle »)
15:30-15:45 coffee break
15:45-16:25 Emil Andersen (University of Copenhagen):
“Souls of the Dead: Hans Egede on the Aurora Borealis and Inuit myths”
16:25-16:55 Joanna Kodzik (UVSQ/ MIARC):
“Charites and Philalethes in dialogue about the Northern Lights - Friedrich Daniel Behn (1734-1804) observations from Lübeck 1770”
16:55-17:15 Mustapha Meftah (UVSQ/ LATMOS):
“UVSQSAT NG and the Observation of Aurora”
17:15-17:45 Halldór Jóhannsson (Arctic Portal, Iceland):
“Living under the Aurora borealis – research, culture, tourism and economic development – discussion”
If you wish to join the workshop please contact: Joanna Kodzik,
