Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías - Fachbereich Philosophie und ...

Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías ( Universidad Bolivariana, Ciencias, Los Ángeles, Chile ) 

Dos Puntos, a ambos lados de la mar océano 

Es más difícil llegar a saber quiénes somos si no sabemos quiénes fuimos. Por eso, 

busco reconocerme en mi pasado histórico. Si algún ancestro provenía de alguna isla 

Griega o si poseo algún gen de antiguos cruzados o coexisten otras fuentes de Oriente 

Medio, no lo sabré nunca. Lo que si sé, es que en mi memoria cercana algunos de ellos 

fueron árabes, que habitaron durante generaciones la zona entre Al-Quds ( Jerusalén ) 

y el Mar Muerto, la zona de Bethlahem ( Belén ) y la de Amtuba. Algunos fueron 

beduinos que transitaron no ha mucho, los Wadis o valles y los desiertos cercanos 

al río Jordán. Otros habitaron en zonas cercanas a las ciudades más antiguas de la 

humanidad. Independientemente de la religión que profesaban eran, o mejor dicho, 

son árabes palestinos. Primero había que cruzar Los Andes, lo que podía representar 

un hito crucial en la vida de cualquier ser humano. Al igual que hoy, que hace treinta 

años, que hace un siglo atrás, o que desde siempre, cruzar esta cadena montañosa, 

de Este a Oeste o viceversa, por tierra, a lomo de mula, en automóvil, en bus o por 

aire, defi nitivamente era y es algo especial. A principios del siglo x x, mis abuelos 

cruzaron la cordillera a pie y a lomo de mula, con el viento cordillerano curtiéndoles 

la piel. Pero ahora, en pleno siglo x xi, los penachos de nieves eternas que desde el 

aire asemejan una maqueta virtual, serán atravesados, por una representante de la 

3ª generación, por mí. 

Email liberarte@tie.cl 

Section Emigration and Exile 

Panel 50 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Arturo Aguilar Ochoa ( Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, Mexico ) 

Petros Pharamond Blanchard y su viaje a México en 1838. La visión del artista 

y el escritor 

Petros Pharamond Blanchard, ( 1805-1873 ) fue un pintor, de origen francés, ignorado, 

hasta ahora, dentro de los estudios sobre los llamados “artistas viajeros” quienes 

afl uyeron a México después de su Independencia. A pesar de que se conoce parte de 

su obra, se ha omitido en la historiografía sobre el tema. Nuestro interés es rescatar 

la importancia de Blanchard como artista, ya que fue el encargado de realizar un 

registro de la invasión francesa al Puerto de Veracruz en 1838, la llamada “Guerra de 

los Pasteles”. Por órdenes del rey Luis Felipe de Francia, tuvo la encomienda ( Junto 

con el artista Dauzats ) de plasmar en cuatro cuadros el bombardeo al puerto por la 

escuadra francesa con la intención de enriquecer la galería de batallas históricas que 

el rey estaba formando en el Palacio de Versalles, donde actualmente se encuentran. 

Pero además de ello Blanchard también realizó una serie de tipos populares 

( alrededor de 50 ), que dan cuenta de las costumbres, las actividades, las escenas y los 

personajes del pueblo en el puerto justo en el año de 1838. Igualmente, hay que señalar 

que escribió, junto con Dauzats, un libro de viaje, como testimonio de su estancia 

en el país que lleva el título : San Juan de Úlua, con excelentes grabados y hasta ahora 

no traducido. La ponencia busca presentar estas tres vertientes del autor : su trabajo 

como pintor de escenas históricas, el registro que hizo de tipos populares y sus 

observaciones escritas sobre el país en el libro mencionado. 

Email aragoch@hotmail.com 

Section Travels Between Europe and Latin America ( 15th through 21st centuries ) 

Panel 77 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Javier Aldeco, José Hernández-Téllez ( Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, 

Unidad Xochimilco, El Hombre y su Ambiente, México City ; Universidad 

Veracruzana, Facultad Bionalisis, Veracruz, Mexico ) 

Ambient Temperature Variability in the City of Veracruz, Mexico, According to 

von Humboldt in 1804 and Today 

Alexander von Humboldt and colleagues traveled from Quito, Equador, sailing the 

Pacifi c until they landed in Acapulco, México, on February 23rd, 1803. Th ey continued 

their research with the consent of Carlos V, Spain King, and of José de Iturrigaray 

Aristegui, vice regal of the New Spain. Th ey leave the city of Mexico on January 

20, 1804, and travel toward the fortress city and port of Veracruz. Th ey arrived on 

February 19 and leave on March 7th toward Cuba. For two and a half weeks the 

scientists were in Veracruz gathering information on environment, weather, health, 

politics, society and commerce. Von Humboldt used the data from the years 1789 to 

1803 gathered by Bernardo de Orta, authority of the port of Veracruz. Von Humboldt 

aft er the revision of the gathered information wrote a monthly temperature and wind 

state for the city of Veracruz. Th is presentation discusses the ambient temperatures 

in the fortress city of Veracruz, Mexico, as depicted by von Humboldt, with emphasis 

in the meteorological conditions. Also temperatures between 1917 and 2007 are 

analyzed pointing climatic anomalies and tendencies for the near future. Th e revision 

of von Humboldt’s papers with the present information gathered by the authors 

show that the weather remains hot humid, with very rainy summers, with canicula 

( midsummer ), but with important climatic anomalies in the ambient temperature. 

Th e review of the von Humboldt survey of temperature and weather conditions has 

stated a point in the time series analysis for the port. 

Email jaldeco@correo.xoc.uam.mx 

Section Travel and Science : Measuring, Collecting, Imagining the World 

Panel 29 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Vassilis Alexiou ( Aristotle University of Th essaloniki, Greece ) 

El encuentro ( no realizado ) de Walter Benjamin con Federico García Lorca 

( poeta ) en Nueva York 

La ponencia se centra en el estudio de la experiencia de la gran ciudad como ésta 

se registra, de modo, algunas veces, dispar y en otras convergente, en la obra de 

Federico García Lorca y de Walter Benjamin. En el primero, la elaboración poética 

de su experiencia en Nueva York en la época de la Gran Depresión im Zeitalter des 

Hochkapitalismus se fi ltra en las imágenes casi apocalípticas de su obra Poeta en 

Nueva York. En el segundo, como fi lósofo, estudia las huellas de la misma experiencia 

tal como se refl ejan o, mejor dicho, se refractan en la lírica de Charles Baudelaire. 

La ponencia intenta encontrar correspondencias y paralelismos, divergencias y 

diferenciaciones en el modo que esta misma experiencia se hace objeto de una 

elaboración poética en el primer caso y de una visión geschichtphilosophische en el 

segundo. 

Email valex@eled.auth.gr 

Section Travels between Europe and North America ( 15th through 21st centuries ) 

Panel 13 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Gerardo Álvarez ( Karl-Franzens-Universität, Romanistik, Graz, Austria ) 

Los viajes arqueológicos de Eduard Seler y Caecilie Seler-Sachs en México 

La ponencia trata del análisis de las Reisebriefe aus Mexiko de Seler y de Auf alten 

Wegen in Mexiko und Guatemala de Seler-Sachs. Aquí se analiza la interrelación entre 

sus viajes y sus resultados arqueológicos. Las cartas de sus viajes son la bitácora de 

sus estudios arqueológicos. El veredicto de Alfonso Caso de que con la obra del 

prusiano Eduard Seler “se inicia la sistematización de la arqueología mexicana” debe 

ser sufi ciente para asentar el renombre de Seler. Las cartas comprenden su primer 

viaje arqueológico a México entre octubre 1887 y julio de 1888. El libro de su esposa 

reúne las cartas de los seis viajes realizados entre 1887 y 1911. Las cartas se ocupan 

principalmente de tres temas : sus investigaciones y descubrimientos en las zonas 

arqueológicas de Xochicalco, Monte Albán, Mitla, entre muchos otros lugares ; su 

contacto con intelectuales mexicanos ( entre ellos José María Vigil, José María 

Icazbalceta e incluso con Ignacio Manuel Altamirano ) ; sus cuadros de costumbres 

de la época. Las Cartas nos muestran sus exploraciones de la Huasteca y Mixteca 

alta, regiones que no habían sido exploradas científi camente hasta entonces. En las 

epístolas se asiste al “establecimiento de la evidencia de la hasta entonces desconocida 

infl uencia tolteca en toda el área mesoamericana” ( Eckehard Dolinski ), que se inicia 

con la expedición a Xochicalco. De la obra de Seler se han nutrido arqueólogos como 

Alfonso Caso, Eulalia Guzmán y Miguel León Portilla. Hacer accesible la obra al 

público es desde hace mucho tiempo un desiderátum. 

Email gerardo.alvarez@uni-graz.at 


Panel 19 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Carolina Alzate ( Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Literatura, Columbia ) 

La metáfora orientalista en Viajes de un colombiano en Europa ( 1860 ) de 

José María Samper 

Esta ponencia busca resaltar la presencia de la metáfora orientalista en los relatos 

de viaje hispanoamericanos del siglo xix y en la literatura de fundación nacional 

hispanoamericana en general. Trata además de seguir el viaje de dicha metáfora, 

la cual se emplea tanto para ‘aprehender’ el entorno americano por parte de los 

escritores criollos como en la elaboración que hacen de sus visitas a los museos 

europeos y a las exposiciones universales. Tratará también de rastrear el origen 

específi co de estas metáforas, un origen por supuesto europeo. Dos intertextos de los 

‘Viajes’ de Samper serán los escritos de Domingo F. Samiento y Jorge Isaacs. 

Email calzate@uniandes.edu.co 


Panel 32 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Reinhard Andress ( Saint Louis University, Modern & Classical Languages, Missouri, 

u sa ) 

Alexander von Humboldts Chimborazo-Aufstieg in eigener und literarischer 

Darstellung : die Besetzung des “Hiatus” zwischen Geschichte und Fiktion 

Angesichts der zentralen Rolle, die Humboldt selbst und man im Allgemeinen 

dem Aufstieg des Chimborazo in seinem Leben zugemessen hat, verwundert es 

nicht, dass er zum Gegenstand literarischer Darstellungen geworden ist, so in den 

Romanen Draußen wartet das Abenteuer. Alexander von Humboldt und sein Freund 

Aimé auf kühner Fahrt ins Unbekannte ( 1957 ) von Th omas Zott mann, Der Entdecker. 

Historischer Roman über Alexander von Humboldt ( 2001 ) von Matt ias Gerwald oder 

gerade relativ jüngst in Daniel Kehlmanns Bestseller Die Vermessung der Welt ( 2005 ). 

Eine Untersuchung von Humboldts eigener Darstellung des Aufstiegs und den 

drei entsprechenden Romanabschnitt en ergeben einen aufschlussreichen Einblick 

in den literarischen Umgang mit historischen Ereignissen, der von heroischer 

Dramatisierung über Aktualisierung bis hin zur ironischen Dekonstruierung 

reicht. Als produktiver theoretischer Ansatz erweisen sich Hans Vilmar Gepperts 

Ausführungen in Der ‘andere’ historische Roman ( 1976 ). Weniger interessant sei die 

übliche “historische Erzählweise”, die sich stark an historische Fakten anlehne und 

das Fiktionale bzw. dessen literarische Formen verschleiere oder nur sehr begrenzt 

davon Gebrauch mache. Wesentlich positiver bewertet er es, wenn Autoren “den 

Hiatus akzentuieren”, d.h. bewusst mit der Leerstelle oder dem Vakuum zwischen 

Geschichte und Fiktion umgehen und diese mit verschiedenen Darstellungsmitt eln 

und Erzähltechniken besetzen würden. Sowohl Humboldts eigene als auch die 

literarischen Darstellungen sind Annäherungsversuche an den Chimborazo-Stoff , die 

diesen verschiedentlich auff ächern. Letztendlich können sie in ihrer Gesamtheit im 

Sinne der kanadischen Kritikerin Linda Hutcheon als “historiographic metafi ction” 

und postmodern verstanden werden. 

Email andressp@slu.edu 

Section Alexander von Humboldt 

Panel 41 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Karen Angel ( Jimmie Angel Historical Project, Eureka, California, usa ) 

Th e Truth about Jimmie Angel and Angel Falls : Th e Venezuelan Ministry of 

Development’s Expedition—Years of Exploration 1938-1939 

My paper will focus on the Venezuelan Ministry of Development’s 1938-1939 

Expedition to study and survey the Auyan-tepui region in southeastern Venezuela. 

Th e expedition was commissioned by Venezuelan President General Eleazar Lopez- 

Contreras. My primary subject, Jimmie Angel ( 1899-1956 ), for whom Angel Falls, 

the world’s highest waterfall is named, was the expedition pilot. I will draw upon 

the publications and fi eld notes of two expedition members who wrote about their 

friend Jimmie Angel : Venezuelan mining engineer Carlos A. Freeman and American 

Museum of Natural History ( a mnh ) curator of paleontology George Gaylord 

Simpson, Ph.D. Carlos Freeman’s stepdaughter Bett y Christian of Houston, Texas 

maintains his archive which includes an unpublished Jimmie Angel authorized 

biography writt en by Freeman. Th e Freeman Archive also includes many excellent 

photographs taken by Freeman of the 1938-1939 expedition. In 2003, I researched 

the Simpson Archive in the a mnh. In the same year, I researched his archive at 

the American Philosophical Society Library at the invitation of Joe Cain, Ph.D. Dr. 

Cain, who specializes in the History of Science at the University College London, is 

an authority on Simpson and facilitated my research. Simpson’s youngest daughter 

Elizabeth Leonie Simpson was also a valuable informant. Another helpful resource 

was Simpson’s 1978 autobiography which includes a vivid description of an expedition 

fl ight with Angel. ( Th e Venezuelan Ministry of Development’s 1938-1939 Expedition 

followed on the heels of the 1937-1938 Phelps Venezuelan Expedition which was the 

subject of my 2005 paper. ) 

Email kangel@humboldt1.com 

Section Travel Cultures, Practices and Economies : Discoveries, Expeditions, 

Tourism 

Panel 58 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Richard Apgar ( University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Germanic Languages 

and Literatures, u sa ) 

Old World Inca : Appropriation and Identifi cation in Joachim Heinrich Campe’s 

Die Entdeckung von Amerika 

Th is paper considers the fundamentally ambivalent role of the exotic in the vastly 

infl uential pedagogical writings of Joachim Heinrich Campe ( 1746-1818 ). Campe, 

Germany’s leading Enlightenment children’s author, built the central works of 

his corpus around images of the colonial world. Th is paper will examine Campe’s 

presentation and appropriation of Inca culture in the third volume of Die Entdeckung 

von Amerika ( Th e Discovery of America, 1781-2 ). Via a fi ctional father fi gure, Campe 

re-narrates the exploits and adventures in Central and South America, modifying and 

adapting reports of Spanish explorers for young readers. Th is father tells the stories 

of Columbus, Cortez and Pizarro to a group of assembled children, interrupting 

the narrative at key moments to encourage the children to refl ect on the actions of 

the explorers and the encountered populations. In this way, Campe’s work provides 

the reading child access to the exotic world, while at the same time restricting it to a 

pedagogical function. Th rough the father’s injunctions narrative time and geographic 

distance are confl ated. Th e New and Old World are bound in the same project of 

Enlightenment pedagogy. Praise for Inca culture is given only when it measures up 

to the standards of the text’s pedagogy. I thus demonstrate that the “children” of the 

New World and the children of the Old, linked as they are by the text’s structure, 

must both undergo the same process of civilization and ultimately argue that the 

“civilizing” mission of exploration is in fact a project of domestic pedagogy. 

Email apgar@email.unc.edu 


Panel 27 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Andrés Arteaga, Joerg Esleben ( University of Ott awa, Modern Languages and 

Literature, Canada ) 

Th e Myth of Enlightenment in Pre-Independence New Granada : Jose Celestino 

Mutis and Alexander von Humboldt encounter in 1801 

José Celestino Mutis and Alexander von Humboldt had a lot of things in common, 

and they knew it. Th ey had already exchanged lett ers about their shared botanical and 

other scientifi c interests when Humboldt insisted on a long detour during his voyage 

in South America in order to visit Mutis and spend two months in 1801 in an intensive 

scientifi c exchange with him. What neither Mutis nor Humboldt could know at 

that point was that they would also come to share spots in the pantheon of fathers 

of South American Independence. Mutis and Humboldt were hailed by the creole 

leaders of the Independence movement and by subsequent historiography as seminal 

bringers of enlightenment and self-awareness to South America. Th e purpose of our 

paper today is to examine in how far this mythical image of Mutis and Humboldt is 

contradicted by ambivalences in their roles as European scientifi c explorers and in 

their att itudes towards relations between science and politics. Our contention is that 

both might have been rather surprised and even uneasy about their recruitment into 

the ranks of revolutionary heroes. 

Email arteaga.andres@gmail.com 


Panel 31 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Begoña Arteta ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México City ) 

Augusto Gamerdinger, un alemán en México 

Augusto Gamerdinger nació en Triberg, en el corazón de la Selva Negra. Llegó a 

México en 1904, Viajó a diferentes lugares hasta que se estableció defi nitivamente 

al casarse con una mexicana en 1917 con la que procreó cuatro hijos y se estableció 

defi nitivamente en este país. Autodidacta se dedicó a la ingeniería y a la escritura en 

sus momentos libres. Desde adolescente manifestó su vocación literaria —a pesar 

de sus ocupaciones y trabajo para sacar a su familia adelante— y se dedicó a escribir 

esporádicamente. Algunos de sus artículos se publicaron en su país de origen, al igual 

que sus novelas. Siempre escribió en alemán, sin embargo los temas que ocuparon 

su trabajo literario son mexicanos, en las que describe sobre todo el ambiente rural y 

la naturaleza del país. Emigrante arraigado en el país nunca olvidó su origen y es en 

alemán como se expresó literariamente. 

Email barteta@prodigy.net.mx 


Panel 35 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Pablo Rubén Azócar Pruyas ( Universität Erfurt, Germany ) 

¿ Es posible el viaje cultural en un mundo técnico ? Una refl exión a partir del 

pensamiento de Heidegger en torno a la técnica. 

Gracias al desarrollo de la técnica es cada día más fácil viajar. Los modernos medios 

de transporte y comunicación acortan las distancias entre los distintos lugares y 

permiten que nos mantengamos conectados con nuestro lugar de origen. Somos 

viajeros de una época nueva, en la que se produce un importante cambio en la relación 

del individuo con el lugar que decide visitar. Este trabajo plantea que a partir de la 

refl exión de Heidegger en torno al mundo técnico, se pueden conceptualizar aspectos 

importantes del viajero actual, aspectos que paradójicamente muestran cómo se 

hace cada día más difi cil una apertura y un acceso original hacia otras culturas. 

Esta refl exión se puede desarrollar a partir de dos conceptos fundamentales en la 

comprensión de la relación del hombre con el mundo técnico : ( a ) La Maquinación 

( Die Machenschaft ), como el modo en que el ente se transforma en objeto de un 

sujeto. El viaje, desde esta perspectiva, queda enmarcado en las posibilidades de la 

organización y la planifi cación, donde todo es considerado desde una relación sujetoobjeto. 

( b ) La Vivencia ( Das Erlebnis ), como motivación central del viajero, la que 

enmarcada dentro de la relación sujeto-objeto pone el acento en la propia experiencia 

y hace imposible una apertura más original hacia el lugar en que estamos y su cultura. 

En resumen, este trabajo plantea que a pesar del desarrollo técnico, la posibilidad de 

una apertura hacia otras culturas, queda prácticamente anulada bajo el predominio 

de la Maquinación y la Vivencia. 

Email pazocarpru@yahoo.es 

Section Th eories of Mobility and Travel Literature 

Panel 80 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Ana Beatriz Barel ( Université de Nantes, Etudes Lusophones, France ) 

El Brasil de Ferdinand Denis : el viaje como matriz de la Historia 

Ferdinand Denis, viajero francés de principios del siglo xix, estuvo en Brasil entre 

1816 y 1819, así como otros viajeros de la ‘Misión Francesa de 1816’, como los Taunay, 

según demuestra la historiografía. En sus viajes por el país se encuentra la fuente 

de inspiracion de sus escritos ( Le Brésil, ou histoire, moeurs et coutumes des habitants 

de ce royaume, 1822, Scènes de la nature sous les tropiques, 1824 ), y aunque sus textos 

sean poco estudiados tanto por los investigadores franceses como por los brasileños, 

tuvo un papel decisivo en las relaciones entre los dos países. Además de su papel 

de intermediario, verdadero ‘passeur’ transatlántico, Denis fue el responsable de la 

presentación de los jóvenes Románticos brasileños del llamado ‘Grupo de París’ a la 

intelectualidad francesa, un importante divulgador de la cultura brasileña en Francia, 

y uno de los que apoyaron la publicación en 1836, en París, de la revista Nitheroy, el 

texto fundador del Romantismo brasileño. Sin embargo, aunque sus escritos tengan 

el mérito de ser los propulsores de una Historia Literaria independiente de la de 

Portugal, también propiciaron el fortalecimiento de una visión exótica de nuestra 

realidad y, consecuentemente, de nuestra literatura. Verifi camos, de este modo, en los 

textos de Ferdinand Denis, un complejo juego de imágenes entre América y Europa, 

que contribuyó a la formación de una historiografía y de una literatura ‘nacionales’ 

en el Siglo xix, y que demuestran el carácter paradojal de la formación identitaria 

brasileña. 

Email anabeatriz.barel@wanadoo.fr 


Panel 47 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Frank Baron ( University of Kansas, German Department, Lawrence, usa ) 

Conducting Research in the Comprehensive Environments of the Humboldt 

Digital Library 

Th e focus of this paper is the examination of innovative strategies to access the 

data of Humboldt’s travels in the Americas. Humboldt’s profound grasp of a broad 

spectrum of existing knowledge and his insistence on precision put him in a unique 

position to advance science. At the same time, he held the strong conviction that 

disciplines were artifi cial divisions of knowledge. For him everything in nature was 

interconnected. Th is concept, according to Susan Fay Cannon, was at the crux of 

what she defi ned as the basis of professional science in the fi rst half of the nineteenth 

century, Humboldtian Science : “… the accurate, measured study of widespread 

but interconnected real phenomena in order to fi nd a defi nite law and a dynamic 

cause.” With the Humboldt digital library, we have developed a tool to access the 

environments of Humboldt’s works in new ways. Our Web site makes fourteen 

volumes searchable in the English language and seven volumes, which contain data 

about 700 plants of the Nova genera plantarum. Th e digital library allows users 

to navigate in Humboldt’s graphic display of plant geography and locate texts in 

diff erent ways ; Humboldt’s travel route, plott ed on Google Earth, for example. A 

further innovative feature is to be able to search texts, images or data by Panel Date 

or location. Th is approach is the primary aim of our current eff orts : to show in a 

comprehensive manner what Humboldt observed from the perspective of various 

disciplines at any particular place or on any specifi c day during his extraordinary 

exploration of Latin America. Looking at Humboldt’s data from this perspective 

could be extremely helpful in understanding how environments changed in the last 

two hundred years. 

Email fb aron@ku.edu 


Panel 26 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

José Carlos Barreiro ( State University of São Paulo, Assis, Brazil, History ) 

Th e formation of state-nation in Brazil through the reading of the German 

travelers Spix and Martius 

Th is paper discusses a group of plays that was put on in the public square of Tejuco 

Market ( at present, Diamantina ), region of Minas ( Brazil ), in 1816. Th e theatrical 

plays were part of the ceremonies that celebrated the acclamation of the prince 

D. João, by virtue of the death, in 1816, of the Queen of Portugal, D. Maria I, and was 

watched and described by the German travelers Spix and Martius, in their journey 

diaries. Minas was a region of permanent confl ict by virtue of the tyrannical way 

in which the population lived, and was controlled and brutally punished by the 

Portuguese authorities, more and more greedy in the metropolitan fi ft h collection. 

In this period, the Brazilian society was living its process of fi ghting against the 

Portuguese metropolis. Th e formal process of independence of Brazil from Portugal 

would happen few years later, in 1822. Th ese facts were described by Spix and Martius 

in their travel diaries. Th en, their testimony and their own vision about those 

ceremonies are very important to understand some aspects of the formation of statenation 

in Brazil. 

Email jcbarr@assis.unesp.br 


Panel 19 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

José Juan Batista Rodríguez, Robert Heinlein, Elia Hernández Socas, Encarnación 

Tabares Plasencia ( Universidad de La Laguna, Filología, La Laguna, Spain ; 

Universität Leipzig, Germany ; Universität Leipzig, Institut für Angewandte 

Linguistik und Translatologie, Germany ; Universität Leipzig, Institut für 

Angewandte Linguistik und Translatologie, Germany ) 

Anmerkungen Humboldts zur sozialen Situation auf den Kanarischen Inseln 

und sein Einfl uß auf die deutschsprachigen Reisenden des 19. Jahrhunderts 

Der kurze Aufenthalt Humboldts auf den Kanarischen Inseln im Sommer 1799 

bewirkte für viele deutschsprachige Wissenschaft ler und Intellektuelle eine 

“Wiederentdeckung” des Archipels. Direkt oder indirekt angeregt durch Humboldt, 

bereisten Geologen, Botaniker, Zoologen, Maler und sogar Juristen die Inseln, um 

dessen Arbeiten auf vielen Gebieten zu vervollständigen. Die Zeugnisse, die sie uns 

hinterlassen haben, sind überwiegend naturwissenschaft lichen Charakters, obwohl 

— dem Vorbild Humboldts folgend — die Mehrheit von ihnen die ungünstige soziale 

und wirtschaft liche Situation der kanarischen Bevölkerung anmerkt. In unserem 

Vortrag analysieren wir das Bild der herrschenden nahezu feudalen Verhältnisse, 

das sich einigen Reisenden des 19. Jahrhunderts darbot, und zeigen, dass sie ihre 

Aufmerksamkeit in vielen Fällen auf Probleme lenkten, die bereits Humboldt, ein 

preußischer Parteigänger der Französischen Revolution, aufgezeigt hatt e. 

Email jjbatist@ull.es 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Pilar Baumeister ( Verband deutscher Schrift steller, Köln, Germany ) 

Travelling for life. German and Spanish Writers in Exile between Europe and 

America 

Literary emigration is more frequent than one could imagine. Some writers have 

even changed their language and become very important in the literature of their 

new country. Vladimir Nabokov, Nina Berberova, Joseph Brodsky are not only 

Russian, but a part of American writing. Th e common feature of my chosen writers 

is their decisive travelling experience between the two continents. Emigration is no 

travelling for fun or curiosity. In many cases it was a matt er of of life or death, as it 

was with the exiled writers : Spanish writers during the civil war, the Jewish, German 

and Austrian writers escaping from Nazi Germany. Aft er an indroduction that deals 

with some foreign authors writing German, a widespread tendency since the seventies 

( Gastarbeiterliteratur ), I will be describing in the main part the travelling experience 

of the exiles in the thirties and forties, their feelings of liberation or disappointment, 

until at last they could reach America. Some of the names are already familiar to 

American readers. Emigration aft er 1933 to usa : Brecht, Feuchtwanger, Werfel, the 

Mann family, Toller, Zweig, Döblin, Seghers, Zuckmayer, Marcuse, Adorno, Broch, 

Oskar Maria Graf, etc. Spanish writers. mexico : Altolaguirre, Aub, Bergamín, 

Moreno Villa, Rejano, Cernuda. Argentina : Alberti. Boston : Salinas. San Diego : 

Sender. San Juan de Puerto Rico : Juan Ramón Jiménez. In the end I’ll try to analyze 

the very complex relationship of the authors to both, the country of birth and the 

country of exile. 

Email pios@nexgo.de 


Panel 50 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Martin Bäumel ( University of Chicago, Germanic Studies, Illinois, u sa ) 

Der nüchterne erste Blick : Beobachtung und ihre Darstellung in Alexander von 

Humboldts Voyage aux Régions équinoxiales 

Alexander von Humboldts Voyage aux Régions équinoxiales, einer der wichtigsten 

Texte zur Kolonialerfahrung und Begegnung mit dem Fremden in Lateinamerika, 

beeindruckt durch seinen Faktenreichtum ebenso wie durch die Persönlichkeit 

des Forschers und Autors. Zugleich liefert Humboldt in seinem Text etwas, das 

ich hyper- oder metaobjektives Beschreiben nennen möchte. Im Rahmen des 

Objektivitätsparadigmas einer wiederholbaren experimentellen Überprüfung des 

Beobachteten als Basis der Katalogisierung, Beherrschung und Steuerung der Welt 

wendet Humboldt sich in seiner Reisebeschreibung den Bruchstellen eines solchen 

objektiven Erfassens der Welt zu. Begegnungen mit dem Fremden und Neuen, so 

wird deutlich, sind nicht so einfach wie es auf den ersten Blick scheinen mag, sondern 

werden von kulturellen Mustern und Imaginationen geprägt und gesteuert. 

Um diesem Zusammenhang von Objektivität und kultureller Verfasstheit, von 

Faktizität und Fiktionalität nachzugehen, möchte der Beitrag die Darstellung der 

Überfahrten auf die Kanaren und nach Südamerika, sowie die zwei Erstkontakte mit 

Fremden vor der Insel Graciosa und vor Cumaná untersuchen und den Text dabei 

als literarisches Kunstwerk ernst nehmen. Ein Vergleich zwischen dem Tagebuch 

und dem veröff entlichten Bericht erhellt, wie einerseits Humboldts unmitt elbare 

Wahrnehmungen sich an kulturellen Mustern orientieren ; und wie andererseits die 

Reisebeschreibung off ene und verdeckte Referenzen sowie die von einer Erzählung 

zur Verfügung gestellte Trennung zwischen Diskurs, Geschichte und Narration 

benutzt, um die Beobachtung des eigenen Beobachtens so deutlich wie möglich zu 

machen. Die Aufmerksamkeit im Text changiert dabei zwischen der Beobachtung 

des Fremden und der Beobachtung der eigenen Beobachtung in einem komplexen 

Wechselverhältnis, das schließlich keinen Teil unberührt lässt. 

Email mbaeumel@uchicago.edu 


Panel 66 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Jens Baumgarten ( Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil ) 

From Post-Tridentine Italy to Colonial Brazil : Images and Imagination in the 

Missions Politics 

Th is paper intends to analyze the concepts of images and imagination in the context 

of visual representation in colonial Brazil and its reference to the post-Tridentine 

models. Th erefore it is necessary to examine various aspects of the migration and 

transference of culture, especially artistic and religious concepts, from Italy to 

Portuguese America in the 17th century. Th is would also mean an analysis of the 

Catholic theory of visualization, focusing on diff erent methods used to transform 

this visual system within the context of several colonial-American societies. 

Consequently it refers to the post-Tridentine concepts, in particular the theologians 

Gabriele Paleott i and Roberto Bellarmino, and their reception by the Jesuit, politician, 

diplomat and intellectual Antônio Vieira, one of the most important Portuguese 

authors of the 17th century, whose sermons can be found largely distributed in 

Portugal and her colonies. Th e decisive role of imagination for the missionary politics 

can be scrutinized by the value of the visual sense and the role of emotions in Vieira’s 

sermons as he combines in his discourse visual perception, political aesthetics and 

implicitly the role of the visual arts. 

Email jens.baumgarten@unifesp.br 


Panel 82 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Th omas Beck ( Freie Universität Berlin ) 

Th e Physiognomy of Landscape : Alexander von Humboldt’s Contribution to 

the Development of the Aesthetics of Nature in the 19th Century 

Th roughout the entire 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt has been considered as 

the exemplary author for a landscape prose that is both conditioned by science and 

rich in aesthetical refl ection. While this literary achievement has been increasingly 

discussed in research, the reception history of his theoretical considerations on landscape 

aesthetics has not been very well studied so far. Th is presentation discusses the 

impact of Humboldt’s physiognomy of vegetation, focusing on the eff orts made in the 

mid-19th century towards the development of nature aesthetics as a distinct scientifi c 

discipline. 

In 1806, Humboldt fi rst published his lecture Ideen zu einer Physiognomik der 

Gewächse. In this essay he develops an aesthetical systematics of plants—diff erent 

from botanical systematics—with the objective of fathoming the elements that constitute 

the overall sensuous impression of a certain area. Still in Kosmos, Humboldt 

considered the essay to have att racted too litt le att ention, but actually his ideas led to 

a physiognomical method both of plant geography (August Grisebach, Franz Julius 

Ferdinand Meyen ) and of the aesthetics of nature. His approach gained relevance to 

a greater extent in the mid-19th century, when nature aesthetics started to liberate 

itself from the philosophical aesthetics. Authors like Friedrich Th eodor Vischer tried 

to scientifi cate the beauty of nature by unifying the aesthetical refl ection with a 

comprehensive scientifi c analysis of the particular aesthetical object : “Die Aesthetik 

geht auf diesem Wege Hand in Hand mit der Naturwissenschaft und wird zu einer 

Physiognomik der Natur” (Vischer 1847). 

Email thomas.beck@studiolo.de 


Panel 11 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Tânia Beisl Ramos, Madalena Cunha Matos ( Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, 

Faculdade de Arquitectura, Portugal ) 

Crossing the Atlantic 500 Years later : People, Aircraft s and Buildings 

In March 30th 1922 Gago Coutinho e Sacadura Cabral took off from Belém in front 

of the Jeronimus Monastery in Lisbon to att empt the fi rst fl ight over the South 

Atlantic. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean, the pilots were assisted by a new method 

of astronomic navigation/map-reading of their own design. Th e journey proved 

exceedingly diffi cult but ultimately successful. Th e pilots were acclaimed in each 

single city where they landed. When they arrived on June 17 in Rio de Janeiro a joyful 

crowd welcomed the Portuguese air pilots. 

Th is journey was made to commemorate the First Centennial Anniversary of 

Brazil’s independence, which was obtained in 1822 from Portugal, the country of 

citizenship of the two pilots. In the great exposition which was purposively built 

in Rio at the time, fourteen countries were represented, transforming it into an 

international exhibition that was eventually visited by over three million people. 

Th rough this diff erently from Cabral’s inaugural travel, a new relationship was 

being established between Portugal and Brazil a hundred years aft er the ‘Cry of 

Ipiranga’. At the end of the exposition in 1923, the Portuguese national pavilions 

were shipped to Lisbon, where they were rebuilt in the main city park ; one of them 

is still existent but is seldom recognised as a signifi cant testimonial to a renewed and 

reworked relation of the metropolis and its ex-colony. 

Th e paper focuses on these journeys of people, aircraft s and buildings across the 

Atlantic and their post-colonial signifi cance. 

Email taniabeislramos@clix.pt 


Tourism 

Panel 73 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Rosamel S. Benavides-Garb ( Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, u sa ) 

Out in the Open: Alexander von Humboldt’s ‘other’ Trip in Latin America 

Th e Venezuelan fi lm, “Aire Libre” [Out in the Open] ( Directed by Luis Armando 

ocha, 1996 ) features the historic visit of Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé 

Bonpland to Venezuela at the turn of the 19th Century in 1799. Th is fi lm does not 

evolve around the expected exotic trip of the European explorers in the Terrae 

Incognitae, even though it appears to do so. It does not discuss the always-intriguing 

European debate about the “noble savage” even though it may suggest it. Th e fi lm 

does not att empt to ponder the dehumanizing colonial condition and the emerging 

independence movement of Latin America, even though this is present, or the 

European enlightenment versus the religious fanaticism and superstition of the New 

World, though it is easily traceable in the story. Rather, this essay suggests that the 

fi lm explores and reconstructs the concept of freedom as the most essential condition 

of human happiness. 

Email Rosamel.Benavides@humboldt.edu 


Panel 31 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Carmen Benítez ( Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Agronomía, 

Instituto de Botánica Agricola, Caracas ) 

Contribución de A. Von Humboldt y A. Bonpland al conocimiento de la Familia 

de Plantas “Vasculares Solanaceae” 

Los naturalistas y viajeros Alexander von Humboldt y Aimé Jacques Bonpland, en 

su famosa expedición por América Tropical, entre los años 1799 y 1804, colectaron 

un gran número de plantas, que junto con sus ilustraciones de campo, constituyen 

un valioso legado desde el punto de vista de la taxonomía, ya que muchas de sus 

colecciones soportan especies que hoy día se consideran válidas de acuerdo con la 

Nomencaltura Botánica. En esta colección se adscriben a la familia de plantas con 

fl o r e s , Solanaceae, 13 géneros y 95 especies, distribuidas de acuerdo a las entidades 

políticas actuales en : Venezuela 23 sp. , Colombia 13 sp., Cuba 2 sp., Ecuador 34 sp., 

México 11 sp. y Perú 11 sp. Entre los años 1815 y 1825 se publica la obra Nova Genera 

et Species Plantarum, editada en Folio y en Quarto, cuyo autor principal es Carol 

Sigismund Kunth, a quien se le atribuye la autoría de nuevos taxa, y donde esta 

colección botánica es material referencial fundamental para América Tropical. 

El trabajo que se presenta recopila todas las especies de solánaceas colectadas, 

mencionando algunos rasgos sobresalientes de las mismas, acompañadas de 

ilustraciones. 

Email cbenitez22@gmail.com 


Panel 51 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Toni Bernhart, Jutt a Weber ( Universität der Künste, Berlin ; Staatsbibliothek zu 

Berlin, Handschrift enabteilung, Berlin ) 

Eine Reise um die Welt : Die Korrespondenzpartner Alexander von Humboldts 

und ihre Nachlässe 

Anhand von interessanten Korrepondenzpartnern wird das dichte und weitreichende 

Netz der mit A.v. Humboldt in Verbindung stehenden Wissenschaft ler und anderen 

Persönlichkeiten aus aller Welt vorgestellt. 

Email bernhart.berlin@web.de 


Panel 21 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Robert Bieder ( Indiana University, History, Bloomington, u sa ) 

Johann Georg Kohl. A German Among the Ojibway Indians of Lake Superior 

Th e windy shores of Lake Superior probably seemed like another world to the 

German traveler Johann Georg Kohl when, in the summer of 1855, he visited the 

Ojibway Indians in Northern Wisconsin. Born in Bremen in 1808, Kohl became a 

recognized scholar in nineteen-century Germany and the United States. Today his 

works are litt le known except in the fi eld of ethnology where his two volume study, 

Kitchi-Gami, oder Erzahlungen vom Obern See : Ein Beitrag zur Charakteristik 

der Amerikanischen Indianer is still a valuable source. Th is work was far superior 

to anything writt en in ethnology in America at that time. It benefi tt ed from Kohl’s 

perceptive powers of observation, cultural sensitivity and comparative approach 

which saw Midwestern tribal peoples similar to Europeans. 

My paper will address the circumstances that prompted Kohl to visit American 

between the years of 1854 and 1858. Beginning with who Kohl was, I will continue 

with : 1 ) What infl uences prompted Kohl to make a four year trip to America ; 

2 ) What was his reception upon arrival ; 3 ) Why did he chose to spend four months 

with the Indians in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada ; 4 ) How and why 

his positive views on Indians diff ered radically from American views ; 5 ) Why was his 

work important ; and 6 ) What has been the reception of his work Kitchi-Gami over 

time. 

Email rbieder@indiana.edu 


Panel 24 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Anne-Berenike Binder ( Universität Mannheim, Romanisches Seminar für Literatur- 

und Medienwissenschaft en, Germany ) 

Entdecken und Erobern — Weiblichkeitsentwürfe und Identitätskonstruktionen 

in Xicoténcatl ( 1826 ) 

Entdeckungs- und Eroberungsreisen werden in der neueren Interkulturalitätsforschung 

im Kontext von Genderfragen behandelt ( vgl. u.a. Hölz ). Einen Topos 

wissenschaft licher Studien zum Th ema Weiblichkeitsentwürfe stellt die Th ese 

vom dualistischen Aufb au des Frauenbildes dar : Eva und Maria erscheinen hierbei 

als Sinnbilder des Dualismus von idealisierter und dämonisierter Geliebter, von 

Schuld und Unschuld. Im Kontext der Kolonialliteratur wird die patriarchalische 

Unterscheidung von Geist und Natur, Gesetz und Chaos, Subjekt und Objekt, 

Selbst und Anderes auf die Geschlechter ( Mann–Frau ) und ebenso auf die Kulturräume 

übertragen. In Lateinamerika im 19. Jahrhundert, der Zeit der Erlangung 

der nationalen Unabhängigkeit, galt es, unter Rückbesinnung auf die eigenen, 

indigenen Wurzeln die eigene, nationale Identität zu formulieren. Die Konzepte 

der Malinche ( Mythos der weiblichen Schuld, “femme fatale” ) und Virgen de 

la Guadalupe ( Ideal weiblicher Tugendhaft igkeit, “femme fragile” ) spielten in 

diesem Kontext eine wichtige Rolle. Auf der Grundlage der Zusammenführung 

zweier kulturwissenschaft licher Entwicklungen ( Interkulturalitätsforschung 

und feministische Kulturkritik ) soll die Verschränkung kultureller und sexueller 

Diff erenz anhand des 1826 anonym erschienen ersten historischen Romans 

Lateinamerikas, Xicoténcatl, aufgezeigt werden. Das Th ema der Eroberung Mexikos 

um die historische Gestalt Xicoténcatls wird ergänzt durch Liebesgeschichten um 

Cortés, Malinche und der fi ktiven Gestalt Teutila. Das historische Gegensatzpaar 

— spanische Eroberer und indigene Verteidiger der Heimat — ist in seiner antithetischen 

Darstellung auch bei den Frauenbildern zu erkennen : Der Vortrag erläutert 

den Zusammenhang der Weiblichkeitsentwürfe ( von Teutila als femme fragile und 

Malinche als femme fatale ) mit der nationalstaatlichen Selbstfi ndung. Im weiteren 

Kontext sollen anhand von Xicoténcatl männliche und weibliche Semantisierungen 

von Räumen, Fremdem und Eigenem, Eroberern und Eroberten aufgezeigt werden. 

Email binder@phil.uni-mannheim.de 

Section Traveling, Gender, Sexuality 

Panel 28 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Jutt a Birmele ( California State University, College of Liberal Arts, Long Beach, u sa ) 

Th e Professional and the Personal : Christina Th ompson’s Come on Shore and We 

Will Kill and Eat You All 

Rarely does a writer and scholar deal with such a wide ranging array of opposites 

in which her own life experience, her narrative perspective and academic work 

are deeply imbedded or rather implicated. Th e list of opposites, some of them 

diametrically situated, is long. She goes back and forth between the past and the 

present, between myth and reality, stereotypes and diff erentiation, and navigates 

between generational, class, gender, ethnic, cultural, and geographical opposites. In 

the instance of her studies of Maori culture and history, she is an outsider by birth 

who becomes an insider by marriage. In the case of her excursion into the history of 

North American sett lements, Christina Th ompson’s research again shows her as an 

outsider removed through time and perspective, but at the same time she is part of 

that history through her awareness of being a descendant of one of the fi rst families 

of New England. Th e paper will examine how the personal story of the “encounter” 

colors the author’s anthropological study and vice versa, how her marriage and family 

life are directed by her academic work. Christina Th ompson is the editor of Harvard 

Review. 

Email jbirmele@csulb.edu 

Section Contemporary Travel Narratives 

Panel 84 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Mary I. Bockover ( Humboldt State University, Philosophy, Arcata, California, u sa ) 

Idealism, Relativism, and Travel 

My living and traveling abroad has reinforced the idea that it is both easy—and 

wrong—to assume that one’s own culturally conditioned interests and values are 

valid for the rest of the world. As a former Fulbright scholar I mainly learned this 

from living, working, and traveling in the Czech Republic for the academic year 

of 2004-2005. Czechs are not so radically diff erent from us Americans who are 

pervasively infl uenced by our European roots. But human interests and values can 

vary profoundly despite any such cultural compatibility. Th e fact is that in the 20th 

century the Czech people lived under despotism and communism for close to fi ft y 

years. Th is drives the current concern that many Czechs have about idealistic Young 

America, in light of the eff ect that America could have as a super-power on the rest of 

the world. Idealism simply does not do justice to the facts of European history where 

it brought people like Hitler and Stalin to power, while in the u sa idealism helped 

to produce the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and in 2008 to 

get Barack Obama elected our new President. Morally speaking, however, there is no 

impartial, objective ideal that can serve as a universal standard for anyone. I will show 

that today, real diplomacy paradoxically calls us to see idealism and its principles as 

off ering hope, while at the same time seeing those very principles as being culturally 

and morally relative. 

Email mib1@humboldt.edu 

Section Narrating Voyages : the Scholar-Traveler 

Panel 94 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Hamidreza Bohlouli Zanjani ( University of Ott awa, Canada ) 

Representación de las vivencias migratorias en las narrativas de ‘patera’ 

en Ahlán ( 1997 ), de Jerónimo López Mozo y Las voces del Estrecho ( 2000 ), 

de Andrés Sorel 

La violencia, la explotación y la segregación como realidades de las vivencias migratorias 

en Europa recuerdan la necesidad de establecer un presente compartido con 

base en una nueva memoria cultural. Las experiencias de la migración permiten que 

la memoria cultural cambie de un estado estático y sea, más bien, un proceso con 

nuevos signifi cados. Las narrativas de viajes migratorios con sus facetas y referencias 

múltiples, respondiendo a los nuevos tipos de interacciones sociales, contribuyen a la 

construcción de un pasado histórico como una esperanza para el futuro. Pretendemos 

en esta propuesta situar la problemática de ‘la memoria cultural’ y ‘el espacio 

moderno’ en el proceso de la migración clandestina del magrebí a España, partiendo 

del estudio de los narrativas de viaje representados en las obras del corpus. El corpus 

elegido para efectos de este trabajo es el siguiente : La obra teatral Ahlán ( 1997 ), del 

dramaturgo Jerónimo López Mozo, y la novela Las voces del Estrecho ( 2000 ), de 

Andrés Sorel. Proyectamos analizar estas narrativas de la migración bajo la óptica 

crítica de la espacialidad moderna y los conceptos relacionados que tienen categoría 

de construcción social tal como : el paisaje, la casa, la ciudad, la patria, la nación 

y el territorio. Las narrativas de ‘patera’ en sus múltiples lecturas representan los 

encuentros híbridos que tratan las identidades fronterizas como espacios de personas 

apátridas. 

Email hbohl032@uott awa.ca 


Panel 55 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Elizabeth Bohls ( University of Oregon, English, Eugene, u sa ) 

Th e Mercenary as Natural Historian : John Stedman’s Tropics 

I examine the relationship between John Stedman’s activities as a colonial soldier of 

fortune and an amateur naturalist as depicted in his book, Narrative of a Five Years’ 

Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam ( 1796 ). Th e arduous and violent 

conditions of Stedman’s life in the tropical slave colony, I argue, helped shape the 

knowledge produced in his descriptions and drawings. Th e man and his book connect 

slavery and natural history, both important institutions of the colonial Atlantic world, 

in thought-provoking ways. I fi rst consider Stedman as a mercenary—a European 

soldier in the tropics—responding to the threat posed by environmental and social 

conditions. Th en I discuss his interest in tropical animals and plants in the context 

of colonial natural history, a discourse and genre familiar to British readers by the 

time he wrote. His Narrative, neither just a natural history nor just a travel book, 

combines heterogeneous discursive and generic elements. Of its 81 plates, engraved 

from Stedman’s drawings, over half depict Surinam’s plants and animals. I analyze 

visual echoes between one plate, “Th e Skinning of the Aboma Snake,” and bett erknown 

plates depicting slave torture. Scientifi c curiosity and colonial violence emerge 

in disturbing proximity, forcing us to rethink the construction of natural history as 

scientifi cally detached. Th e tension between Stedman’s diff erent relationships to 

Surinam’s environment as a soldier and as a natural historian pervades his book. But 

Stedman’s job and his hobby ultimately converged to support the colonial enterprise 

that made them both possible. 

Email ebohls@uoregon.edu 


Panel 9 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Willi Bolle ( Universidade de São Paulo, Letras Modernas, Brazil ) 

Die erste Durchquerung Amazoniens 

Gegenstand ist die erste Durchquerung Amazoniens durch eine Expedition von 

57 Spaniern im Jahre 1541/42 unter dem Kommando von Francisco de Orellana, 

beschrieben von dem Domikanerpriester Gaspar de Carvajal. Als heuristisches Mitt el 

zum besseren Verständnis des Textes hat der Autor dieses Vortrags im Jahre 2007 

auf dem Rio Napo und auf dem Amazonas den Parcours der damaligen Expedition 

nachvollzogen. Im Mitt elpunkt steht die Rekonstruktion der Route von Orellana und 

ihres chronologischen Ablaufs. Diese Lektüre Carvajals zielt auf eine Darstellung 

Amazoniens als “Weltregion” und “Weltt heater”, d.h. es geht darum, die geopolitische 

Bedeutung der Region und ihre Präsenz im universalen Imaginären im Medium 

mythologischer und ästhetischer Darstellungen herauszuarbeiten, die in jenem 

grundlegenden Text z.T. bereits angelegt sind und teils von ihm angeregt wurden. 

Email willibolle@yahoo.com 


Panel 2 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Victor Bologov ( Nowoaltaisk Altairegion, Russia ) 

Die Bedeutung Alexander von Humboldts für Sibirien und die Altai-Region 

Sibirien und der Altai wurden die Höhepunkte auf Humboldts europäischasiatischer 

Russlandreise. Endlich war es ihm möglich, die Gebirgssysteme der 

Neuen mit der Alten Welt zu vergleichen. Vom Charakter her ( Reisebedingungen 

und Schwierigkeiten, Gefahren und Krankheiten, Epidemien ) ist sie nicht mit 

der amerikanischen Reise zu vergleichen, aber weit bedeutungsvoller als bisher 

in der Literatur dargestellt. Als Bergmann galt sein Interesse der erstaunlichen 

Konzentration von Bodenschätzen und Mineralien, der Gold- und Silbergewinnung 

im Ural und im Altai. Deshalb führten ihn seine Wege nach Barnaul, wo er 

und seine Begleiter am 2. 8. 1829 ankamen und vom Oberberghauptmann und 

Zivilgouverneur Froloff empfangen und eingeladen wurden. Während seines Besuchs 

in Schlangenberg ( Smeinogorsk ), wo die Silber-, Gold- und Kupferminen besichtigt 

wurden, galt sein Interesse auch den Arbeitsbedingungen der Bergarbeiter, deren 

Ausrüstung zur Gewinnung der Erze und wertvollen Mineralien. Humboldt schenkte 

große Aufmerksamkeit dem Studium der altaiischen Altertümer und schlussfolgerte, 

dass die Goldlager im Ural und Altai die Hauptquellen der Versorgung mit Gold für 

die europäischen Skythen und antiken griechischen Kolonien waren und dass die in 

Herodots Schrift en erwähnten hohen, uneinnehmbaren Gebirge die des Altai waren 

und dass die Arimaspen und andere Volksstämme, die dort das Gold gewannen, die 

uralten Bewohner vom altaiischen Erzgebirge waren. Einzigartige Naturressourcen 

der Region, ihre archäologischen und historischen Denkmäler fesselten die Aufmerk 

samkeit des Forschers. Die in unserer Zeit durchgeführten archäologischen 

Entdeckungen und Forschungen haben größtenteils Humboldts Hypothesen 

bestätigt. Mit Humboldts Namen verbunden sind die archäologischen Denkmäler 

um den Kolywan-See ( ca. 330 km von Barnaul entfernt, im altaiischen Erzgebirge ), 

die in den Jahren 1980-90 erforscht wurden. Dieser See, in einzigartiger Landschaft , 

beeindruckte den Gelehrten. Wir haben eine Photoausstellung A. von Humboldt und 

der Altai vorbereitet, um aufzuzeigen, wie diese Region heute aussieht. 

Email vitec@novoalt.ru 


Panel 56 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location L115

Cristian Borges ( Universidade de São Paulo, Film, Brazil ) 

At the Table with Hans Staden : Imaging Cannibalistic Inversions 

In the 16th century, German soldier and traveller Hans Staden went twice to Brazil, in 

Spanish or Portuguese ships. During his second trip, he was made captive for more 

than nine months by the Tupinambá people, whose customs included cannibalistic 

practices. Back in Europe, he published his accounts of that extraordinary adventure 

in the book Warhaft ige Historia und beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der Wilden 

Nacketen, Grimmigen Menschfr esser-Leuthen in der Newenwelt America gelegen ( 1557 ), 

fully illustrated by himself. In 1999, Brazilian fi lmmaker Luiz Alberto Pereira made 

a fi lm based on Staden’s accounts and images : Hans Staden — Lá Vem Nossa Comida 

Pulando ( Hans Staden — Th ere He Comes, Our Food Jumping ). In a rather classic 

linear way, it depicts Staden’s adventures through a conventional cinematic narrative 

and by ‘respecting’ his point of view. But in 1970, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, one of 

the most important Brazilian fi lmmakers, had already made another fi lm based on 

Staden’s ( and French explorer and writer Jean de Léry’s ) accounts : Como era gostoso 

o meu fr ancês ( How Tasty Was My Litt le Frenchman ). Th is fi lm, also almost entirely 

spoken in Tupi ( the indigenous language ), has successfully combined the historical 

facts and stories with the ‘Cannibal Manifesto’ of Brazilian modernist mouvement 

( from the 1920’s ), and the audacious Cinema Novo aesthetics. Th rough a comparative 

analysis of drawings and fi lms, we’ll be able to identify contrasting ways of portraying 

and conceiving cannibalism in diff erent moments/aesthetics : either Europeans 

‘eating’ Brazilian natives or natives eating ( literally and/or fi guratively ) Europeans. 

Email cristianborges.sp@gmail.com 


Panel 7 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Babs Boter ( Universiteit Utrecht, Media and Culture Studies, Gender Studies, Th e 

Netherlands ) 

Occidental Tourists : Dutch Travellers’ Constructions of the American Other 

Dutch traveler accounts that have constructed America fi t in a long tradition of 

European inventions of the “Occident” ( Kroes 1996, 2006 ; Kostova 2000 ). As 

such they convey a wide range of European beliefs. My paper will show how Dutch 

travel writers, both male and female, confi rmed the contemporary “paradigm of 

discontinuity” ( Mathy 1993 ). Embedded in Dutch/European collective discursive 

formations, in which their perceptions are rooted, they portray American culture 

as an icon of modernity, whereas Europe is still in the process of becoming free, 

democratic, egalitarian, mechanized. Th us, they construct an image of “the West” that 

starkly contrasts with that produced by European travelers of the East, or the “Orient” 

( Said 1978 ). However, this juxtaposition between “Orientalist” and “Occidentalist” 

travel narratives is not as clear-cut as it appears. Many European travelers also 

represent America as “the Other of Europe,” as a monstrous outre-Occident 

( Duhamel 1931 ; Mathy 1993 ) that was primitive, uncivilized, materialistic, and cruel. 

Oft entimes, this lack of civilization is measured by America’s treatment and position 

of women, African Americans and American Indians. Due to this ambivalence, Dutch 

travelers were unable to neatly position America in an evolutionary sequence from 

primitivism to progressivism ( Bosch 2003, 134 ; Sweeney 2004 ). Th is also means that 

the writing subjects, whose narrative texts are in fact self-portraits ( Speerstra 2001 ), 

rather ambivalently position themselves vis-à-vis America’s white women, “negroes” 

and “natives” ( Foster 1990 ). My paper will conclude with an analysis of the way in 

which gender aff ects such positioning. 

Email babs.boter@let.uu.nl 


Panel 48 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Birgit Braasch ( Leeds Metropolitan University, Centre for Tourism and Cultural 

Change, United Kingdom ) 

Constructing Narratives of the North Atlantic : Crossing between Europe and 

North America by Ship and by Plane 

Before 1958 the majority of travellers between Europe and North America crossed the 

North Atlantic by ship. Th en, in 1958 the jet plane was introduced to the transatlantic 

service, and for the fi rst time more people took the plane than the ship. Th ese changes 

in transportation technology entailed signifi cant changes in travel cultures that 

were embedded in diff erent narratives about travelling between Europe and North 

America. In this paper, I follow these travel narratives about crossing the North 

Atlantic from the 1950s through the 1970s with oral history interviews. Some of the 

memories expressed in those interviews refl ect recurring themes of this time. One 

example for such a recurring theme is progress. While in most of the narratives 

the change from ship to plane is told as a story of progress, this story is oft en 

accompanied by a diff erent narrative threat of nostalgia. Whereas the technological 

inventions such as faster ships, planes and then jet planes are credited as progressive, 

the presumed lack in travel culture that goes along with these technological changes 

is oft en seen as a step backwards. 

Email b.braasch@leedsmet.ac.uk 


Tourism 

Panel 73 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Armand Brahaj ( Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Medien Off enburg, 

Germany ) 

Increasing the Eff ectiveness of Information Retrieval in the Humboldt Digital 

Library by Implementation of Multivariable Metadata 

Th e usual practice of an internet website is that users have to follow several links to 

reach the searched information. In an evolving digital library such as the Humboldt 

Digital Library ( hdl ) the content and complexity of the library continuously grow. 

To guarantee the usability of the system and to increase the probability of fi nding the 

data, we have implemented a set of useful tools that facilitate the navigation to the 

required information in the hdl. 

One of the key components of the hdl is the information retrieval ( ir ) module. 

Based on studies, which have been pursued in the last years, our developments has 

been following a diff erent focus, covering fundamentals like models of user behaviors, 

social bookmarking and sentiment based search, also referred in literature as 

aff ective orientation, semantic valence, and polarity. Each of these research courses 

explains a specifi c method on how to make the search more eff ective and improve the 

correctness of the results. 

Th e ir module of the hdl is based on the incremental number of the variables 

that support the users to search for specifi c information. Th is is achieved by using 

metadata related to each paragraph. Th ese metadata are automatically calculated by 

the system or manually inserted by the system administrators. Th ematic variables, 

including time and location tags, are inserted manually in relation to each paragraph. 

Other data are automatically calculated by the system to provide statistics, search 

paths, navigation maps that are used in a case based reasoning engine. Th e variety of 

these metadata in combination with a rich search interface and suggestive engines 

increase the eff ectiveness of the search results in the hdl. 

To give an example how to use the ir module, every Internet user can create 

his own profi le to be able to store personal bookmarks, store search paths to text 

paragraphs or illustrations, and defi ne points of interest for thematic search. 

Email abrahaj@stud.fh -off enburg.de 


Panel 26 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Markus Breuning ( Bern, Switzerland ) 

Alexander-von-Humboldt-Bibliographie 

Seit 1969 sammle ich über Alexander von Humboldt. Sehr früh stellte ich mir 

die Frage, warum gibt es keine auf Autopsie beruhende, möglichst vollständige 

Bibliographie ? Mir reift e der Plan, dieses Unterfangen anzupacken. Ich begann 

systematisch zu sammeln und auszuwerten. Eine Tätigkeit, 40 Jahre von Dauer mit 

dem Ergebnis von 10000 Nummern, die katalogisiert wurden : Bücher, Monographien 

und Gedenkbände, Dissertationen, Zeitschrift en- und Zeitungsartikel, Rezensionen. 

Welche Erkenntnisse, ja welcher Gewinn lässt sich daraus ableiten ? Festgestellt 

wurde, die vorhandenen Artikel erschienen in 1886 Periodika. Beinahe über alle 

Aspekte seines Lebens und seiner Tätigkeit wurde geschrieben. Seine Werke 

bzw. Lieferungen wurden rezensiert. Es gab tausende Autoren, jeder hatt e ( mit 

Ausnahmen ) sein Th ema/Fachgebiet, über das er schrieb, in allen Variationen. Sei 

es der Geschichtsforscher, Literaturhistoriker, Politiker oder Naturwissenschaft ler. 

Länderspezifi sch gab es auch verständlicherweise Unterschiede der Rezeption : 

Das eigene Land und Humboldts Beziehungen und Reisen in allen Facett en. Auch 

wurde er politisch eingespannt. Im Nationalsozialismus wurde er, der Judenfreund, 

als Aushängeschild für Südamerika-Ambitionen nützlich. In der ddr wurde sein 

Engagement gegen Sklaverei und Unterdrückung, sein Humanismus propagiert 

und gewürdigt. Der Gewinn ist auch ein mehrfacher : Anhand der Rezensionen, die 

durchaus kritisch sein konnten, lässt sich feststellen, wie sein Werk aufgenommen 

wurde. Anhand des Stichwortregisters lässt sich global feststellen, wer über welches 

Th ema schrieb, was für künft ige Monographien ein nützliches Instrument sein wird. 

Auch Ansichts- und Meinungsdiff erenzen sind durchaus vorhanden. Nicht zuletzt 

ersieht man, zu welchem Th ema viel, wenig oder nichts geschrieben wurde. 

Email markusbreuning@hispeed.ch 


Panel 61 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Frank Widar Brevik ( LaGrange College, English Department, Georgia, u sa) 

Brave New World Grown Old : Th e Tempest and American Exile 

Shakespeare’s Th e Tempest is a play that deals centrally with travel and motion : exmigration, 

immigration, re-immigration, diasporic experience, and translocation— 

partly due to its thematic content but textually most of all since its sett ing is 

ambiguously blurred, playfully engineered to “hover” ( à la Swift ’s Laputa ) between 

Europe, North Africa, Bermuda, America, Arabia, essentially a geographical 

aporia drift ing towards, but never quite reaching, “somewhere rich and strange.” 

Many critics have discussed the play as set in the Americas in order to facilitate 

political discussions of language, power, and racism. Relatively few scholars have 

problematized the textual validity of such critiques, but there is now growing concern 

in recent scholarship over previous critics’ tendency to speak of trans-locality and 

displacement with reference only to a select set of characters ( like Caliban and 

Prospero, for instance ) who “fi t” into pathos-laden diatribes against England, Europe, 

the West, and Shakespeare as sinister representatives in a dichotomized moral 

universe that contains aggressor and victim, colonizer and colonized. My paper seeks 

to nuance this picture by relying on a more text-centred approach than do some 

New Historicist discursive analyses, “readings against the grain” which have tended 

to cement notions of one New World sett ing monolithic ( post- )colonial themes. 

Drawing on Ricardo Castells’ analogy to Cuban balseros raft ing or swimming ashore 

to exile in the U.S., I re-evaluate previous moral condemnations of Prospero as a 

racist imperialist in light of his and Miranda’s experience as political refugees, oft en a 

neglected dimension of the play. 

Email fb revik@lagrange.edu 


Panel 60 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Lilianet Brintrup ( Humboldt State University, World Languages and Cultures, 

Arcata, California, u sa ) 

La Nueva Patria : las mujeres de la colonización alemana en Llanquihue, Chile. 

Siglo xix 

El proceso de colonización alemana en el Siglo xix ( 1842-1885 ) se inicia en Chile bajo 

el presidente Manuel Montt y estuvo a cargo de dos fi guras importantes : Bernardo 

Eunom Philippi Krumwiede, alemán y Vicente Pérez Rosales, chileno ; quienes a su 

vez devienen protagonistas-viajeros en el libro de Marta Werner, La Nueva Patria. 

Historias y Leyendas de la Inmigración Alemana a Llanquihue/Neue Heimat. Dichtung 

und Wahrheit aus der Einwandererzeit ( 2004 ). Mi trabajo, ubicado geográfi camente 

en la provincia de Llanquihue, se centra en dos aspectos : 1 ) el proceso histórico 

mismo de la inmigración : gestación y trabajos de Philippi y de Pérez Rosales ; 2 ) el 

balbuceante y exiguo diálogo de las mujeres alemanas ; como el extenuante y brutal 

trabajo al que fueron sometidas las viajeras-inmigrantes alemanas. Otorgo a esta 

narración una importancia al factor genérico : las mujeres en este texto muestran una 

habilidad manual asombrosa en el pequeño e inhóspito mundo doméstico, habilidad 

que avanza hacia una dimensión creativa. Junto a la proliferación de los numerosos 

hijos/as nacidos en territorio sudamericano, aparecen conatos de rebeldía, desafíos 

cotidianos y transgresiones al sistema de orden familiar alemán y social chileno, que 

debían perpetuar por imposición. Como acompañantes subalternas, permanecieron 

en una lucha de esfuerzos y sacrifi cios constantes en medio del frío, hambre, calor, 

dolor de cabeza, y de espalda y manos sangrantes. La cocina, la casa y la huerta no 

fueron espacios femeninos tamizados de magia, de belleza ni de sensualidad. 

Email lib1@humboldt.edu 


Panel 35 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Maria Margareta Brumm ( Universidad Michoacana, Departamento de Idiomas, 

Morelia, Mexico ) 

Barbaren und Wilde, Indier und Eingeborene, Indianer und Indigene 

Dieser Beitrag untersucht, ob und wie die Namen, die europäische Reisende 

und Berichterstatt er der Bevölkerung der neuen Welt gegeben haben, im Laufe 

der Zeit Gebrauchs- und Bedeutungsveränderungen erfahren haben. Die Fremdbezeichnungen 

spiegeln eine Vielfalt von Wahrnehmungen der Ureinwohner des 

amerikanischen Kontinents wider, die natürlich auch Wertungen beinhalten. 

Dementsprechend werden den Menschen bestimmte Rollen und Verhaltensweisen 

zugeschrieben und ihre Sprachen und Kulturen charakterisiert. Anhand von 

ausgewählten Beispielen aus Reiseberichten und auch wissenschaft lichen Texten 

aus verschiedenen Epochen ( 16.-19. Jahrhundert ) sollen die Fremdbilder und die 

dahinterstehenden Haltungen ihrer Autoren vergleichend dargestellt werden. 

Es wird auch gezeigt, wie die Texte von Missionaren, Wissenschaft lern und 

Geschäft sreisenden die schon vorgegebenen Ideen wiederaufnehmen, ohne sie 

zu hinterfragen, und so beigetragen haben zur Bildung von Sterotypen, die sich 

jahrhundertelang aufrechterhalten. Mit einem Ausblick aud das 20. Jahrhundert 

sollen diese Begriff e problematisiert und ihre Wirkung in Lateinamerika diskutiert 

werden, im Hinblick auf die Bestrebungen einer neuen Sprach-und Kulturpolitik, 

die in vielen Ländern die Indianersprachen zwar zu offi ziellen Sprachen dekretiert 

hat, aber die dazu notwendigen Massnahmen erst langsam anfängt, in die Tat 

umzusetzen. 

Email m_brumm@yahoo.com 


Panel 100 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Benjamin Bryce ( York University, History, Toronto, Canada ) 

Pristine Traditions of the “Volk” : Antimodernism and Cultural Section in 

German Buenos Aires, 1905-1920 

Between 1870 and 1930, more Europeans came to Latin America than ever before, and 

almost half of these people chose specifi cally Argentina. Of the six million people 

who immigrated there in this time period, slightly more than three million chose to 

stay. Th is study will examine how one group, the Germans of Buenos Aires, perceived 

the arrival of new German-speaking immigrants between 1900 and 1920. It argues 

that either returning to Europe or staying in the Americas were viable options for all 

immigrants. By studying how an ethnic community assisted new members, I will 

illustrate one reason why many immigrants ultimately chose to remain in Argentina. 

Th is study will draw on the discussion found in the German-language daily 

newspaper, the Argentinisches Tageblatt , from Buenos Aires. Th e publishers of this 

newspaper, and indeed many other community leaders, welcomed Germanophone 

immigration with open arms. Discussion in the newspaper reveals that several 

associations existed to help these immigrants acquire work, housing, and land. Th e 

newspaper itself also tried to provide information about Argentine laws and banking 

in order to help newly arrived Germans succeed in their new society. Assisting 

new immigrants in their adaptation made it more likely that they would ultimately 

remain. Many viewed these immigrants as the key to increasing the size of their 

community and the ideal weapon to combat acculturation into Argentine society. 

New immigrants would increase membership in ethnic institutions, the number of 

readers of German newspapers, att endance at German schools, and membership at 

German-language churches. 

Email benbryce@yorku.ca 


Panel 40 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Irina Buche ( Leibnizschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany ) 

Taking Delight in Discovery : Th e Very First Lett er of Hernán Cortés 

Reports of travels, as are the lett ers of Hernán Cortés, are still read as texts, which 

can be passed through directly to a cultural and historical strange world. Proceeding 

on this assumption the discovery of Cortes very fi rst lett er would provide new sights 

on the period of conquest which begins with the ships leaving Cuba on February 1519 

and ends with the foundation of Veracruz in July 1519. But if our starting point is that 

those reports are writt en by authors with particular political, economic an cultural 

interests, we have to reconstruct methodically the conditions of its production in the 

medium of oral communication. Consequently we have to ask why the very fi rst lett er 

of Cortés was neither delivered to the kings nor was found until today. Is there keyinformation 

Cortés did not want the kings to know? Th ere are traces in other authors’ 

chronicles which lead me to the assumption that Cortes had integrated more into the 

indian community as allowed in Christian dogma. Th ough nowadays we only have 

acces to the oral world of the conquered if we pass through the writings of conquerors 

theoretical support is required. In the conclusion this so guided research permits 

suprising explanations : Of the hospitable reception of the heavily armed Spaniards 

by Motecuhzoma as well as of their peacefull stay more than half a year in the Aztec 

center Tenochtitlan/Tlatelolco where people were sacrifi ed all around the year on 

duty to pagan gods. 

Email Iribuch@aol.com 


Panel 2 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Vesselin Budakov ( University of Sofi a, Department of English and American Studies, 

Bulgaria ) 

Imagined Foreigners in Late Eighteenth-Century American Lett er Fiction 

Fictional lett ers of travel by fi ctive foreigners who have crossed long distances to 

explore new geographical and cultural realms became a widespread epistolary form 

of satire in both England and France throughout the eighteenth century. In America, 

such fi ctional epistolary travelogues appeared in the late eighteenth century with 

Jacob Duche’s Observation on a Variety of Subjects, Literary, Moral, and Religious ; in 

a Series of Original Lett ers ( Philadelphia 1774 ) and Peter Markoe’s Th e Algerine Spy 

in Pennsylvania ( Philadelphia, Prichard & Hall, 1787 ). In both works, a foreigner 

starts commenting on America’s politics, religion, and mores. In examining these 

two epistolary works I want to suggest that similar to what had happened in English 

and French literature, these fi ctional travelogues appeared in America with the fi rst 

instances of national awareness and opted for criticizing contemporary society by 

relegating the standpoint of a native-born American to the ‘objective’ gaze of a foreign 

visitor. Yet, contrary to the eighteenth-century English and French models that aimed 

at censuring domestic aff airs in favor of cosmopolitan idealism, these two narratives 

show that the outsider’s viewpoint is essentially used to emphasize exactly the idea of 

a nascent nation state. 

Email vesbud@yahoo.com 


Panel 3 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Vesselin Budakov ( University of Sofi a, Department of English and American Studies, 

Bulgaria ) 

Th e Transatlantic Debate on Emigration in Th e Adventures of Emmera ( 1767 ) and 

Emigrants ( 1793 ) 

Th e paper discusses two eighteenth-century novels : Th e Adventures of Emmera ; or, 

the Fair American ( 1767 ), att ributed to Arthur Young, and Gilbert Imlay’ Emigrants 

( 1793 ). Th e two epistolary works, inspired by the contemporary travel literature of the 

New World, present arguments in favor of immigrating to America. I argue that the 

lett er writers in both novels articulate the socio-political critique of the day : Young 

immersed his Emmera in Rousseau, Imlay made his Emigrants far more polyphonic 

in terms of Enlightenment radicalism. Th erefore, to choose a life of simplicity in the 

New World as it is in Emmera diff ers essentially from Gilbert Imlay’s story of sett ling 

in America. In Emmera it is on ethical grounds that the characters set out for America. 

In Imlay’s Emigrants, moral and political issues point to the contrast between two 

models of civil society—between the tyrannical, monarchic system and a utopian 

community of equal share and responsibility. Th e discussion of the two novels aims 

at illustrating the change of the idea of immigration in late eighteenth-century public 

sphere. From the point of view of the late 1760s, travel and national displacement in 

Th e Adventures of Emmera unfold the scene of British colonial expansion. By way of 

contrast, Imlay’s Emigrants hankers for a fulfi llment of Jacobin philosophy and speaks 

about the new political order as a new national as well as civic order. Th erefore, from 

the point of view of the 1790s, Emigrants puts forward an anti-colonial redefi nition of 

America’s political and physical geography. 

Email vesbud@yahoo.com 


Panel 60 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Jelena Bulic ( Croatian Institute of History, Department of Early Modern History, 

Zagreb, Croatia ) 

Representations of ‘Militärgrenze’ in European travel books 

Th is paper will deal with European travel in the 18th and the fi rst half of the 19th 

century in the rather unfamiliar region of Europe called Military Frontier or 

Militärgrenze. Since there have been no studies on travel in this region or an 

extensive list of travelers, I will try to delineate some basic notions and conceptions 

that arise in such travel books that touch, be it accidentally and only literally, be it 

purposely and physically, upon the Militärgrenze. Th e focus will be on the military 

aspects that dominate descriptions of Grenze, and the treatment of the region as 

something extremely foreign, even alien, and liminal to Europe. Th e key issue is 

the question of identity of the inhabitants of the frontier as seen by foreign eyes, as 

well as the unusual elements ( usually political ) of the region. Th e texts are mostly 

of Austrian, English and French origin, and texts made by permanently stationed 

foreign offi cers are excluded, while travel books and travel guides, even by those who 

did not visit the region themselves, are included. Th erefore, this paper aims at the 

inquiry of the representational and discursive practices of the travelers as applied to 

Militärgrenze. 

Email bulic.jelena@gmail.com 


Panel 74 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Jonathan Burgess ( University of Toronto, Classics, Canada ) 

Odysseus as Naturalist-Traveler : Colonialism, Utopia, and Nature in the Odyssey 

An under-utilized travel tale is one of the earliest : the fi rst-person account by the 

character Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. In the course of his narrative, Odysseus 

displays colonialist, ethnographic, and naturalist tendencies. In the Cyclops episode, 

the Greek ships beach upon an uninhabited island. Like a naturalist, Odysseus 

describes a sheltering harbor, luxuriant meadows, rich soil, a fresh-water stream, 

poplar trees, and an abundance of goats. But everywhere he looks his colonialist 

eyes ( the poem was composed during a time of Greek colonization in the Western 

Mediterranean ) envision potential crops, vineyards, and ship docks. Th e Cyclopes, 

who live across a short body of water from the island, are judged defi cient in their 

lack of shipbuilding and trade. Odysseus’s ethnographic description of their culture 

reveals further details : no political institutions and no agriculture ; for sustenance 

they practice herding. But nature also provides for the Cyclopes : unsown grains 

spring up of their own accord, as do wild grapes. Th e providence of nature, with a 

consequential lack of work, is typical of the Greek concept of paradise ( e.g., Elysium, 

the Isles of the Blessed, or the Golden Age of the past ). Th e Greek hero’s colonialist 

impulses are thus undercut by a utopian nostalgia for an abundant and uncivilized 

nature. Th is paper will argue that the ambiguity of the episode well anticipates 

confl icting themes in narratives of later travelers, notably naturalist-travelers like 

Bartram and Humboldt ( cf. the use of Bartram’s travels in Charles Frazier’s Cold 

Mountain, a modernization of the Odyssey ). 

Email jburgess@chass.utoronto.ca 


Panel 74 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Robert Bye, Th omas Janota ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto 

de Biología, American School, Middle School, México City ) 

Did Humboldt Shift his Paradigm of Botanical Exploration on his Arrival in 

New Spain ? 

With respect to plants, Humboldt approached his research from three avenues, 

although the treatment for his data derived from Mexican travels is not as robust 

as that generated from South America. His most prominent contribution is in the 

area of phytogeography where the Mexican data were not as detailed as Humboldt 

and Bonpland’s earliest publication with scientifi cally identifi ed plants associated 

with ecological gradients in the Andes. Humboldt explicitly avoided “mixing ideas 

of theoretical nature” in discussing the relationships of plants in his 1808 report 

on New Spain and chose instead a second approach—that of the plant’s “utility to 

society.” Th e third perspective was the detailed taxonomic descriptions of plants 

in relationship to the fl ora of the Spanish possessions in America ; this work passed 

through various specialists and European institutions with the fi nal product being 

printed in two editions between 1816 and 1825. Until recently, this work ( “Nova genera 

et species plantarum” or ngsp ) was applied to botanical nomenclatural problems. 

Recent studies have combined the original data in order to reevaluate American 

fl oristic studies and taxonomic plant groups. Using ngsp along with Humboldt’s 

travel diary and herbarium specimens for New Spain, we fi nd that certain plant 

groups in the Mexican fl ora were under-represented in Humboldt and Bonpland’s 

exploration while others were fairly complete. In the case of his second aspect, the 

economic botany focused on the value of New Spain’s plants to mining and European 

trade rather than on the biological and cultural basis of plant diversity. 

Email rbye@ibiologia.unam.mx 


Panel 51 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Vance Byrd ( Grinnell College, German, Iowa, u sa ) 

Weathering the Revolution : Alexander von Humboldt and Ludwig Achim von 

Arnim’s Der Wintergarten 

Writt en four years aft er Napoléon Bonaparte’s decisive victory at the Batt le of Jena 

and Auerstedt and Berlin’s subsequent occupation, Ludwig Achim von Arnim ( 1787- 

1831 ) locates Der Wintergarten ( 1810 ), in a residence near the Brandenburg Gate and 

sets a subtle political examination in motion. On the one hand, the climatological 

conditions outside refl ect Prussia’s weakened political position, but inside, the 

narrative’s allegorical aristocratic characters gather in a heated winter garden that 

supplants occupation’s historical reality and sustain themselves with stories to outlast 

the winter’s cold. In my presentation, I will examine this sett ing and suggest that 

late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century interior and garden design practices 

underpin this conservatory’s meticulously constructed confi nes, which include 

equatorial vegetation, exotic fl ora, and a panoramic portrait of Alexander von 

Humboldt and the Andean mountain Chimborazo. In particular, I contend that the 

text’s protagonists fashion this illusionistic garden environment so that it functions 

as an antagonistic surrogate, a counterpoint to contemporary Prussian society, which 

isolates them from the uncertain political present beyond their residence walls and 

helps them reconcile the recent past. Arnim’s inclusion of Friedrich Georg Weitsch’s 

Humboldt painting, it seems, underscores the explorer and scientist’s contemporary 

mystique and international acclaim, which, in this particular text, engenders fragile 

hope for a German rebound aft er Napoleonic occupation. 

Email byrdvl@grinnell.edu 


Panel 36 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Isabela Candeloro Campoi ( Freie Universität Berlin, Institute for Latin American 

Studies, nupehc-uff, Capes, Brazil ) 

Transatlantic Lives and Gender Relations in the 19th Century : the German 

Mathilde Franziska Anneke and the Brazilian Nísia Floresta 

Th is paper will show the research proposal and the preliminary results of my Postdoc 

project based on biographies of the Brazilian Nísia Floresta ( 1810-1885 ) and 

the German Mathilde Franziska Anneke ( 1817-1884 ). Th e two women are indeed 

examples of a transatlantic movement in people and ideas in the 19th century. 

Whereas Nísia Floresta lived many years in Europe, especially in France, Mathilde 

Anneke emigrated to the United States aft er participating in the 1848 German 

Revolution and largely contributed towards the female emancipation movement 

in the U.S. Both women, hailing from similar social classes, intellectually devoted 

themselves in their country of birth and overseas. Both of them dedicated 

themselves wholeheartedly to the spreading of their ideas when they problematized 

contemporary female social conditions or when they suggested changes in female 

education. Nísia Floresta assimilated and reworked ideas and concepts since she was 

in contact with contemporary European literature production. In 1838 she founded 

a school for girls in Rio de Janeiro and as headmistress of the Colégio Augusto she 

proposed a kind of female curriculum which was diff erent from that prevalent during 

the period. Similarly, in 1865, Mathilde Anneke established the “Milwaukee Töchter- 

Institut” in the U.S. It was a school for girls which had diff erent proposals from the 

educational curricula currently in use, especially distinguishing teaching from all 

religious denominations. Th e trajectories of Nísia Floresta and Mathilde Anneke 

make possible an investigation on the role and the conditions of elite women in 

diff erent historical contexts under the perspective of gender relations. 

Email belacampoi@hotmail.com 


Panel 33 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Vera Candiani ( Princeton University, New Jersey, u sa ) 

Traveling Technicians : Military Engineers, Water and Colonialism 

Without workers, craft speople and technicians the Americas could not have been 

drawn into the Atlantic sphere. Yet, of all travelers whose currency was knowledge, 

they are the most overlooked. Emigrating builders, tanners, masons, horticulturists, 

millers, carpenters, blacksmiths, cooks, engineers and others were unlike the morestudied 

chroniclers and early ethnographers of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, 

or eighteenth century scientifi c travelers. Although they conveyed a European way 

of knowing and working to the Americas, their universe was more material than 

theoretical : they neither gathered information about the New World for Europeans 

nor consciously tried to diff use European cultures, scientifi c or otherwise. Rarely 

would they or the products of their knowledge and labor ever return to Europe. In 

this paper, I use one group of European technicians in water management in Mexico 

to see how technical and scientifi c knowledge actually took residence aft er migrating 

with people. Royal military engineers were a hybrid among this cohort of traveling 

technicians : they were mostly itinerant, their training was grounded in science, and 

they oft en used this culture as an off ensive weapon for technological change in 

New World public works and fortifi cations, diff using European scientifi c views to 

unexpected quarters. I argue that the engineers’ culture diff used through contact, 

collaboration and confl ict between these royal “traveler” technicians and creole 

technicians and authorities, and that these working and social relationships were as 

or more important than the techno-scientifi c merits of engineers’ proposals when it 

came to actual implementation of projects. 

Email candiani@princeton.edu 


Tourism 

Panel 53 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Ernesto Capello ( Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, u sa ) 

Catholics and Cartographers : European Geographers and the Catholic Church 

in Ecuador 

Between 1901 and 1906, a team of French military geographers visited Ecuador to 

conduct the second great geodesic survey of the arc of the equatorial meridian, an 

eff ort that commemorated an eighteenth-century project while seeking to foment 

goodwill between the two republics. One of the critical players in the mission’s 

success was the Catholic Church, which played an integral role in defusing a 

series of confl icts with indigenous populations in the central Andean province 

of Chimborazo. Th is support of secular geography stands in great contrast to the 

controversial excommunication of German Jesuit geographer Th eodor Wolf in 1874. 

Wolf came to Ecuador to teach at Quito’s Polytechnic University but was forced to 

step down aft er the Church hierarchy learned of his mention of Darwinian evolution 

in his classes. What had changed in the interim ? Th is paper att empts to answer 

this question by contextualizing these two incidents within local sociopolitical and 

cultural confl icts. It argues that the church’s embrace of the French mission stems 

from two primary causes. Th e fi rst was the desire to reassert its political signifi cance 

in Chimborazo, one of the most volatile pockets of conservative resistance to the 

1895 Liberal Revolution. Th e second concerned a loss of scholarly prestige occasioned 

by Wolf ’s subsequent development of a national geological and geographic survey 

bankrolled by the state. Th is not only led to the embrace of the geodesic mission, but 

also numerous att empts to elaborate a sacred view of national geography, particularly 

through the eff orts of Dominican friar Enrique Vacas Galindo. 

Email ecapello@macalester.edu 


Tourism 

Panel 53 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Maricruz Castro-Ricalde ( Tecnológico de Monterrey, Comunicación y 

Humanidades, Toluca, Mexico ) 

Dos casos cinematográfi cos : la inmigración judía a México 

Son escasas las manifestaciones cinematográfi cas mexicanas de fi cción que abordan 

el tema de la inmigración judía. Dos de las más exitosas son Novia que te vea ( Guita 

Schyft er, 1993 ) y Morirse está en hebreo ( Alejandro Springall, 2007 ). En ambos textos 

cinematográfi cos, se eliden visualmente las secuencias relacionadas con el viaje 

trasatlántico y, en cambio, el viaje aparece como un leitmotiv sonoro, gracias a los 

diálogos, la música y los efectos especiales. El recorrido realizado es recuperado como 

un momento de transición que, sin embargo, resulta poco útil para la experiencia 

cultural que se avecina. El viaje, en sí, es vivido como una prolongación del espacio 

abandonado. La llegada a una nueva tierra trae consigo toda suerte de peripecias 

que afectan profundamente tanto a los viajeros, a los que los reciben como al resto 

de la comunidad circundante. Detenerse en estas películas, además, contribuye a 

deconstruir un imaginario sobre lo mexicano, centrado, por lo general, en la mezcla 

del español y el indígena, y permite avizorar cómo la cultura de este país se ha 

enriquecido, gracias a la llegada de otros grupos humanos. 

Email maricruz.castro@itesm.mx 


Panel 55 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Laura Cázares Hernández ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México City ) 

Viaje de Veracruz a México : Cartas sobre México de Carl Christian Becher 

Carl Christian Becher fue miembro de la Compañía Renana Indooccidental 

de Eberfeld, importadora y exportadora de materias primas y manufacturas 

respectivamente. Llegó a Veracruz el 2 de enero de 1823, y desde ese momento empezó 

una comunicación epistolar con su esposa, quien se había quedado en Hamburgo 

con sus hijos. Por tratarse de una comunicación privada, me interesa analizar de qué 

manera plantea sus observaciones acerca de los lugares y las personas que los habitan, 

y sus comentarios sobre ellos y sobre la situación política, la educación y la salud, 

tomando siempre en cuenta como referente a su propio país y también, en algunos 

casos, la información que le había brindado Alexander von Humboldt, con quien se 

entrevistó en París antes de viajar a México. 

Email laucaz2001@yahoo.com 


Panel 42 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Ligia Chiappini ( Freie Universität Berlin ) 

Ott o Maria Carpeaux y la superación del exilio 

Se trata de una presentación de un proyecto de investigación-enseñanza, sobre 

ensayistas, cuya experiencia humana y intelectual permiten entender aspectos 

interesantes de las transferencias y apropiaciones de saberes, métodos, modos de 

mirar, de sentir y de vivir, entre Brasil y Alemania. Antonio Candido, Sergio Buarque 

de Hollanda, Augusto Meyer, Mário de Andrade, Ott o Maria Carpeaux y Anatol 

Rosenfeld constituyen un primer grupo, al cual se agregan otros nombres, como el 

de Wilhelm Flusser y Milton Santos ; son todos intelectuales muy conocidos en Brasil, 

pero que merecen una divulgación más amplia, al menos, en el mundo académico. 

En ese sentido se mueve este proyecto : organizando antologías, copilando datos 

biobibliográfi cos, produciendo textos introductorios y entrevistas con estudiosos, 

conocedores tanto de los autores como de sus obras. 

Después de exponer los primeros resultados del trabajo realizado hasta aquí, nos 

detendremos un poco en el caso de Ott o Maria Carpeaux, porque, tal vez, él, como 

también Anatol Rosenfeld, del cual hablará Marcel Vejmelka, sean más interesantes 

para este congreso dedicado a viajes entre Europa y América Latina. Ambos pertenecen 

a la generación de intelectuales de lengua alemana, que tuvieron que huir del 

nacional-socialismo, aprender una nueva lengua y construir una vida nueva en el 

“nuevo mundo”. 

Ott o Karpfen, que vivía en Viena como periodista y crítico literario, cambió hasta 

su nombre en Brasil, donde se dio a conocer como Ott o Maria Carpeaux y conquistó 

un importante lugar en la historia de los intelectuales transculturadores. 

Email lchiappi@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 97 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Anthony Chiaviello ( University of Houston-Downtown, English, Texas, u sa ) 

A Shift in Gaze : Th e Lawless Roads of Another Mexico — From Colonial to Post- 

Colonial in Graham Greene’s Mexico and Mine 

Th is paper examines Greene’s 1936 trip to Mexico, described in his book Th e Lawless 

Roads ( U.S. title : Another Mexico ). Th is commentary and critique of Greene’s persona 

and voice, compares his descriptions of the conditions he encountered with my own, 

60 and 70 years later. Th e research method is qualitative and rhetorical : I att empt to 

characterize Greene’s att itude toward Mexico and show how his sponsorship by the 

Catholic Church colored his own essentialist misconstrual of the Mexicanness he 

encountered there. ( It also enabled him to accrue the notes for Th e Power and the 

Glory, at no personal fi nancial expense.) Th e commentary on Greene, contemporary 

travel documentary, and rhetorical perspective combine to support my argument 

of how the traveler’s unexamined “natural” colonialist perspective of empire shapes 

his gaze, and how that gaze continues to shift in both determined and indeterminate 

ways in what, in the 21st Century, we might characterize as a gaze of the “new 

[economic] empire” of a transnational, globalized America. Sources for this work 

include writings of Greene and his critics ; post-colonial theoretical writings of 

Said and others ; and contemporary “performative” theories on travel and tourism 

( Coleman, Crang, Koshar, Shaff er, etc. ), as well as other contemporary rhetorical and 

literary perspectives. 

Email chiaviello@uhd.edu 


Panel 98 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Claudio Eugenio Cifuentes-Aldunate ( University of Southern Denmark, Institute 

for Literature, Culture and Media, Odense ) 

Bajo el símbolo de partir en algunas narraciones de Alejo Carpentier 

En esta ponencia me centraré en la simbólica del partir en los relatos de Alejo 

Carpentier. Los sujetos de algunos relatos y la tímica de su acción que se mueve entre 

idealización y desilusión, que a su vez es motor de heroicidad o no-heroicidad. 

Email cca@litcul.sdu.dk 


Panel 85 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Clara Cisneros Michel ( Universidad de Guadalajara, Departamento de Letras, 

Mexico ) 

La ruta rulfeana 

El presernte trabajo tiene como objetivo, por una parte ; destacar la geografía en la 

cual el escritor mexicano Juan Rulfo sienta su obra literaria, mas la búsqueda no se 

limitará a los textos de su autoría : El Llano en llamas y Pedro Páramo. Por otra parte 

se abordará una ruta real, una ruta que nos permita arribar y transitar por el paisaje 

sureño de Juan Rulfo, es decir : una ruta rulfeana, por medio de la cual el estudioso de 

Rulfo, el viajero, o el curioso explorador puedan acceder sin mayores difi cultades a esa 

región que fue cuna e inspiración de Juan Rulfo. 

Email claracmichel@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 79 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Fernando Clara ( Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade Ciências Socias e 

Humanas, Estudos Alemaes, Lisbon, Portugal ) 

Travel, Science, Politics : Making a Flore Portugaise 

European Governments of the late 18th Century, and above all the European 

Colonial Powers of the time, tended to make a very practical political ( rather than 

philosophical ) reading of the well known Bacon’s aphorism : scientia potentia est. 

Science became a matt er of politics, a matt er of State. Knowledge became a Good. 

Governments were not merely interested in preserving, defending or protecting their 

natural resources anymore, as they traditionally had been until then, they felt now 

compelled to protect also scientifi c knowledge on their natural resources. As a result, 

scientifi c exploratory travels became particularly diffi cult, above all in what one 

could call some of the ‘hi-tech’ sciences of that epoch, like Botany, Zoology, Geology 

or Mineralogy, which depended on ‘fi eld-observation’, description and comparison. 

Th e paper will focus on these political scientifi c diffi culties taking as an example 

the tortuous and tangled paths of a six-year ( 1795-1801 ) scientifi c project of a Flora 

Lusitanica, as well as the travels and writings associated to it, by Johann Centurius 

Graf von Hoff mannsegg, Wilhelm Gott lieb Tilesius von Tilenau and Heinrich 

Friedrich Link. 

Email f.clara@fcsh.unl.pt 


Panel 9 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Rex Clark ( University of Kansas, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Lawrence, 

u sa ) 

“Ist Erdbeben bei ihm gleich Erdbeben ?” Cultural Diff erence and Regime 

Criticisms in the Literary Reception of Alexander von Humboldt in the 

German Democratic Republic 

Beginning in the 1970s, leading East German writers refl ected on Alexander von 

Humboldt in literary works both to deconstruct the standard ideologies of the gdr 

and to discover new relations to cultural otherness. In contrast, for example, with the 

party-line defa documentary by Karl Gass in 1960, the plays of Volker Braun, Claus 

Hammel, and Peter Hacks, the fi ction of Christoph Hein, and the movie screenplay 

and feature fi lm of Rainer Simon reexamine Humboldt’s criticism of colonial 

conditions in light of contemporary conditions in Latin America and also explore 

in explicit or symbolic form questions which only later became part of the scholarly 

debates on postcolonial approaches to Humboldt. Th e imperialist motives of 

European expeditions are depicted as well as cross-cultural exchanges respecting the 

possibility of diff erences without hegemony. Several of the Humboldt receptions also 

provided a space for sharp criticism of the gdr society and government. Censorship, 

repression of freedom, the insidious compromising of ideals for career advancement, 

or simply the compensations of imaginary travel in a society with closed borders 

are all topics of importance. Th e literary treatments of Humboldt can be read as 

documents of themes and images specifi c to the contemporary gdr and also as 

anticipating many of the the later debates on cultural diff erence and European travel 

literature. 

Email rexclark@ku.edu 


Panel 36 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Paul Comtois ( University of Montreal, Geography, Canada ) 

Was Humboldt the Father of American Ethnobotany ? Or Did American 

Ethnobotany Make Humboldt ? 

Humboldt is oft en credited for having initiated ethnobotanical studies in the 

Americas. As he was the fi rst to att ach precise habitat characteristics to his plant 

specimen collection, adding a tri-dimensional perspective to plant geography, most 

notably by adding altitude as a coordinate ; he was also the fi rst to systematically 

collect linguistic and ethnobotanical uses and traditions to new species, adding 

an innovative fourth-dimensional perspective : the cultural geography of plants. 

Humboldt was famous for his ability to see or create inter-connectivity between 

collected data or fi elds of investigation. It is even one of the most characteristic 

features of “Humboldtian science”. Our hypothesis is that it is through this close 

contact with South American nature and peoples—notably throught Ethnobotany— 

that Humboldt was transformed from a renowned European naturalist/geologist 

to the universal scientist of the xixth century. Looking through Humboldt’s 

writing—especially “Travels to the equinoxial regions”—we can perceive the embryo 

of Humboldt’s far reaching interest in studying phenomena of nature not isolated, 

not in abstracto, but in the reciprocal relations between humans and nature. Indeed, 

Humboldt was the fi rst to recognize the importance of the diversifi ed and integrated 

geographical knowledge of native peoples. Th is led Humboldt to a kind of “geopoetry” 

that—building on Kant’s geography and vision of nature—made him develop 

his thoughts on the representation of nature in the arts. Th is open-mindedness of 

Humboldt was made transparent by Arago’s comments to Humboldt’s writings : “they 

are like paintings without frame”. 

Email paul.comtois@umontreal.ca 


Panel 51 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Renato Cordeiro Gomes ( Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Letras, 

Brazil ) 

Desplazamientos : viajes y descubrimientos en la cultura brasileña ; la 

construcción y la dramatización de marcas de identidad 

El tema del viaje —de los informes del Siglo xvi hasta relatos del Siglo x xi— es 

en sí mismo un leitmotiv reeditado en varios discursos de la cultura brasileña en 

diálogo con la cultura europea, incluso la literatura y los medios de comunicación 

hasta la Internet. En tiempos de superación de las fronteras y nacionalidades, de 

la globalización económica y cultural, de la transdisciplinariedad, esta ponencia 

investiga, en estos discursos, los desplazamientos ( espaciales, discursivos, culturales ) 

como un elemento de tensión/dramatización de marcas de identidad. 

Email rcgomes@domain.com.br 


Panel 49 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Rosalia Cornejo-Parriego ( University of Ott awa, Modern Languages and 

Literatures, Canada ) 

Por el cielo y más allá, de Carme Riera : Cuba-España, un viaje inacabado 

En Por el cielo y más allá ( 2001 ), la novelista catalana Carme Riera cierra el ciclo 

iniciado en El último azul ( 1995 ). Si la primera novela estaba dedicada a la persecución 

de familias criptojudías mallorquines por la Inquisición durante el siglo xvii, la 

segunda, situada en el siglo xix y con los movimientos independentistas cubanos 

de trasfondo, narra la historia de dos ramas descendientes de una de esas familias 

que escaparon a Cuba y llegaron a ser potentados negreros. En Por el cielo y más 

allá, el viaje marítimo ( naufragios incluidos ) que conecta España y Cuba forma 

parte fundamental de la trama, pero posee asimismo una dimensión simbólica que 

apunta a las continuas transferencias políticas, económicas, culturales e ideológicas 

entre ambas naciones que perduran hasta el día de hoy. Mi trabajo se centrará 

fundamentalmente en dos transferencias : la del concepto de limpieza de sangre a 

la colonia y la del régimen esclavista que permitió la construcción de comunidades 

nacionales y económicas a ambos lados del Atlántico. Por último, mi trabajo pretende 

explorar el papel de una novela que recupera la memoria histórica como antídoto a la 

amnesia colectiva que en muchos casos evidencian los debates sobre la inmigración 

en la España contemporánea. 

Email rcparrie@uott awa.ca 


Panel 79 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Sergio Corrado ( Università di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Italy ) 

Ästhetik des Prekären : das Rom von Uwe Timm 

Im Unterschied zum Rom vieler deutscher Reisender ist die Stadt der Römischen 

Aufzeichnungen Uwe Timms kein Ort des Authentischen, an dem man den abhanden 

gekommenen Sinn der Dinge wieder fi nden kann. Rom wohnt in diesem Buch 

keine mythopoietische Kraft inne, noch wird es mythisiert als Stätt e der Antike, 

die man der deutschen Kultur sentimentalisch gegenüberstellt. Zwar entstammt 

das Romerlebnis Timms einer Zäsur mit seinem Leben in München, aber der 

Zerstörung des persönlichen Archivs, die der Abreise vorausgeht, folgt keineswegs 

die Suche nach Wahrheit und Vollkommenheit in dem südlichen Land. Das Rom 

seiner Aufzeichnungen ist vielmehr selbst ein Ort der Suspendierung, des Nicht- 

Funktionierens, was für ihn jedoch keine Lebens- und Sinnfülle bedeutet, sondern 

zu einer — oft kritischen — Auseinandersetzung führt. So bietet sich Rom eher als 

Raum für Experimente an, in dem es gilt, neue Wahrnehmungsmodi zu entdecken 

und zu praktizieren : “Das Auge des Ethnologen” registriert kaputt e Gegenstände, 

abgeblätt erten Putz, vergammelte Häuser, zerbröckelte Denkmäler, Überbleibsel der 

faschistischen Architektur, chaotische Kommunikationsformen — alles unstabile 

Zeichen, die einen kontinuierlichen, geschichtlich abgesicherten Diskurs unmöglich 

machen. Um so interessanter wird das schrift liche Experimentieren mit Materialien, 

Produkten der menschlichen Arbeit, Zeugnissen der Vergangenheit, Denkmälern, 

Geschichten und Gesten — also mit dem für Rom typischen “unspektakuläre[n] 

Wandel des Alltags”. Anstatt einer Huldigung der Antike oder der Lebensformen 

des modernen Roms entsteht so eine Ästhetik des Prekären, allerdings eine 

fragmentarische und unsystematische, die aber als solche die Verarbeitung nicht nur 

der ( Rom- )Klischees, dieser “Bausteine jedes ästhetischen Verfahrens”, sondern auch 

der eigenen ( deutschen ) Geschichte ermöglicht. 

Email scorrado@unior.it 


Panel 54 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Alda Correia ( Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Linguas Literaturas e Culturas 

Modernas, Lisbon, Portugal ) 

Between Discoveries : Brazil, Europe, Being Human 

Clarice Lispector’s work has been unanimously considered a refl ection about 

human condition and the human journey, trying to understand its own existence, 

an example of the modernist introverted novel, absolutely removed from Brazilian 

regionalist writing, a characteristic partly responsible for the international dimension 

of her work ; but if we look carefully into her writing, we will fi nd a constant travel 

between some of the modernist European forms and concepts and a kind of native 

violent force opposing nature to culture, shown and described in a world of strong 

smells, roots, remains, animals, fl esh, blood among others, probably inherited from 

her experience of the Brazilian background, strongly emphasized by the Brazilian 

modernists, with their appeal to make Brazil more Brazilian. Taking also into 

consideration Lispector’s cultural experience resulting from her life in Europe and 

u sa, this paper proposes to show the interaction between the two spaces of the 

author’s work, focusing on some of the most representative excerpts of her texts, to 

show how much of Europe and Brazil have travelled into each other in her novels and 

short stories. 

Email al.correia@fcsh.unl.pt 


Panel 83 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Jennifer Croft ( Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, u sa ) 

Th e Organization of Aggression in Gombrowicz’s Accounts of the Emigre 

Experience and in the Stories of a Local Counterpart, Jorge Luis Borges 

My paper is an examination of the ways in which Witold Gombrowicz organized his 

experience of the rift between his culture of origin ( that is, Poland ) and his adopted 

culture ( that is, Argentina ) in staging in his novels scenes of ritual violence, most 

especially duels. Of key importance is the duel between the embodiment of Polish 

tradition and the embodiment of youthful South American debauchery in Trans- 

Atlantyk, Gombrowicz’s semi-autobiographical novel about his partly forced stay in 

Buenos Aires. As context for Gombrowicz’s particular expression of aggression and 

self-defense, I provide in my paper a supplemental account of duels in the stories of 

Gombrowicz’s local counterpart and arch-nemesis, Jorge Luis Borges, a fi ctionalized 

version of whom appears in an earlier duel of Trans-Atlantyk. Keeping in mind the 

central role played in Gombrowicz’s work by the fact of his being ( and in many ways 

wishing to remain ) an outsider in the Americas, I contrast the approach of each writer 

to ritual and the fi gure of the self as expressed in the process of pitt ing one character 

against another. What constitutes “honorable” in an immediately post-World War ii 

society ? What does “tradition” even matt er in a society so seemingly separate from 

continental Europe ? I argue that for all their diff erences, each author is struggling in 

these scenes of one-to-one violence with much more than just nostalgia for customs 

lost and enthusiasm for trends to come. 

Email jennifer-croft @northwestern.edu 

Section Traveling in Dictatorships : Colonialism, Caudillismo, Fascism, Communism 

Panel 25 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Alice Creischer, Max Hinderer, Andreas Siekmann ( Freie Künstler, Berlin ) 

Inversion Modernidad : Kolonialmalerei im ehemaligen Vizekönigreich Perú 

und heutigem Bolivien 

2010 feiern verschiedene lateinamerikanische Staaten gemeinsam mit der spanischen 

Regierung die 200jährige “Unabhängigkeit”. Dies ist der Anlaß für die Ausstellung 

“Inversion Modernidad” über koloniale Malerei im Vizekönigreich Perú im 16. bis 

18. Jahrhundert und ihr historisches Umfeld, vor allem die Silber- und Goldminen 

und ihrer Handelswege. Die Kolonialisierung und Missionierung von Lateinamerika 

waren das Labor einer enormen ideologischen Funktion, die in die Bildproduktion 

gelegt wurde. Der Kurzbeitrag präsentiert und diskutiert die off ensichtlichen 

Parallelen und Zusammenhänge zwischen dieser ideologischen Funktion der 

Kolonialmalerei und der Funktion, die die Kunst nun übernimmt, um die neuen 

Eliten der Globalisierung mit Legitimität auszustatt en. 

Email alicecreischer@aol.com 

Section Humboldt-Forum 

Panel 39 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Madalena Cunha Matos ( Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Faculdade de 

Arquitectura, Portugal ) 

Crossing the Atlantic 500 Years later : People, Aircraft s and Buildings 

For abstract, please refer to Tânia Beisl Ramos 

Email mcunhamatos@fa.utl.pt 


Tourism 

Panel 73 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Adrián Curiel Rivera ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro 

Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Mexico ) 

Los piratas del Caribe en la novelística hispanoamericana del siglo xix 

A raíz de los viajes de Colón y las bulas por las cuales el Papa Alejandro vi repartía las 

tierras recién descubiertas exclusivamente entre España y Portugal, surge el fenómeno 

de la piratería en América. Los piratas ingleses, franceses y holandeses del siglo 

xvi, igual que los bucaneros y fi libusteros del xvii, se adueñarían del Mar Caribe 

socavando sistemáticamente la hegemonía peninsular por medio de incursiones en 

territorios desguarecidos y de atracos a las embarcaciones que regresaban a Europa 

cargadas de tesoros. Viajeros expedicionarios, adelantados marinos de su época, los 

piratas del Caribe han motivado numerosos estudios desde una perspectiva histórica 

e inspirado una ingente cantidad de textos de fi cción. Sin embargo, hay una parcela 

temática relacionada con ellos apenas explorada : la novela hispanoamericana 

decimonónica que los ha tomado como protagonistas de sus argumentos. El propósito 

de este trabajo es analizar la manera en que las hazañas y los hechos de célebres 

piratas históricos son recreados literariamente en un corpus novelesco integrado por 

las obras del argentino Vicente Fidel López, la colombiana Soledad Acosta de Samper 

y los mexicanos Justo Sierra O’Reilly, Eligio Ancona y Vicente Riva Palacio. 

Email acurielrivera@gmail.com 


Panel 27 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Geishel Curiel Martinez ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma, Literatura Comparada, 

México City ) 

Los viajes de Sergio Pitol : la alteridad como impulso para la escritura 

Sergio Pitol salió de México en 1960, cuando tenía 28 años, y hasta ese momento 

había escrito poco. Son los viajes, la residencia en países extranjeros y las abundantes 

y diversas lecturas que hizo en ese tiempo lo que estimularon su impulso creativo. En 

sus relatos autobiográfi cos notamos que a medida que va describiendo las ciudades 

que visita, va reconociendo en ellas elementos de su propia cultura y de su país. Así, 

los viajes se convirtieron en un proceso de reconocimiento y extrañamiento constante. 

En la obra de Pitol encontramos que la mirada hacia el otro y el regreso de esa mirada 

hacia sí mismo son un motivo constante. En su obra, la mirada se convierte en símil 

de la revelación del subconsciente, que sólo emerge y se da a conocer en el encuentro 

con el otro. Mi objetivo en esta conferencia es describir cómo las imágenes de los 

lugares que Pitol visitó y la gente que conoció, creaban un movimiento constante de 

extrañamiento y reconocimiento que fueron el impulso que el escritor necesitaba para 

su labor creativa. Quiero analizar algunos pasajes de la obra de Pitol, en especial de El 

arte de la fuga y El viaje, en los que vemos cristalizado el destino fi nal que tuvieron los 

viajes de Pitol : la escritura. 

Email geishelc@hotmail.com 


Panel 84 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Donald Curtis, Jr. ( Texas A&M University, History, College Station, u sa ) 

Olympia in Shadow : Travels to the xi Olympiad 

Th is paper examines the American—and German—experiences in travel to Berlin 

for the 1936 Olympic Games. Awarded to Berlin in 1931, there was considerable debate 

over the Games’ location and fate aft er the National Socialist German Workers 

Party under Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. Aft er it was decided that the United 

States would not boycott the Games in December 1935, Americans wishing to travel 

to Berlin then had to face the challenges of securing passage to Berlin amid the 

charged political tensions of the time and the relatively short time period to arrange 

travel to Germany. Th e American experience in Berlin during the Olympiad will 

be examined and their observations will be analyzed in light of what is now known 

about the eff orts by Nazi authorities to utilize the games as a propaganda vehicle for 

both Germany as a whole and more specifi cally for their regime. Th is will allow an 

analysis both of the Nazi ability to color American visitor’s perceptions of the Games 

and the regime’s success in presenting an idealized view of the National Socialist state 

to visitors. Sources beyond newspaper accounts and journals will include works by 

Guy Walters, William O. Johnson, Christopher Hilton and Susan Bachrach, as well 

as the offi cial pre and post Olympic reports of the International Olympic Committ ee. 

Memoirs by Avery Brundage, Ernst Jahncke, and Jeremiah Moroney will be consulted, 

as well as works by and on Jesse Owens, Luz Long and Gretl Bergmann. 

Email doncurtis@tamu.edu 


Panel 5 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Veronica Davidov ( Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Th e 

Netherlands ) 

Colonial and Postcolonial Primitivism : European Travel Narratives of South 

America 

Th is paper will analyze the historical continuity between European discourses of 

indigenous wildness produced during colonial travels to Latin America, and during 

ecotours of the Amazon lowlands in the era of globalization. Historically, the two 

discourses are linked by the Western opposition of nature and culture, and the 

consequent location of indigenous cultures in the fi rst category. Th e paper will 

outline the historical background of locating the wild in nature, from Romantic 

primitivism and the construction of the noble savages in the chronicles of European 

explorers to Europeans’ ascriptions of hard and soft primitivism to their colonized 

subjects ( Smith 1956 ). Th en it will argue that this colonial discourse of wildness 

continues, uninterrupted, into the era of postcolonialism and globalization. Th e paper 

will analyze the ways in which wildness as a site of cultural anxiety and desire has 

been remythologized in a postcolonial world characterized by a transnational traffi c 

in multiculturalism. Unanchored from their particular historical locations in specifi c 

colonies of specifi c European powers, ideas of pristine nature and cultural wildness 

located in that nature are desublimated and re-imagined through the discourses of 

imperialist nostalgia ( Rosaldo 1989 ) and the post-colonial exotic ( Higgins 2001 ) 

Using the example of ecotourism in Ecuador to analyze the discursive construction 

of European virtuous tourists aiding cultural survival of ecologically noble savages 

( Redford 1991 ), this paper will trace the connections between European colonial 

discourses of indigenous wildness and production and consumption of indigenous 

cultural alterity today. 

Email v.davidov@philosophy.unimaas.nl 


Panel 49 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Georgia de Havenon ( Brooklyn Museum, Art of the Americas, New York, u sa ) 

Un Mélange Bizarre : Michoacán Figures in Humboldt’s Narrative 

In Alexander von Humboldt’s extraordinary travelogue, Vues des Cordillères, plates 

52 and 53 represent a man and a woman wearing a mixture of native and Colonial 

dress. Th ese fi gures are in fact not human, but part of a group of wood fi gurines that 

were carved by Michoacán craft speople and presented to the Queen of Prussia by 

Humboldt upon his return. Th e author comments on their fabrication technique, 

but makes no judgments as to the fi gures’ places in society, and by extension, writes 

only that the natives who created the fi gurines were very industrious and possessed 

a notable talent for carving. Although not cited as such, these fi gures relate to the 

popular genre of casta painting that was prevalent in Mexico during the eighteenth 

century. Usually created in a series, the canvases were made to catalog all the racial 

types that had evolved since the conquest. Many of these art works traveled to 

Spain as witnesses to the curious developments that ensued in the New World. Th e 

paintings are not without a certain racist undertone, although they have oft en been 

characterized as scientifi c products of the Enlightenment, in particular the Linnean 

taxonomic dictate to classify humans. Th is paper will explore the relationship 

between the purposeful idealization of casta art and Humboldt’s portrayal of native 

people in the Vues des Cordillères, as well as give a brief description of the evolution 

of genre specifi c depictions of indigenous people in the next generation of explorer/ 

travelers. 

Email gdehavenon@aol.com 


Panel 81 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Samuel De Jesus ( Université Paris III Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Film and Audiovisual 

Studies, France ) 

Th e Infl uence of the ‘Gestaltt heorie’ in Geraldo de Barros’s Photographic Work : 

A European experience 

Geraldo de Barros ( 1923-1998 ), known as one of the most important Brazilian 

photographers of the second half of the 20th Century, and main founder of the 

Bandeirante Cine-Photo Club of São Paulo, never stopped experimenting and 

questioning, all along his long artistic activity, the formal possibilities of photography, 

by defying traditional practices and borders. In 1951, thanks to a scholarship allowing 

him to continue his researches at the National Fine Arts School in Paris, he studied 

with Stanley William Hayter, founder and director of the famous Atelier 17, who 

introduced many artists to the methods of the ‘Experimental Drawing’. Following 

this fi rst European experience, he continued his graphic research at the Hochschule 

für Gestaltung of Ulm, in Germany, collaborating with constructivist artist Max Bill, 

whose work was selected for the First Bienal Art Exhibition of São Paulo. Th is main 

artistic event gave birth to the movement known as Concretism, in 1952, represented 

by the group called Ruptura, to which Geraldo de Barros was associated. In what 

ways was Geraldo de Barros’s work directly infl uenced by his European voyage ? 

How could the main perception principles of the Gestaltt heorie be identifi ed in his 

work ? Finally, how could Geraldo de Barros’s practice include and reactualize not 

only experimental photography in the fi eld of Contemporary Art, but the very issue 

of the image as a mimetic representation of the real. We will explore these questions 

through an analysis of De Barros’s writt ings and two main photographic series : 

Fotoformas and Sobras. 

Email samueldjesus@yahoo.fr 


Panel 72 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Luis Alberto De la Garza ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de 

Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, México City ) 

De historias y viajes. Carlo Vidua y su vision de México en 1826 

Es un trabajo acerca de la intención de escribir una Historia de la Guerra de Independencia 

de México por parte de un viajero piamontés en 1826. Se trata de Carlo Vidua, 

quien fue alentado por Alexander von Humboldt para visitar México y el trabajo se 

ha hecho a partir de la revisión de los materiales que envió a su país, más de ciento 

cincuenta libros y periódicos y una miscelánea de 20 volúmenes que actualmente se 

encuentran en la biblioteca de la Academia de las Ciencias de Turin. Vidua recorrió 

una considerable parte del país y con agudeza observó la formación de la nueva 

república. Su idea de escribir una historia de la independencia está ligada con las 

aspiraciones de hacer de Italia una nación y el ejemplo mexicano debería servirles a 

los italianos para una sana imitación, pues según Vidua los viajes tenían, entre otras, 

la fi nalidad de conocer para aprovechar otras experiencias. Carlo envió a su país los 

materiales, pero no escribió el trabajo pues nunca regresó a su patria ; continuó sus 

travesías y murió viajando por las islas del Pacífi co. El trabajo trata entonces de recrear 

el tipo de historia que hubiera escrito en caso de haber regresado, tomando en cuenta 

los materiales que adquirió en su viaje a México. 

Email lgarza10@hotmail.com 


Panel 92 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Antonio de Murcia Conesa ( Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura comparada, 

Universidad de Alicante, Spain ) 

Transformaciones del viaje como metáfora en los comienzos de la Modernidad 

Esta comunicación tratará sobre las transformaciones del viaje como metáfora en la 

cultura hispánica de los siglos xvi y xvii. Metodológicamente aplicaremos algunas 

propuestas de la metaforología de Hans Blumenberg y la tópica histórica de Ernst R. 

Curtius. Desde ellas examinaremos el cambio en los usos de las metáforas del viaje, la 

navegación y el naufragio entre la época en la que prospera el tópico de la Narrenschiff 

y el mundo en el que Gracián escribe su Criticón. Nuestro propósito es contribuir a 

una interpretación de los cambios culturales que median entre las imágenes del viaje y 

la navegación como locura, el viaje como descubrimiento y el viaje como desengaño y 

desciframiento. En este sentido, prestaremos una particular atención a la importancia 

de la metáfora del Nuevo Mundo y su papel en las controversias sobre los límites 

físicos, morales y jurídicos del orbis terrarum. 

Email Antonio.deMurcia@ua.es 


Panel 80 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Eneida Maria De Souza ( University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil ) 

Th e Guimarães Rosa’s War Diary ( 1939-1942 ) 

In Guimarães Rosa’s Diário de guerra ( War diary ), writt en during his stay in 

Hamburg from 1938 to 1942, the record of his visits to Hagenbeck Tierpark, the Zoo, 

alternate with visits to the theatre, dinner parties at the Atlantic Hotel, walks along 

the Alster, drinks at the Alster Pavillion. Amid the turmoil of bomb warnings and 

reports of att acks and deaths printed in newspapers, the Deputy Consul was editing 

the originals of his fi rst book, Sagarana, while he witnessed the rise of Nazism and the 

persecution of the Jews, prepared offi cial documents at the Consulate, and facilitated, 

alongside his future wife Aracy Moebius de Carvalho, the issue of entry visas for Jews 

into Brazil. Th e analysis of the records of this period spent by the writer in Germany 

is the object of my presentation. 

Email eneidas@pib.com.br 


Panel 10 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Fermín Del Pino-Díaz ( Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales-csic, 

Anthropology, Madrid, Spain ) 

Humboldt, escritor y lector de viajes ( hispanos ) 

Los escritores de viajes suelen haber leído otros libros de viajes anteriormente, que 

determinan a su vez parte de la escritura posterior. Eso ocurre con los escritos de 

viaje de Humboldt, pero en un grado superlativo, porque leyó y escribió mucho. ( Me 

interesa particularmente referirme a sus viajes por Hispanoamérica y a su lectura de 

viajes hispanos ). Las crónicas de Indias obedecen a varios géneros literarios, pero 

en general pertenecen a la literatura de viajes ( en primera o en tercera persona ). La 

relación entre escritura y lectura es otro modo de relacionar el Siglo de Oro con la 

Ilustración ( es decir, el viejo problema de la recepción ). Particularmente, las crónicas 

de Indias han sido muy leídas por los viajeros ilustrados ( Comodoro Byron, La 

Condamine, etc. ) y fi lósofos : Diderot o Voltaire se preocuparon por infl uir sobre los 

escritores de viajes coetáneos, y otros como Adam Smith o William Robertson las 

aprovecharon para sus ‘reconstrucciones’ histórico-fi losófi cas. Es interesante que 

en algunas revistas de viaje ( como Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, de Paris ) salieron 

de modo simultáneo —incluso en el mismo número, uno al lado del otro— relatos 

de crónicas hispanas de Indias ( traducidas por Ternaux-Compans ) y expediciones 

científi cas recientes ( entre otras, de Humboldt a Siberia ). Me interesa preguntarme si 

esta cercanía no afectó recíprocamente : si no fue la lectura ( cuidadosa o no ) de viajes 

la que determinó la redacción de su viaje, o también ocurrió, tal vez, lo contrario. 

Email delpinof@ile.csic.es 


Panel 16 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Carolina Depetris ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma, Mexico ) 

El origen oriental de los mayas : Frédéric de Waldeck y su viaje por Yucatán 

Jean-Frédéric de Waldeck llega desde Europa a la zona maya en 1832. De este viaje deja 

testimonio en Voyage pitt oresque et archéologique dans la province d’Yucatán ( Amérique 

Centrale ) y en numerosos documentos inéditos. Esta aventura tiene un objetivo 

doble : develar el misterio que excitaba a la comunidad científi ca europea acerca del 

origen de los mayas y de sus edifi cios, y representar en dibujos y litografías las ruinas 

de estos últimos con fi delidad. Waldeck llega primero a Palenque y, después de casi 

tres años, visita Uxmal siendo, según él declara, el primer viajero moderno en hacerlo. 

Después de visitar estos dos lugares y de realizar diversas observaciones e inferencias 

de orden etimológico y arqueológico, concluye que el pasado del pueblo maya está 

ubicado en Oriente. Básicamente, encuentra indicios de que Palenque y Uxmal fueron 

construidas por judíos descendientes de las Doce Tribus perdidas de Israel o por los 

hindúes. Encuentra también fuertes similitudes con Egipto. Es propósito de este 

trabajo exponer cuáles son las hipótesis que este viajero maneja para llegar a postular 

este vínculo entre Yucatán y Oriente y explicar a qué responde su formulación. 

Email carolina.depetris@gmail.com 


Panel 37 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Daria Deraga ( Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Social Anthropology, 

Guadalajara, Mexico ) 

Horses as Travelers from Europe to Mexico 

Th e presentation is based on my personal fi eld notes of the multiple experiences that 

occurred while traveling with horses by land and air from Europe to Mexico. Th e 

journeys start in Westfalen, Germany, and terminates in Jalisco, Mexico. Th e diff erent 

cultural, economical and political situations that infl uence these trips are discussed, 

such as changes in animal health regulations, export-import procedures, and how 

these eff ect the horse as a traveler. Th is narrative of modern equine migration from 

Europe to Mexico is created with an anthropological perspective. 

Email deraga@prodigy.net.mx 


Panel 99 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Alexander di Bartolo ( University of Pisa, Department of Philosophy, Italy ) 

History of science and plant geography into visual expression: A biography of 

the Géographie des plantes équinoxiales pictorial graph 

When Alexander von Humboldt came back to Europe, on August 3, 1804, aft er fi ve 

rich years of explorations, observations and measurements of the lands visited with 

Aimé Bonpland, he published the results of his American journey. One of those 

publications was the “Essai sur la géographie des plantes” ( Paris 1805 ) in which he 

summarized the conclusions of his researches : the geographical distribution of plants 

that, in his older years, Humboldt claimed as one of the only three merits of his life. 

Th is book contains a multidimensional pictorial graph realized in France in 1805, 

based on a sketch Humboldt drew when he stopped at Guayaquil ( February 1803 ). 

It represents a cross-section of the Chimborazo, whose summit was climbed by the 

German explorer in 1802. Th is cross-section of the Chimborazo was his most daring 

experiment in the visual presentation of scientifi c data and had a real infl uence in the 

following cartography. Analyzing the origins of some iconographic elements, its great 

variety and richness of information, the image could be considered a picture of the 

scientifi c knowledge in Humboldt’s time as well as the scientifi c instruments used. 

Furthermore, it also displays Humboldt’s conception of plant geography and refl ects 

his eff orts to show the unity, diversity, and interconnectedness of nature. Th e crosssection 

is also the starting point of representing landscape with the new pictorial 

language called ‘pasygraphie’. Th e paper’s conclusion will trace Humboldt’s visual 

method heritage in other geographers like Heinrich Berghaus ( Physikalischer Atlas 

1845 ) and Keith Johnston ( Physical Atlas 1856 ). 

Email a.dibartolo@fl s.unipi.it 


Panel 11 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Tânia Dias ( Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ) 

Overlapping temporalities : the diary writings of Hipólito da Costa 

During a visit to the United States around 1798, Hipólito da Costa, who would later become 

the publisher and reporter of the newspaper Correio Braziliense, wrote lett ers and a 

memoir. He has noted everything he saw during his travels in his Diario de min ha via gem 

a Filadelfi a ( Journal of my journey to Philadelphia ) as well as in a few “observa tion notebooks” 

where, according to his own testimony, he immediately re corded what he observed 

in the form of drawings. Th is Journal is a mix of various kinds of information, oft en 

confusing and incomplete, unevenly distributed on the page, oft en covering the margins. 

It seems to be the fi rst and only record of the narrative voices appearing in his later 

texts. 

Th is careful record of what he had seen, said, or read, though oft en writt en in a hurry, 

deserves to be analysed in its var i ous textual layers : for instance, the page lay-out with its 

marginal notes, with text added between the lines and in the form of endnotes relating 

to information about a certain month ; the incorporation of texts from sources like 

articles in newspapers, scientifi c papers, personal lett ers, bureaucratic forms, travellers’ 

journals, lectures in universities, conversations with experts on various subjects ; as well 

as mem oirs, trans lations and other printed material which could provide information 

related to the data Hipolito da Costa was collecting for his Journal. 

It is indeed this quality of unfi nished work which allows us to consider the Diario de 

minha viagem a Filadelfi a as the generative matrix of other texts by the same author. As 

we are dealing with texts the purpose of which was strictly private, writt en without the 

intention of publicity, it is my intention to analyse some of the issues related to Costa’s 

process of writing, for these elements can help us, for instance, rethink the notion of an 

unique temporality which would be characteristic of the travel journal as a genre, in the 

sense defi ned by Louis Hay ( La litt érature des écrivains, Paris, Corti 2002 ). I intend to 

study these diff erent temporalities and to relate them with the facts of writing, as opposed 

to the temporality relating to an internal, subjective time, announced in some of 

the notes about the sea journey registered in this Journal, when immobility imposed by 

the trip forces Hipolito da Costa to a movement of self-analysis. 

Email taniasdias@uol.com.br 


Panel 92 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte ( Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu 

Nacional, Brazil ) 

Damascus in Dahlem : Roberto Burle Marx’s Berlinese ‘Conversion’ to Tropical 

Aesthetics in Landscape Design 

One of the main features of Burle Marx’s biography is the idea that he discovered 

the aesthetic qualities of tropical fl ora that came to characterize his famous new 

approach to landscape design in a juvenile visit to Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Gardens, 

in the 1920s. Having been born [1909] and brought up in São Paulo, he is supposed 

not to have had a previous contact with tropical spontaneous richness, thanks to 

the Europeanized taste that prevailed in gardens and urban landscape there. As any 

young member of the local elites with a disposition towards an artistic career, his 

family trip to Europe was an essential condition to a close contact with the avantgarde 

tendencies of early 20th century. It was also usual for Brazilian less fortunate 

prospective artists to depend on government or on a private patron to allow for the 

“European trip” that would open the paths for a creative career. Ever since the 19th 

century, that patt ern of contact with ‘civilization’ had entailed the emergence of 

diff erent trends of ‘nativist’ renderings of metropolitan taste. In such a context, the 

peculiar aspect of r bm’s European début was the ‘discovery’ of tropical nature and 

not only that of the formal, ‘universal’ language of high culture. Th e discussion of 

what is involved in this game of mirrors is the aim of this paper, involving also the 

process of some European artists ( mostly photographers ) who got involved with 

tropical nature and culture and came to belong to r bm’s artistic circle and aesthetic 

party. 

Email lfdduarte@uol.com.br 


Panel 67 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Detlev Doherr ( Hochschule für Wirtschaft , Technik und Medien Off enburg, 

Germany ) 

Interactive Editor Notes as a Scientifi c Network in the Humboldt Digital Library 

Now, aft er approximately 200 years, a comprehensive access to the texts of 

Humboldt’s extraordinary exploration of the Americans is within sight. Humboldt 

struggled to publish his works in a print version, in a form that could not do justice 

the broad range of his discoveries and observations together with its interconnections. 

It is amazing to notice the number of science disciplines he traversed in his 29 

volumes ( ? ). He documented facts related to anthropology, geology, astronomy, 

botany, zoology, meteorology, cartography, politics and more. His enormous 

amount of scientifi c data is a challenge, and we have tested the potential of Internet 

technology to establish a structure that Humboldt himself might have welcomed. 

Th e English translations of Humboldt have been digitalized and published in a 

paragraph fashion in the Humboldt Digital Library ( hdl ), as well as formatt ed 

text books in pdf data fi les. Th e library is running on a database system with text 

paragraphs, illustrations, maps and links to relevant points in the Internet. Th e 

visitors can profi t from the “Data Mining” section to obtain the information they 

need from the large database, they can follow the travels of Humboldt with Google 

Earth or jump through his journey with a “Timeline” of chronological events. In 

addition to the current developments in the hdl, the latest development will carry 

out a concept of a scientifi c network. Th e scientifi c observations made by Humboldt 

can be enhanced with additional information from academic researchers. In the 

hdl, a specifi c group of users referred as “Editors” have the possibility to post “Editor 

Notes”, comments or citations to each paragraph in the library. Th e system also 

supports the communication between the specialists to share expert’s knowledge, 

by allowing specifi c observations to be related to a paragraph in several contexts 

at the same time. Th ese latest developments will contribute to enhance the openly 

published information related to Humboldt’s work. Scientists will be able to discuss 

and compare recent environmental studies with the data published in the hdl. Th is 

scientifi c network will have the shape of a Web 2.0 Social Network. Th e users of the 

system will have their own personal page within the system and will share the notes 

on Humboldt in the hdl and in their profi les respectively. 

Email ddoherr@fh -off enburg.de 


Panel 26 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Angela Domingues ( Portuguese Institute of Tropical Scientifi c Research, 

Department of Human Sciences, Lisbon, Portugal ) 

„A bitt er politics” and “A sacred duty” : Th e Correspondence of Leopoldina, 1st 

Empress of Brazil 

During the eighteenth century, travellers such as Spix and Martius ( 1817-1820 ) considered 

Brazil as “the hart of a new continent” and “a part of the world so imperfectly 

known”. Th is territory became rapidly the fi eld of numerous European scientifi c 

expeditions and travels, as well as the object of “real and authentic narratives”, which 

would contribute to familiarize Europeans with the understanding of unknown and 

exotic worlds and societies considered inferior by the old and illustrated Europe’ 

standards. In this process women played an irrelevant role. Th ere were exceptions, 

though. Maria Leopoldina, grand-daughter of Maria Th eresia of Austria and the 

1st empress of Brazil, was one of them. She was considered an extremely cultivated 

woman, educated by Hany and other distinguished masters, whose books she read 

att entively and with whom she kept periodic correspondence. She didn’t exactly write 

a diary, or a travel account. Actually, she authored numerous lett ers that are evidence 

of her background, feelings and emotions, cultural and scientifi c concerns, political 

affi nities. In this sense, Leopoldina’s correspondence, although not classifi able under 

the traditional category of “historical travel literature”, still remains a valid source 

to understand the way Brazil was perceived, during the early years of the eighteenth 

century, by a member of the European high nobility that became, aft erwards, the fi rst 

empress of a young South American country. 

Email adomingues@netcabo.pt 


Panel 47 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Julia Domínguez-Castellano ( Iowa State University, World Languages and Cultures, 

Ames, usa) 

Cartografías del espacio indígena : la Relación de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 

En su Relación Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca relata la fallida expedición a la Florida 

del siglo xvi al mando del gobernador Pánfi lo de Narváez ( 1527 ). Publicada en 

1542, Cabeza de Vaca describe con gran detallismo los múltiples espacios y grupos 

indígenas que los habitan y el contacto mantenido con ellos. A través del espacio 

textual creado, Cabeza de Vaca se convierte en cartógrafo y etnógrafo al trazar 

un mapa textual detallado de los espacios por los que transcurre su vida como 

superviviente. Sin embargo, y siguiendo las ideas de Henri Lefebvre, el narrador es 

producto del espacio y de las presiones ejercidas desde fuera. Más allá del espacio 

textual creado hay complejas relaciones e instrumentos de poder que manipulan 

el mapa cognitivo del narrador. Su proceso de escritura implica una constante 

recontextualización de imágenes mentales almacenadas en la memoria durante su 

experiencia en América. La Relación es por tanto un signo manipulado y dominado 

por la ideología de Cabeza de Vaca en el momento de redacción del testimonio. Este 

superviviente, que pretende convencer a su lector de las ventajas que formar parte 

de una expedición fracasada tiene, en realidad es esclavo de su propio miedo, un 

miedo que domina el proceso de escritura, en especial la obsesión y el temor de 

perder el favor real. Dicha obsesión dominante y manipuladora del espacio textual de 

los Naufr agios está determinando la actitud de Cabeza de Vaca en el momento de la 

redacción de su viaje y limitando el acceso a la palabra. 

Email domingue@iastate.edu 


Panel 12 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Clorinda Donato ( California State University, Romance, German, Russian Languages 

and Literatures, Long Beach, u sa ) 

Th e Peregrinations of Two ‘Péruviennes’ : Travel, Gender and Sexuality in the 

Transatlantic Crossings of Mme de Graffi gny’s Zilia and Flora Tristan 

Th is parallel reading of the transatlantic crossings of Zilia, Peruvian heroine of Mme 

de Graffi gny’s 1747 novel, Lett res d’une Péruvienne, and Flora Tristan, heroine of her 

own 1838 autobiographical account, Th e Peregrinations of a Pariah, analyzes how 

gender and sexuality are recast as a function of travel and its telling in the travel 

narrative. Although one is a fi ctitious crossing and the other real, the two protagonists’ 

external and internal voyages exhibit a strikingly similar set of tropes, meditations and 

rationalizations related to the newly confi gured gendered relationships and sexualities 

that are a product of mobility, displacement and replacement. Both the Lett res d’une 

Peruvienne and the Peregrinations of a Pariah address a wide variety of family, gender, 

marriage and cultural questions that are intrinsically linked to the evolving identities 

of Zilia and Flora as women, as well as to the status of women in pre- and postrevolutionary 

France. Th is questioning takes place through the prism of transatlantic 

space, where they are forced to call into question and reorder almost every category of 

their lives, in particular, their relations with men and women and the geographical and 

cultural determinants on their sexuality, whether in their countries of origin, in transit 

while traveling, or as restructured, or not, in the new environment. Both extrapolate 

from their internal trajectories universal observations about the status of women in 

general ; moreover, both are forced to redefi ne them selves in the absence of the legal 

and moral codes that had previously conferred identity. 

Email donato@csulb.edu 


Panel 38 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Costinela Dragan ( University of Bucharest, American Studies, Romania ) 

Th e Traveler in the Years of Communism : A Survey and Examination of the 

Romanian Writing on the U.S. 

Th is paper will deal with a restricted corpus of authors who, within a travelogue 

format, confront diff erent issues relating to American society. During the years of 

communism only a small category of people had the privilege to travel abroad ; the 

ones who were loyal to the regime found no diffi culties in obtaining a passport and 

exploring the world outside their country, but they had to emphasize in their writings 

negative aspects of the outside spaces. Many of the travel books from the period 

are full of clichés : high rates of crimes and violence in America, allusions to the gap 

between rich and poor, pop-art identifi ed as abstract-art, street movements and tradeunion 

strikes, images of Americans as the most unhappy people on earth. Other 

travelers prefer to focus on issues with no politico-ideological implications, Romanian 

travelers preferring to discover America as cultural tourists, visiting sites such as 

National Parks, mountains, caves, or to pay att ention to American traditions— 

Halloween, Th anksgiving Day. Th e impressions recorded in the travel books prove 

to be important sources of data for the Romanian readers ( who proved so adroit 

at deconstructing the “constructed” image of America as it was presented by the 

communists ) ; eager to discover new territories and cultures diff erent from their own, 

these writings gave the illusion of freedom and of movement in spaces outside the 

shades of the communist ideology when obtaining a passports was really a diffi cult 

matt er and when currency control and other home regulations constricted people’s 

life. 

Email costineladragan@yahoo.com 


Panel 20 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Barbara Dröscher ( Freie Universität Berlin, Lateinamerika-Institut ) 

Das Grab der Cecilia Valdés. Kulturelles Gedächtnis und ( Re )Konstruktion der 

kubanischen Nation 

Im Tourismusplan des zentralen Friedhofs von Havanna ist “das Grab der Cecilia 

Valdés” verzeichnet, als läge dort die Titelfi gur des Romans [1882] von Cirilo 

Villaverde begraben. Cecila Valdés spielt mindestens seit den dreißiger Jahren 

des x x. Jahrhunderts im kulturellen Gedächtnis der kubanischen Nation und bei 

der Konstruktion von “Cubanidad” eine besondere Rolle. Auch im so genannten 

“revolutionären Kuba” dient diese begehrenswerte Mulatt in als Referenzfi gur in der 

diskursiven und ikonographischen ( Re )Konstruktion der Gründung der Nation. 

Das gilt insbesondere auch für den Tourismusbereich. In meinem Vortrag möchte 

ich der Frage nachgehen, wie Geschlecht und Ethnizität in diesen Repräsentationen 

verwoben sind, welche Machtbeziehungen dabei verhandelt werden und welche 

Rolle sie in den transkulturellen Beziehungen im Kontext des Kubatourismus spielen. 

Es geht dabei nicht nur um die unmitt elbar auf der Hand liegende Parallele zu der 

spezifi sch kubanischen Form der Prostitution, den Jineteras, und weniger um den 

Sextourismus oder Massentourismus als um die Konstruktion jener “Cubanidad” im 

Kontext des kulturinteressierten Individualtourismus. Der Vortrag beruht sowohl auf 

literatur- und kulturwissenschaft lichen Studien als auch auf den Erkenntnissen aus 

meinem zweijährigen Kubaaufenthalt ( 2006-2008 ). 

Email bardr@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 28 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Eve Duff y ( University of North Carolina, History, Chapel Hill, u sa ) 

Wondrous Truths : Hans Staden’s Wahrhaft ige Historia ( Marburg, 1557 ) 

Hans Staden’s Wahrhaft ige Historia has been the object of critical scrutiny as an 

example of the ways in which Europeans created a sense of themselves through the 

confrontation with the other—in this case, the fl esh-eating natives of Brazil. Many 

have questioned the veracity of Staden’s account and the accuracy of his descriptions. 

Such doubts seem to miss the point of Staden’s account. Instead, Staden’s text is bett er 

seen as an expression of his status as a go-between. In terms of creating a new space 

that accompanied colonial conquest, Staden’s text presented his own encounters with 

places and peoples unfamiliar to his contemporaries. He presented the wonders of 

the “new world” as manifestations of his own reliability and of his trustworthiness as 

a witness. I consider the manner in which the context of Staden’s work made available 

certain truth claims which he used in his narrative and illustrations to att est to his 

reading public his reliability and truthfulness as an eyewitness to events. Staden’s 

personal testimony and bare description ( Beschreibung ) was based on Protestant 

ideals of truthful claims and sincerity. Staden’s work presented Europeans with a 

new way to approach and possess the wonders beyond their shores, and Staden’s 

explanations of the nature of wonders can help us understand the ways in which 

Europeans not only imagined the other, but how they thought about the very essence 

of scientifi c narratives, from exhortations to piety, sincerity, nakedness, and thereby 

truthfulness. 

Email eve@unc.edu 


Panel 7 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Gabrielle Eckart ( Southeast Missouri State University, Foreign Languages, Cape 

Girardeau, u sa ) 

Lavater and the Arrival and Return of a Patagonian Indian—a Note to Silvia 

Iparraguirre’s novel La Tierra de Fuego 

Th e fact that on Darwin’s voyage aboard the sailing ship Beagle, a Patagonian Indian 

was brought back to England, is well documented. Known as Jemmy Butt on, he 

learned English and English manners, visited Queen Victoria and returned years 

later to Patagonia to continue his former life as an Indian—a foreigner forever. Sylvia 

Iparraguirre investigated the story of this Indian and presented the results in her 

novel La Tierra de Fuego ( 1998 ). My paper proposes to examine the role that Johann 

Kaspar Lavater’s theory of the human physiognomy ( 1778 ) plays in the life of the 

Indian Jemmy Butt on—a theory that strongly had infl uenced the image of the Other 

in the mind of the sailboat’s captain. 

Email geckart@semo.edu 


Panel 98 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Rachel Esteves Lima ( Universidade Federal da Bahia, Letras Vernáculas, Salvador, 

Brazil ) 

When Th eories Travel : European Presence in Brazilian Literary Criticism 

Th e study aims to discuss the process of assimilation, appropriation and “resignifi 

cation”, by Brazilian intellectuals, of Europeanthwoei-grown ideas, theories and 

research methodologies, taking the fi eld of literary criticism as a privileged space of 

analysis. In the process, we highlight two instances where contact between Brazil and 

Europe intensifi ed : in the fi rst case, foreign professors who were involved in laying the 

foundations for the Brazilian university system in the 1930s were responsible for the 

implementation of what philosopher Paulo Arantes called our “late-born Aufk lärung”, 

by means of the introduction into Brazilian research of a new intellectual posture 

in which there stood out the employment of scientifi c investigation techniques, the 

valorization of personal refl ection, the establishment of methodological analysis 

criteria and the need for greater investment in understanding Brazilian reality ; in the 

second case, there occurs a reverse process, in which Brazilian researchers take up the 

role of travellers when, as of the 1970s, state funding allowed them to complete their 

academic formation in Europe, where they came into contact with the text-analysis 

procedures developed during the golden years of literary theory. Departing from the 

reading of a corpus made up of interviews and statements given by the major names 

in Brazilian literary criticism who took part in both these moments, we intend to 

ascertain the main contributions, as well as the possible diffi culties arising from such 

intellectual contacts, to the consolidation of this fi eld of knowledge in Brazil. 

Email rachellima@uol.com.br 


Panel 85 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Margaret Ewalt ( Wake Forest University, Romance Languages, Winston-Salem, 

North Carolina, u sa ) 

Humboldt’s Epistemological Journey between the Orinoco and Amazon 

Humboldt may have invented a “new literary genre” ( the modern travelogue 

uniting literature and science ) and been regarded since the nineteenth century 

as the “rediscoverer” of South America, but he did so based on knowledge culled 

from Amerindians, Criollos, and clerics who continue to be eclipsed by Humboldt’s 

international fame. In fact, Humboldt’s synthesis of art and science, which blends 

imagination, reason, and emotion with instrumental precision, shares several 

literary strategies with eighteenth-century Jesuit travel narratives. Fift y years before 

Humboldt explored connections between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, Jesuits 

had catalogued the Casiquiare canal and its tropical biodiversity through vivid 

descriptions of virulent insects, electric eels, and monstrous crocodiles. Even more 

important than this Orinoco data, which constitutes a small portion of Humboldt’s 

extensive opus, is the rhetoric used to describe it. Humboldt presented facts about, for 

example, curare-tipped poison arrows with the same rhetorical strategies successfully 

employed by Jesuits to provoke wonder in their readers. Humboldt’s skills for evoking 

emotions via stirring literary strategies are clearly infl uenced by the Jesuits he cites. 

Th is presentation will examine Humboldt’s debts to Jesuit natural history writing 

for both what and how he presents the Orinoco River region. More importantly, it 

will suggest how Humboldt’s purposeful use of imagination and wonder to lead 

readers on pathways to knowledge echoes Jesuit epistemology. Th is has important 

implications for the way scholars imagine the development of national identities and 

epistemologies in Latin America, as it explores pre-Independence era transnational, 

transatlantic connections between Europe and the Americas. 

Email ewaltmr@wfu.edu 


Panel 6 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Priscila Faulhaber-Barbosa ( Museu Goeldi, Human Sciences, Belem, Brazil ) 

Th e Amazon in Early Twentieth-Century Ethnography : A Historical Approach 

to the Writings of Constant Tastevin and Curt Nimuendaju 

Th e power relations that characterized the colonial situation in the Amazon were 

still present during the early twentieth-century, conditioning the practices of 

ethnographers such as Constant Tastevin and Curt Nimuendaju. In performing their 

ethnographic tasks, they linked their roles as writers of ethnographic texts with that 

of paternalistic protectors of Amazonian Indians. Th ey were committ ed with the 

“salvation of indigenous cultures” taking for granted the idea sustained by European 

“savants” that the indigenous peoples would disappear with the contact with 

civilization. Moreover their claims for recognition as scientifi c authors were based on 

their fi eldwork experience and a particular mode of interaction with the Indians. Th e 

originality of their writings resides in the fact that they collected and transposed oral 

indigenous knowledge onto writt en ethnographic texts. Yet the extent to which their 

“cultural translations” amount to “appropriations” of indigenous knowledge about the 

Amazon is a question that this paper seeks to answer. 

Email priscila.faulhaber@pq.cnpq.br 


Panel 69 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Barbara Fellgiebel ( Associação Alfacultura, Literature, Portimao, Portugal ) 

One Week in Brazil 

Brasilian diary ( April 2008 ) : One week in Brazil, two days in Rio and fi ve days 

in bh—Belo Horizonte. Writt en and experienced by a person who, against her 

expectation, did not enjoy a country she had wanted to visit for years. A description 

for all senses : full of facts, ( from guide book information to prices ), personal 

experiences and impressions as well as food, music, nature observations and useful 

internet links. A vivid mixture of do’s and don’ts writt en in form of a diary. Th e form 

varies between fragmented diary notes, factual information, subjective statements 

and more lengthy descriptions. Th is form has proven to make good reading, taking 

the reader into the described areas and giving him the opportunity to “follow the 

journey without having to make the eff ort to leave the sofa”, as some readers describe 

their reaction. 

Email fellgiebel@mail.telepac.pt 


Panel 94 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Rodolfo Fernández ( Institutio Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Guadalajara, 

Mexico ) 

Todo por ir a un congreso 

Se trata de analizar un texto propio, un relato de viaje que resultó de un informe al 

inah ( Mi institución ) acerca de una ida a Rumania con motivo de mi asistencia a 

un congreso de icaf ( International Commission for the Anthroplogy of Food ). El 

relato tiene el propósito de llamar la atención sobre los extremos a que se suele llegar 

para asistir a una reunión académica en lugares exóticos. Mi ponencia analizaría el 

texto como discurso, desde la perspectiva de un sujeto externo de conocimiento 

observando al historiador, al antropólogo, al aprendiz de arquitecto, como al 

afi cionado a los relatos por simple gusto, llegando hasta la organización discursiva 

desde la perspectiva de la retórica. 

Email deraga@prodigy.net.mx 


Panel 94 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Luz Fernández de Alba ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Filosofía y Letras, 


Kino : viaje de encuentros y extravíos en el noroeste de México 

Se informa sobre la vida y obra de uno de los misioneros jesuitas menos conocidos 

entre los que atravesaron el Atlántico y llegaron a América en el siglo xvii : el padre 

Eusebio Francisco Kino. 

La vida de este gran viajero y explorador que logró ampliar los confi nes de la 

cristiandad en el norte de la Nueva España, estuvo marcada por el misterio desde 

su nacimiento hasta su muerte. Su biografía arranca y termina con un signo de 

interrogación. 

No se conoce la fecha exacta de su nacimiento, sólo se sabe la de su bautismo, 1645, 

en la que está inscrito como Eusebius Chinus, de Segno, un caserío en los Alpes 

tiroleses, cerca de Trento, Italia. Otros, como Humboldt, lo han mencionado como 

Eusebius Kühn y lo han considerado alemán. 

Respecto a su muerte, ésta lo sorprendió a la mitad de una misa que celebraba en su 

Misión, el 15 de marzo de 1711, pero sus restos quedaron misteriosamente extraviados 

por más de doscientos años y no fue sino hasta 1966 que se descubrieron en lo que 

había sido la Misión de Santa María de Magdalena de Buquibaba, en el estado de 

Sonora, lugar que actualmente se llama en su honor Magdalena de Kino. 

Entre las causas del olvido en que cayeron los viajes y obras de colonización del 

padre Kino, la principal es que él solamente escribió una extensa obra donde quiso 

dar la reseña de su vida, de sus viajes y descubrimientos. Esta obra, a la que él mismo 

tituló Favores celestiales, nuevamente estuvo marcada por el extravío, ya que se dio por 

perdida desde la expulsión de los jesuitas. Más de un siglo después, en 1907, un grueso 

legajo con la Relación de Sonora del P. Francisco Eusebio Kino, fue descubierto en los 

archivos de México por un historiador norteamericano. 

Es en el análisis de este diario de viaje del misionero jesuita Eusebio Francisco 

Kino, publicado ya en inglés y español por varias universidades norteamericanas y 

mexicanas, que se basa esta investigación. 

Email luzalba01@prodigy.net.mx 


Panel 17 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Justus Fetscher ( Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin ) 

Neugier. Treibstoff und Motiv des Interesses an den Entdeckungsreisen im 

18. und 19. Jahrhundert 

“Les voyages de la mer du Sud, ont déjà fait rêver les moralistes. Que d’objets de 

comparaison !”, schrieb Louis-Sébastien Mercier 1778 : “L’histoire de ce peuple 

isolé seroit plus curieuse que celle de tous les peuples connus, anciens & modernes. 

Absolument séparé du reste de l’Univers, tout chez lui parleroit au Philosophe.” Der 

dogmatische Bann, mit dem antike Moralphilosophie und christliche Dogmatik die 

Neugier belegt hatt en, wich im Jahrhundert der Aufk lärung einem Erkenntnisdrang, 

der Wahrheit, Freiheit und Natur identifi zierte. Auf die Pazifi kinsulaner, von denen 

die Berichte über die Weltumsegelungen der 1760er und 1770er Jahre sprachen, 

richtete sich ein philosophisches Interesse, das in ihnen ein Menschentum im Stande 

einer prä-kulturellen Unverstelltheit entdecken wollte. Die deutsche Rezeption der 

Pazifi k-Expeditionen war motiviert von der scheinbar neutraleren Perspektive einer 

theoretisch auswertenden Anthropologie. Immanuel Kant und Georg Forster sind die 

Protagonisten dieses Diskurses. Im Rückblick brachte Forsters Witwe das Interesse 

des Publikums an dem deutschen Begleiter der zweiten Cookschen Weltumsegelung 

auf die Formel, dem heimgekehrten Forster sei ein Übermaß an Neugier begegnet. 

Der Vortrag fragt nach den legitimen und illegitimen Konstituenten jener 

Neugier, die Naturforscher des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts zu unerschrockenen, 

unentwegten Reisenden und Autoren von refl ektierenden Reiseberichten machte 

und zehntausende Leser zu unermüdlichen begeisterten armchair travellers. Dass 

diese Neugier seit Bougainvilles Präsentation der Insel Tahiti als einer neuen Venus- 

Insel mit erotischen Motiven nicht nur konkurrierte, sondern sich auch vermischte, 

klingt in Merciers Aufruf dort an, wo sein Blick auf das Inselvolk dem eines Pariser 

Th eaterzuschauers ähnelt, der sich eine Marivauxsche Komödie ansieht. 

Email FetscherJu@gmx.de 


Panel 90 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Gabriela Fragoso ( Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e 

Humanas, Estudos Alemães, Lisbon, Portugal ) 

Alexander von Humboldts Südamerikareise unter dem Gesichtspunkt von 

Religion und Menschenrechten 

Alexander von Humboldts Reisewerk, das nach seiner Südamerikareise entstanden 

ist ( 1799-1804 ), erweist sich als ein unerschöpfl iches Reservoir von landeskundlichen 

Informationen, das auch heute noch eine Vielzahl von Fachgebieten zu bereichern 

vermag. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die humanitäre Komponente des Reisewerks 

herauszuarbeiten, mit Hilfe eines Vergleiches zwischen Humboldts Haltung zu 

Religion und Menschenrechten und der seiner Zeitgenossen. Ein besonderes 

Augenmerk soll dabei auf die bisher wenig beachtete geistige Verwandtschaft 

zwischen dem Geographen Humboldt und dem Th eologen Johann Gott fried Herder 

geworfen werden. Sowohl Humboldt wie auch Herder waren aufrechte Verfechter 

von Menschenrechten und diff erenzierte Kritiker der christlichen Religion. Im 

Unterschied zu den detaillierten und für den heutigen Leser oft ermüdenden 

wissenschaft lichen Darstellungen, die einen Großteil des Reisewerks ausmachen, 

sind die feinsinnigen mitunter aber auch missbilligenden Äußerungen Humboldts 

hinsichtlich der Rolle der Missionsniederlassungen in den spanischen Kolonien 

ebenso wie seine scharfe Verurteilung des Sklavenhandels allgemeinverständliche 

Sachverhalte, die die Würde des Individuums in den Vordergrund rücken. Diesen 

Grundgedanken bleibt Humboldt zeitlebens treu. So schreibt Humboldt in seinem 

Alterswerk Kosmos : “Indem wir die Einheit des Menschengeschlechts behaupten, 

widerstreben wir auch jeder unerfreulichen Annahme von höheren und niederen 

Menschenrassen. Es gibt bildsamere, höher gebildete, durch geistige Natur veredelte, 

aber keine edleren Volksstämme.” Diese Aussage, die gewiss auch Herder geteilt hätt e, 

formulierte Humboldt zwar erst am Ende seines Lebens, es ist aber unverkennbar, 

dass der sich dahinter verbergende humanitäre Gedanke lange zuvor im Rahmen 

einer regen Auseinandersetzung mit der sozialen Realität und den Missständen auf 

dem gesamten amerikanischen Kontinent geboren wurde. 

Email mg.fragoso@fcsh.unl.pt 


Panel 66 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Raquel Franklin ( Universidad Anáhuac—Mexico Norte, School of Architecture, 

Huixquilucan, Mexico ) 

Support the Red Army ! : Th e Jewish Antifascist Committ ee Reaches Mexico 

On August 8, 1943, Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Fefer arrived in Mexico as 

representatives of the Soviet Jewish Antifascist Committ ee in an att empt to gain 

monetary support from the local Jewish community for the Red Army. Th eir visit was 

part of an international journey including Canada, the United States and England. 

Although the Mexican community couldn’t be compared to any of the above in size, 

infl uence or economic capacity, Mexico, as an allied country who entered the war 

in 1942 was an important link to the rest of the Americas. Litt le was the fi nancial 

contribution of the Mexicans ; however, Mikhoels and Fefer encountered a vibrant 

community, actively engaged in the wide spectrum of Jewish politics, from Bundism 

to Zionism and eager to stress the cultural links with the Yiddish world. Besides, 

Mexico became the land of refuge of a large German exile including Anna Seghers 

and Paul Merker that not only att ended some events surrounding the jafc, but were 

working on antifascist campaigns as well, being their most important project the 

Black Book of Nazi Terror in Europe, published some months before the arrival of the 

soviet envoys. While in Mexico, the jafc members took part in several events, from 

specifi cally Jewish presentations to bilateral diplomatic ceremonies. Th eir presence, 

nevertheless, was acknowledged only in the Yiddish press. My aim is to reconstruct 

Mikhoels and Fefer’s journey to Mexico, their impact on the Jewish community and 

the impressions they took back to the Soviet Union. 

Email rfranklin1120@gmail.com 


Panel 20 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

David Freudenthal ( Universidade Federal do Ceará, Letras Estrangeiras, Fortaleza, 

Brazil ) 

Außen- und Innenreisen zwischen Europa, Afrika und Amerika : Louis- 

Ferdinand Célines Voyage au bout de la nuit ( 1932 ) und Juan Carlos Onett is El 

astillero ( 1961 ) 

In meinem Vortrag gedenke ich, die Reisebewegungen des französischen Skandalschrift 

stellers Louis-Ferdinand Céline mit dem fi ktionalen Mikrokosmos des 

uruguayisch-spanischen Dichters Juan Carlos Onett i in Verbindung zu setzen. 

Célines Roman — ein Reiseroman par Excellenz — ist kein Dokument einer im 

positiven Sinn horizonterweiternden Expedition, sondern Zeugnis der inneren und 

äußeren Abgründe, in die der abenteuerlustige Europäer Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts 

gerät. Wie kein anderer Schrift steller hat Onett i die Voyage verehrt und sie als 

Inspiration für sein eigenes Oeuvre verwendet. Diese Beziehung ist von mir erstmalig 

im Rahmen meiner Dissertation ( 2008 ) untersucht worden. In diesem Vortrag 

beabsichtige ich, die Bitt erkeit und Entt äuschung einer Lebensreise, die sowohl 

die Vitalität der Ferne, als auch die der Nähe als leere Farce entlarvt und die sich in 

ihrer Fluchtbewegung jeglichem Fortschritt soptimismus und allen humanistischen 

Idealen entzieht, zu beleuchten und in Beziehung zu einem der großen Romane 

Südamerikas zu setzen, der eine ganz andere Art des Reiseromans darstellt mit einem 

Movens jenseits von tropischen oder urbanen Topoi hinein in die Niederungen von 

Trostlosigkeit, Resignation und Scheitern, welche immer als Vexierbild zwischen 

seelischen Befi ndlichkeiten, hochsymbolischem Récit und philosophischem 

Konstrukt dienen. Mein Beitrag soll die Brüchigkeit des Reiseromans darstellen 

und die ( meta )literarische Bewegungen hin zu einem Espace jenseits eines konkret 

meßbaren Raum-Zeit-Gefüges. 

Email dekaef@gmx.de 


Panel 57 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Helmut Galle ( Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Letras Modernas, São 

Paulo, Brazil ) 

“Wahrhaft ige Geschichten” — frühe Reiseberichte aus Südamerika im 

Entstehungskontext von Roman und Autobiographie 

Historia ( 1557 ) nennt sich der Bericht des Hans Staden, der als Landsknecht in 

portugiesischen Diensten von den Tupinambá gefangen genommen wurde und nach 

seiner Rückkehr mit diesen Abenteuern die erste zusammenhängende Beschreibung 

von Brasiliens Flora, Fauna und indigenen Bewohnern publizierte. Historia nennen 

sich auch die anonym erschienen Bücher über Faust ( 1587 ) und seinen Famulus 

Wagner ( 1593 ), in denen die mündlich überlieferten Schwänke und Anekdoten über 

den Teufelsbündler kompiliert und zu Vorformen des Romans geformt werden 

( Jan-Dirk Müller ). “Historia” ist gleichwohl im 16. Jahrhundert ein Gatt ungsbegriff , 

der einen “historischen” Wahrheitsanspruch für das Mitgeteilte anzeigen soll und 

damit gleichermaßen für Stadens Erlebnisbericht wie für die — aus heutiger Sicht — 

weitestgehend fi ktionalen Geschichten der beiden “Volksbücher” gilt. Bemerkenswert 

ist dabei, dass der Autor des Wagnerbuchs off enbar ganz bewusst einen fremden 

Text in die Vita seines Protagonisten einfügt, bei dem es sich wiederum um einen 

authentischen Amerikareisebericht handelt, um die Historia del Mondo nuevo des 

Italieners Girolamo Benzoni ( 1565/1572 ). Was unterscheidet den — aus heutiger Sicht 

— fi ktionalen Text von den Erlebnisberichten ? Der Beitrag will den unterschiedlichen 

Legitimationsstrategien in Text und Paratext nachgehen und danach fragen, ob sich 

in den Diff erenzen jene Konstellation abzeichnet, die sich im 18. als Autobiographie 

und Roman ausdiff erenziert. In welcher Weise wird die Erfahrung von Autonomie 

und die Fremdheit des außereuropäischen Menschen jeweils konstitutiv für den 

Wahrheitsbegriff in Frühformen dieser Gatt ungen. 

Email helmut_galle@hotmail.com 


Panel 95 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Claudia Garnica ( National University of Cuyo, German Literature, Mendoza, 

Argentina ) 

From Central Europe to the Río de la Plata River : Th e Journey of the German 

Immigrants to Argentina 

Emigrieren bedeutet — räumlich gesprochen — einen bekannten und vertrauten Ort 

zurück zu lassen, um an einem anderen Ort Fuß zu fassen. Über diesen neuen Ort hat 

man zwar meist schon vorab ein wenig Kenntnisse, doch fehlt die konkrete Erfahrung 

über diesen neuen ( Lebens )Raum. Auf Basis der Imagologie analysiert dieses Projekt 

die Wahrnehmung des zurückgelassenen und des neuen ( Lebens )Raums und stellt 

die wesentliche Aspekte der Migration zwischen Deutschland und Argentinien 

dar. Die hauptsächlich zwischen 1880 und 1940 auf Deutsch verfasste Literatur in 

Argentinien legt Zeugnis ab über dieses Geschehen. 

Email cgarnica@arlinkbbt.com.ar 


Panel 35 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Chad Gasta ( Iowa State University, World Languages and Cultures, Ames, u sa ) 

Travelogues and Eye-Witness Testimony : Illuminating Indigenous Musical 

Cultural Spaces for a European Readership 

Recent archival discoveries in Bolivia have illuminated two of the New World’s fi rst 

operas, San Ignacio de Loyola ( 1717-1726 ) by the Italian Jesuit composer Domenico 

Zipoli, and San Francisco Xavier by an unknown composer who lived among the 

Jesuits. Th ese operas are cultural and ideological forces exemplifying the European 

artistic and philosophical change from the Baroque to the Enlightenment and 

illuminating the activity in Jesuit missions. And since they were conceived, played, 

sung, and staged by Indians in the shadow of the Jesuits, music and performance 

can be viewed as cross-cultural ideological tools in the process of evangelization. 

As a result of these links, European style sacred musical pieces were passed from 

generation to generation, and prized over other works, and they even outlasted the 

groups that created them. Th e stories of Indian musical accomplishments made 

their way back to Europe as travel missives to family and friends, reports to the 

Jesuits’ headquarters in Rome, and personal diary accounts. Sometimes the stories 

were anecdotal, such as how young boys perfected certain instruments, but other 

reports substantiated the success of music in the evangelization process to a skeptical 

European readership. Indeed, popular stories widely circulated in European courts 

describing extraordinarily talented Indian musicians who were said to be bett er than 

their European counterparts. Other eye-witness accounts testifi ed to the Indians’ 

astonishing musical genius to play even the most diffi cult pieces. Th ese reports 

bolstered the evangelization eff orts and popularized and legitimized the eff orts of the 

Jesuits to Europeans. 

Email gasta@iastate.edu 


Panel 22 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Eike Gebhardt ( Berlin ) 

Kulturnomaden 

Seit den 70er Jahren des eben erst vergangenen Jahrhunderts registrieren Soziologen 

ein kurioses Phänomen : eine Reiseform, die sich parallel zum Tourismus entwickelt 

hatt e, sich aber weder auf einen zeitlich begrenzten Urlaub noch als Syndrom 

der klassischen Aussteiger begreifen ließ. Zu beobachten war eine unaufh örlich 

anschwellende Welle von Emigranten, die nie zu Immigranten wurden. Dauer- 

Emigranten sozusagen. Waren Menschen früher ausgewandert, weil sie religiös oder 

politisch verfolgt wurden, oder auch einfach, um der wirtschaft lichen Verelendung 

daheim zu entrinnen oder gar, als Zivilisationskritiker, irgendwo ein wie auch immer 

geartetes besseres Leben aufzubauen — sie alle konnten doch ihr Ziel benennen : 

den Ort, den Zustand oder gar den Sollzustand. Die neuen Dauer-Emigranten aber 

scheinen, zumindest auf den ersten Blick, gar kein konkretes Ziel zu haben, ja nicht 

einmal Gründe für ihr rastlose Leben : Ein Jahr in New York, zwei in Berlin, ein 

halbes in Neu Delhi oder Barcelona — wissen sie nicht, was sie wollen ? Dauer- 

Sinnkrisen ? Nur Abwechselungsbedürfnis ? Der alte Topos des zweckfreien 

Reisens, Reisen als Kunstform, ja als Lebensform ? Wohl eher nicht. Denn die 

neuen Migranten reisen nicht nur — sie lassen sich auch nieder. Ein, zwei, drei Jahre, 

selten mehr — um wiederum an einem anderen Ort dasselbe Muster zu zelebrieren. 

Manchmal kehren sie zwischendurch in ihre Heimat, die sie kaum noch als solche 

empfi nden, zurück, wie um sich zu versichern, daß sie gerade nicht entwurzelt 

sind, sondern immer freiwillig unterwegs. Sie scheinen auch nicht getrieben, weder 

von einer inneren Unruhe noch von Entdeckerglück. Sie empfi nden und begreifen 

Reisen nicht als reines Abenteuer, so wie das 19. Jahrhundert den permanenten 

Aufb ruch pries. Seit derselben Zeit verschieben sich auch die klinischen Symptome, 

die typischen Konfl iktlinien in westlichen Gesellschaft en — und zwar in Richtung 

Selbstgestaltung versus Trauma der Ereignislosigkeit. Das Ziel ist längst nicht mehr 

die nur noch verbal modische “Selbstfi ndung”, “Selbstverwirklichung” usw., sondern 

die Anreicherung der Erlebnis- und Ausdrucksfähigkeit. — Anhand einiger Vorläufer 

wie der Beat Generation und Bruce Chatwin wird das Syndrom entfaltet und auf den 

Brückenschlag Europa-Lateinamerika ausgeweitet. 

Email eikegeb@aol.com 


Tourism 

Panel 78 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Louis Gerdelan ( University of Auckland, Department of History, New Zealand ) 

Virtual Aesthetics and the Experience of Nature in Alexander von Humboldt’s 

Relation historique 

One of the enduring historiographical debates surrounding Alexander von Humboldt 

is concerned with his intellectual allegiances : did he belong to the Enlightenment 

or the Romantic movement ? Recent scholarship on both movements shows that 

their internal diversity and the complexity of their relationship preclude simple 

oppositions. Instead, I argue that we need to locate Humboldt’s work within a broader 

aesthetic of experience, whose development may be observed in the literature of 

Goethe and the visual phenomenon of the panorama. Using some of the insights of 

postmodern visual and literary theory on virtual realities, I suggest that we treat the 

juxtaposition of aesthetic appreciation and empirical analysis in Humboldt’s Relation 

historique du voyage aux régions equinoxiales de l’Amérique as an att empt to capture 

nature in its experienced totality, involving a minute cataloguing of appearances, 

sensations and quantifi cations. Th is total representation in turn allowed the audience 

to vicariously experience Humboldt’s encounter with nature through processes of 

virtual immersion. 

Email gerdelanl@yahoo.co.nz 


Panel 11 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Eva Giloi ( Rutgers University, History Department, Newark, New Jersey, u sa ) 

‘Reisekaiser’ and Fellow Travelers : Kaiser Wilhelm ii as Tourist Att raction 

In 1888, us tourists notoriously spent thousands of Marks renting balconies along 

Berlin’s Unter den Linden to watch Wilhelm I’s funeral procession : the American 

fascination with European royalty was clearly in full bloom. A few months later, when 

Wilhelm ii ascended to the throne, he equally became a focal point for American 

tourist att ention. An avid tourist himself, the ‘Reisekaiser’ stoked us interest by 

giving autographs, lett ing himself be photographed, and granting interviews to 

American fans, while denying them to his German subjects. When it was reported in 

the English-language press that the Kaiser collected scenic postcards, he was in turn 

inundated with frank, friendly cards from the u sa, in which senders highlighted their 

commonality with the emperor through their mutual touristic hobby. On a further 

material level, us tourists signaled their investment in monarchy as consumers, 

purchasing royal memorabilia and creating impromptu souvenirs to mark their brush 

with royalty. Th is paper examines how us writers and politicians, intellectuals and 

ordinary citizens experienced the German monarch as a ‘tourist att raction,’ and so 

expressed their ‘aristomania.’ Did they approach the royal family and other stars of 

the courtly world as fi gures of awe and respect ? As equals in a democratic world ? 

As celebrities providing entertainment ? How did they reveal their att itudes in their 

touristic practices ? Th e paper further analyzes the diplomatic, political, and cultural 

implications of Wilhelm ii’s transformation into a tourist magnet, and how this 

aff ected American visions of the Wilhelmine Empire. 

Email evagiloi@andromeda.rutgers.edu 


Tourism 

Panel 63 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Josefi na Gómez-Mendoza, Concepción Sanz-Herráiz ( Universidad Autónoma de 

Madrid, Departamento de Geografía, Spain ) 

La Geografía de las Plantas de Humboldt y el paisaje 

Como dijo el propio Humboldt, el Cuadro Físico de las Regiones Equinocciales 

que acompañaba al Ensayo sobre la Geografía de las Plantas hablaba a la imaginación 

e inteligencia de los hombres al mostrarles sintéticamente, en una sola imagen, los 

datos sobre la distribución geográfi ca de la vegetación. Pero quizá el Cuadro haya 

oscurecido al Ensayo. En las sucesivas recuperaciones de la obra de Humboldt, no 

son el Ensayo …, ni en general los estudios de geografía física, los que han despertado 

mayor interés, probablemente porque el escaso interés mostrado por el origen de las 

especies, justo antes de la publicación de la obra de Darwin, parecían desmerecer 

esta parte de su obra. Sin embargo, también el Ensayo… es una obra de sorprendente 

modernidad y de conocimiento abierto. No sólo porque se interese por las relaciones 

entre la distribución de las plantas y los caracteres abióticos, en lo que Humboldt no 

era ni el primero ni el único ; sino también porque al proponer una división de las 

formas vegetales, teniendo en cuenta la analogía de impresión que ejercen sobre el 

espectador, esbozó una interesante tipología de los paisajes. En esta labor la América 

ecuatorial le suministró el término fundamental de comparación ya que “bajo los 

trópicos, la naturaleza se ha complacido en reunir todas las formas”. Mostramos en la 

comunicación que el tipo de conocimiento preciso y abierto propuesto en el Ensayo 

… y en otras grandes obras “móviles” de Humboldt, como los Sitios y los Diarios, 

constituye un importante precedente de la actual aproximación al paisaje. 

Email josefi na.gomez@uam.es 


Panel 96 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Nicolás González Lemus ( Escuela Universitaria de Turismo Iriarte, La Orotava, 

Tenerife, Spain ) 

Cultura y sociedad canaria en la obra de Alexander von Humboldt 

Alexander von Humboldt, en compañía de Aimé Bonpland, partió desde La Coruña 

a Canarias el 5 de junio de 1799. Humboldt se encontró con una naturaleza distinta a 

la europea : observó la esfera celeste y la posición de las constelaciones, en el océano 

ya había advertido la presencia de delfi nes, algas, medusas y otras especies propias de 

los mares más cálidos. Visitó La Graciosa, Lanzarote y Fuerteventura. En Tenerife 

estudió el vulcanismo, la geología y diversas características del pico del Teide, como 

una muestra del aire recogido en el cráter para su análisis ; tomó muestras de plantas 

con el objeto de estudiar la fi togeografía local. Pero Humboldt no sólo aporta datos 

sobre la geología, la vulcanología o la geografía botánica sobre el archipiélago, sino 

también refl exionó sobre las condiciones socioculturales del pueblo canario. Ese 

acercamiento a la naturaleza y al hombre estaba dentro de su concepción científi ca, 

donde prima el sentido de la unidad y la interacción de los fenómenos terrestres, 

incluido el hombre, pues el concepto de naturaleza de Humboldt contemplaba 

también al ser humano y su historia. 

Por ejemplo, Humboldt se ocupó del espacio geográfi co insular como soporte 

de localización turística basada en la estrecha relación clima-turismo. Refi riéndose 

a la isla en general, Humboldt indicó que el hombre sensible a la perfección de la 

naturaleza encuentra en Tenerife remedios aún más potentes que el clima y afi rma 

que ningún otro lugar le parece más apropiado para disipar la melancolía y devolver 

la paz al alma dolorida que Tenerife y Madeira. En repetidas ocasiones Humboldt 

se refi rió al aumento de la emigración, el de terioro de la calidad de vida de los 

propietarios isleños y al pésimo aspecto de La Laguna y La Orotava, las dos ciudades 

aristocráticas de las islas, como consecuencia de la crisis vitivinícola que estaba 

padeciendo el archipiélago canario. 

Estos aspectos sociales y etnográfi cos son los que probablemente han sido más 

olvidados a la hora de acercarse a la visita de Humboldt a las Canarias, pero que sin 

embargo forman parte importante de su legado analítico. Este retrato social de las 

islas de Humboldt es el motivo de mi ponencia. 

Email musle@telefonica.net 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Adriana González Mateos ( Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad De México, México 

City ) 

Los viajes de un dandy mexicano 

En un libro escrito en su vejez, Todo para los dioses, el escritor mexicano Sergio 

Fernández recurre a la tradición de los dandies decimonónicos para crear una voz 

narrativa capaz de relatar los viajes de un homosexual mexicano de clase acomodada 

a través de Europa, en travesías que evocan la cultura humanística ( representada, 

por ejemplo, por sus evocaciones de los dioses helénicos ) y la combinan con la 

experiencia de un viajero contemporáneo familiarizado con la estética camp. La 

ponencia analiza este libro de Fernández como continuación de una añeja tradición 

de crónica homosexual latinoamericana, en la que el relato de viajes se convierte en 

un vehículo para la narración de una sexualidad alternativa. 

Email lg212@nyu.edu 


Panel 43 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Johannes Görbert ( Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für deutsche Literatur ) 

Humboldt : Die Poesie des Wissens 

Mit Bett ina Hey’ls instruktiver Studie von 2007 haben die Erkenntnisinteressen 

der Germanistik an Alexander von Humboldt als Schrift steller einen neuen 

Höhepunkt erreicht. Mein Vortrag möchte im Anschluss daran erste Ergebnisse 

eines literaturwissenschaft lichen Dissertationsprojekts vorstellen. Ausgehend 

vom poetisch-epistemischen Doppelcharakter der Humboldtschen Reiseberichte 

ergeben sich zwei zentrale Arbeitsbereiche. Erstens begreift die Studie das Reise- 

Oeuvre Humboldts als Teil eines diskursiven Kräft efeldes um 1800. Gemeinsam 

mit Texten weiterer Welt- und Fernreisender wie Forster oder Chamisso erbringt 

Humboldt einen gewichtigen Beitrag zum Wissen seiner Zeit. Es stellt sich daher 

die Frage nach dem Ort der Texte innerhalb einer historischen Epistemologie, 

wie sie wesentliche Anregungen von Michel Foucaults Archäologie des Wissens 

empfangen hat. Der Vortrag knüpft direkt an Foucaults Arbeiten an, weicht jedoch 

in einem entscheidenden Punkt von ihnen ab : Beschreibt Foucault die Geschichte 

der Episteme lediglich als Abfolge, interessieren hier gerade die Faktoren des 

Wandels innerhalb einer markanten Zäsur der abendländischen Kulturgeschichte. 

Zu der diskursanalytischen Lektüre der Reiseberichte Humboldts tritt ein zweiter 

Ansatz, den Joseph Vogl die Poetologien des Wissens genannt hat. Eine solche 

Herangehensweise rückt den Schrift steller direkt neben den Wissenschaft ler 

Humboldt. An dieser Stelle erweist sich das Instrumentarium der Erzählforschung 

als nützlich. Aus dessen Anwendung versprechen sich Einsichten in die Poetik der 

Reiseliteratur — eine Problematik, zu welcher die Forschung bislang zu wenige 

überzeugende Beiträge geliefert hat. Insgesamt widmet sich der Vortrag somit 

der Leitfrage einer Poetik des Wissens im historischen Diskurs der Reiseliteratur. 

Humboldts Reiseberichte sind hierfür zentral. Sie erschließen eine mögliche Synthese 

von Literatur und Wissenschaft um 1800. 

Email johannes.goerbert@googlemail.com 


Panel 6 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Florian Gräfe ( Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias 

Sociales y Humanidades, Departamento de Lenguas Modernas, Mexico ) 

Der homo mexicanus im Werk Bodo Uhses 

Für interkulturell angelegte Forschungen zur Literaturgeschichte bedeutet das 

Exil deutschsprachiger Schrift steller in Mexiko während der Nazi-Diktatur eine 

bedeutende Quelle zur Darstellung der Wahrnehmung fremder Kulturen. Die 

Arbeitsfelder, die sich bei der Beschäft igung mit dem Mexiko-Werk etwa von 

Anna Seghers, Egon Erwin Kisch, Ludwig Renn und Gustav Regler, um nur einige 

Namen zu nennen, auft un, sind noch bei weitem nicht ausgeschöpft , wo doch gerade 

deutsche Literatur, welche außerhalb des deutschen Sprachraums entsteht, eine 

Fundgrube für Studien zu Perzeptionsmustern, Projektionsmechanismen und zur 

Kulturinteraktion bietet. Besonders interessant sind die interkulturellen Ansätze, 

die sich an den Mexikanischen Erzählungen von Bodo Uhse aufzeigen lassen. Vor 

allem die Erzählungen Reise in einem blauen Schwan und Der Bruder des Gavillan 

fügen sich hinsichtlich der Charakterisierung der mexikanischen Protagonisten in 

den zeitgenössischen mexikanischen Diskurs zur Nationaltypik ein. Der Beitrag 

weist nach, wie zentrale Elemente der Beschreibung des ‘homo mexicanus’, wie sie 

von mexikanischen Autoren wie Samuel Ramos, Emilio Uranga oder Octavio Paz 

formuliert worden sind, von Bodo Uhse literarisch anverwandelt worden sind. Wie 

nur wenigen Exilautoren ist es dem heute weitgehend vergessenen Autor gelungen, 

sich intensiv mit der Kultur des Aufnahmelandes zu beschäft igen und interkulturelle 

Wahrnehmungen literarisch fruchtbar zu machen. 

Email fl o g r a e f e @ h o t m a i l . c o m 


Panel 45 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Alessandra Grillo ( Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, Centre de Recherche sur la 

Litt érature des Voyages, France ) 

Hitler the Traveller : the Dictator’s Voyage to Italy in 1938 

Aft er his visit to Germany in 1937, Mussolini invites Hitler to Italy in 1938. Th e 

presentation will study, in a fi rst part, Mussolini’s organisation of Hitler’s travel, the 

towns visited ( Rome, Naples, Florence ), Hitler’s impressions of the king and his 

relations with the Italian royal establishment ( through Galeazzo Ciano’s diary ). 

In a second part, it will focus on Hitler’s interest for Italian art, through the words 

of Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli ( in his autobiography ), professor of Art at the 

university of Florence, called by Mussolini to introduce and to guide the German 

delegation during the visits of Rome and Florence museums. During the presentation, 

a few images and parts of Istituto Luce cinegiornali will be shown as examples of 

propaganda fi lms. If possible, will also be shown a part of A Special Day ( 1977 ), the 

fi l m b y E tt ore Scola, with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni, relating Hitler’s 

visit to Rome as seen by a housewife ( with an idealistic idea of fascism ) and a radio 

broadcaster who has lost his job and is about to be deported due to his political 

att itudes and his homosexuality. 

Email alessandraorlandini@email.it 


Panel 15 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Erik Grimmer-Solem ( Wesleyan University, Middletown, Ohio, u sa ) 

Labor Frontiers. Henry Farnam, August Sartorius von Waltershausen and the 

German History of American Trade Unions, 1878-1900 

Like many aspiring academics of his generation, Henry W. Farnam ( 1853 to 1933 ), later 

a professor of economics at Yale and president of the American Economic Association, 

studied in Germany. Aft er returning to his native New England upon completing his 

PhD in 1877, he was asked by his former teacher and mentor, Gustav Schmoller, to 

write a history of American trade unions for the German Verein für Sozialpolitik. He 

quickly discovered, however, that the historical economics he learned in Schmoller’s 

seminar had its limits in the New World. American trade unions had only a shallow 

history and disappeared as quickly as they came into being, leaving behind few 

recorded traces. Farnam was only able to complete his research only by initiating 

direct correspondence with trade-union leaders. Th e resulting study published in 

1879 stands as one of the very fi rst of its kind in any language. Similar problems, oft en 

compounded by Old-World prejudices, bedeviled German observers of the American 

labor movement. One of the fi rst of these was Farnam’s contemporary, the economist 

August Sartorius von Waltershausen ( 1852 to 1938 ). Von Waltershausen went on a grand 

tour of the United States in 1880-81, studying the American labor movement along the 

way and writing a remarkable set of articles about its organization shortly thereaft er. He 

concluded that the sophistication of the American division of labor and the rapid pace 

of technical innovation hindered an organized American labor movement. Likewise, 

the relatively high pay, mobility, and adaptability of American workers limited the 

appeal of compulsory insurance and hindered the development of both union provided 

and factory-based social insurance schemes. Both Farnam and Waltershausen reveal 

how the German labor question-as both an analytical topos and set of normative 

assumptions-crossed the Atlantic shaping both German and American perceptions of 

industrial relations in the New World. Th ese observations would eventually reinforce a 

powerful master narrative of American exceptionalism that would remain an idée fi xe of 

American and German sociology and historiography well into the 20th century. 

Email egrimmer@wesleyan.edu 


Panel 8 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Mario Grizelj ( Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany ) 

“Bewältigung in Eichendorff s Eine Meerfahrt ( 1835/36 ) und Poes Arthur Gordon 

Pym ( 1838 ) 

Beide in der zweiten Hälft e der 1830er Jahre verfassten Abenteuertexte berichten von 

Schiff fahrten in unentdeckte Seegebiete und vom Landen auf fremden Inseln. In 

beiden Texten werden die ‘zivilisierten’ Protagonisten mit sich zweideutig verhaltenden 

und ‘hinterlistigen Wilden’, mit Kämpfen, mit unentziff erbaren Schrift fi g u r e n , 

mit unverständlichen Sprachen und mit unerklärlich-magischen Phänomenen 

konfrontiert. Während Eichendorff s Text jedoch ein Szenario entwickelt, in dem 

( vordergründig ) ein gelingendes Deutungs- und Problemmanagement im Hinblick 

auf Alterität präsentiert wird, liefert Poes Roman einen radikalen Zusammenbruch 

von bewährten Bewältigungsstrategien. — In Eine Meerfahrt muss die heidnische 

Königin, die kompromisslos und sinnlich überbordend die Freiheit ihres Volkes im 

Sinn hat, sterben. Ihre Nichte hingegen, die mit der Schiff smannschaft nach Europa 

segelt, bleibt am Leben. Die Nichte verkörpert die Triebsublimation, die Bewältigung 

und Domestizierung von Alterität, die Christianisierung des Heidentums, und — in 

Form einer ‘Verbürgerlichung des Mythos’ — die Assimilation an die westliche 

Zivilisation. Der Aufenthalt auf der ‘barbarischen Insel der Wilden’ lässt die Spanier 

und Christen unaffi ziert. Sie kehren der heidnischen Welt den Rücken und segeln 

heim ins christliche Europa, eine ‘domestizierte Wilde’ und intakte westliche und 

christliche Diskursinstrumente an Bord. — Poes Protagonisten hingegen werden in 

einem intensiven Maße von der ‘fremden und anderen’ Welt absorbiert und affi ziert. 

Weder gelingt es ihnen, ihre westlichen Diskursinstrumente ( bspw. binäre Unterscheidungen 

wie weiß/schwarz, zivilisiert/barbarisch, Zentrum/Peripherie ) 

unbeschadet einzusetzen noch neue Problembewältigungsstrategien zu entwickeln. 

Die ‘wilden’ Gefahren und Schrecknisse können hermeneutisch nicht kontrolliert 

und sondiert werden. Das Deuten selbst kollabiert im Pym als Modus der Weltzuwendung 

und des Kulturkontaktes. Unentziff erbare Schrift fi guren und ein riesiger, 

weißer, amorpher, kataraktartiger Vorhang sind die off ensichtlichen Zeichen dieses 

Kollapses. Nicht nur die Protagonisten gleiten in den Katarakt, sondern auch der 

ganze Roman. Weder eine Bewältigung und Domestizierung von Alterität noch die 

Rückkehr in die ‘zivilisierte Welt’ sind möglich, statt dessen präsentiert das 

Romanende Formen der Entformung und des Chaos. 

Email mario.grizelj@germanistik.uni-muenchen.de 


Panel 27 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Alberto Guaraldo ( Università di Torino, Italy ) 

Palabras e imágenes sobre indígenas de la Amazonia ecuatoriana a mediados del 

siglo xix : los viajes de Castrucci da Vernazza. 

Los viajes del franciscano ligur Castrucci se desarrollaron entre 1846 y 1851 por las 

cuencas de los ríos Bobonaza, Pastaza y Huasaga, y hasta la región del Napo. En sus 

peregrinaciones tuvo varios contactos con algunos grupos indígenas : los así llamados 

záparos ( kayapwe ), jívaros ( shuar ) y muratos ( candoshi ), que en aquel tiempo se 

juzgaban peligrosos. Castrucci comunicó sus conocimientos directos de dichos 

indios amazónicos en dos libros, el primero publicado en Perú ( 1849) y el segundo, 

más amplio, en Italia ( 1854 ), acompañando la escritura con dibujos. También recogió 

interesantes objetos etnográfi cos, que se han perdido casi totalmente. Sus páginas 

muestran un concepto de los indígenas casi exento de la altanería de muchos viajeros, 

así como la conciencia y el arrepentimiento por las culpas que, parece, fueron la causa 

de su destitución de la orden franciscana. 

Email al.guaraldo@libero.it 


Panel 22 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Luz Elena Gutiérrez de Velasco ( El Colegio de México, México City ) 

Viajes literarios de Julieta Campos 

Póstumamente apareció un libro de Julieta Campos, Cuadernos de viaje, en el que 

se reúnen sus escritos relativos a sus viajes desde América a Europa y otros países, 

algunos viajes de trabajo y otros por placer. Se trata de testimonios muy valiosos, ya 

que existen vasos comunicantes entre estos textos y las novelas que la autora cubanomexicana 

iba construyendo a medida que vivía, a medida que viajaba, como Tiene los 

cabellos rojizos y se llama Sabina ( 1974 ), El miedo de perder a Eurídice ( 1979 ), La forza 

del destino ( 2004 ). Entre el texto de fi cción y el texto de viaje se establece un espacio 

de refl exión metanarrativa que vale la pena deslindar. 

Email luzg@colmex.mx 


Panel 38 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Martin A. Hainz ( Universität Wien, Institut für Germanistik, Austria ) 

Der Descensus ad infernos als frühes Reiseparadigma 

Der Descensus ad infernos ist im Grunde das Modell der Kolonialisierung. Er ist die 

Erfahrung Jesu — also auch Gott es —, was Tod sei, doch dann wird dieses Andere 

und schließlich vor allem die Hölle als Inbegriff des Fremden bald destruiert. In 

den Apokryphen wie in den literarischen Bearbeitungen, wobei hier vor allem 

Friedrich G. Klopstock ins Zentrum gestellt sein soll, wird pitt oresk formuliert, in 

welcher Weise ein furchtbar scheinender Messias herabsteigt, um die Hölle als 

Parodie und Paraontologie auszumerzen. Der Messias wird von Klopstock hier als 

der “Furchtbare” eingeführt ; fl üchten, beten und dann sogar sterben wollen die 

Teufel, doch “kein Tod erbarmte sich ihrer !” ( Messias, Gesang xvi, V. 601 ) Dieser so 

martialisch wie gnadenlos gemalte Descensus ist ohne Zweifel einem fragwürdigen 

Grausamkeitsdecorum verpfl ichtet ; das Mechanische von Urteilsfi ndung, Marter 

und Verdammung, die allesamt aus dem Bekenntnis gerechtfertigt sein sollen, zu 

dem sie nötigen, erinnert fatal an die Prozesse, worin nicht einmal der Wunsch des 

Gefolterten, “laßt mich nur unschuldig richten” ( aus dem Protokoll eines Prozesses 

in Münster, 1724 — in Klopstocks Geburtsjahr ), erfüllt werden kann. Wie ein postcolonial 

Diskurs nimmt sich der Versuch der zumal modernen Th eologie aus, dieses 

Narrativ zu bändigen : Zwar wird schon seit Calderon Lucifer nicht von einem 

kalt und unnahbar thronenden Gott gerichtet, sondern durch die liebende Tat des 

Gott menschen überwunden ; doch stimmig umgesetzt ist dies selten : durchaus indes 

bei Klopstock, seine — darum terminologisch zu bedenkenden — Teufel haben sich 

gesondert, bleiben aber adressier- und erlösbar. Reisen als Entdecken und ( Nicht- ) 

Missionieren wird hier durchdacht, latent postkolonial. 

Email martin.hainz@univie.ac.at 


Panel 54 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Teodoro Hampe-Martinez ( Humboldt-Club Perú, Universidad Nacional Mayor de 

San Marcos, Lima, Peru ) 

Alexander von Humboldt en el Perú ( 1802 ) : Un estudio crítico de sus 

impresiones de viaje 

Esta ponencia, basada principalmente en fuentes documentales de lengua alemana, 

francesa y castellana, se refi ere a Alexander von Humboldt y su recorrido a través 

del virreinato del Perú, entre agosto y diciembre de 1802. Habiendo seleccionado 

la ciudad de Lima —capital del virreinato— como su cuartel general, Humboldt 

pudo obtener durante esos cinco meses un conocimiento general de las condiciones 

naturales y humanas de vida en el país a fi nales de la época colonial. Las impresiones 

de Humboldt sobre Lima y sus habitantes signifi can el eje de esta contribución, 

teniendo en cuenta que un importante debate se ha planteado ( ya desde comienzos 

del siglo xix) sobre la imagen presumiblemente errónea del viajero acerca de las 

pautas características de aquella sociedad. 

Email thampe@universia.edu.pe 


Panel 86 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Steff en Hantke ( English Department, Sogang University of Seoul, Korea ) 

Wilder’s Dietrich : Star Personae and National Stereotypes in A Foreign Aff air 

( 1948 ) and Witness for the Prosecution ( 1957 ) 

Th ough the public personae and professional profi les of Billy Wilder and Marlene 

Dietrich are determined primarily by their respective work with other actors and 

directors, the two fi lms in which they collaborated—A Foreign Aff air ( 1948 ) and 

Witness for the Prosecution ( 1957 )—are landmark texts in developing and fi xing postwar 

national stereotypes of Germany in the collective imagination of their American 

audiences. Separated by almost a decade, both fi lms are remarkably consistent in 

their use of national stereotypes—a fact refl ecting less the unchanging nature of 

American-German relations than the continuity of both Wilder’s and Dietrich’s 

public personae. To the degree that the tragic fate of Wilder’s family in the Holocaust 

and Dietrich’s propaganda eff orts on behalf of the U.S. military in Europe were widely 

known, the diegetic deployment and critical examination of national stereotypes in 

both fi lms is crucially dependent upon these public personae. A Wilder adapts his 

material specifi cally to Dietrich, the merging of the two personae creates a nuanced 

portrait of transatlantic relations : an element of caustic satire applied equally to 

Germans and Americans on Wilder’s part, and a more conciliatory element applied 

toward the normalization of post-war relations between both countries on Dietrich’s 

part. Crucial in this move toward a more conciliatory att itude is the re-gendering of 

the national allegory with Wilder’s shift from a strongly masculine representation of 

Germany with actors like Erich von Stroheim ( 1943, 1950 ) and Ott o Preminger ( 1953 ) 

toward an ambiguously feminine representation with the casting of Dietrich. 

Email steff enhantke@hotmail.com 


Panel 70 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Robert Heinlein ( Universität Leipzig, Germany ) 



For abstract, please refer to José Juan Batista Rodríguez 

Email robert.heinlein@lsl.de 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Isabel Hernández ( Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Filología Alemana, Madrid, 

Spain ) 

From Spain to the Americas, from the Convent to the Front : Structure and the 

Meaning of Travelling in Catalina de Erauso’s Autobiography 

Th e volume Historia de la Monja Alférez, Catalina de Erauso, escrita por ella misma, 

edited in 1829 for the fi rst time, off ers an autobiographical account of the life of one of 

the most remarkable Spanish women of the 17th Century : Catalina de Erauso. Forced 

by her family to enter a convent, Catalina seizes the fi rst opportunity she has to run 

away and embark on a long voyage, in which, dressed as a man, she travels across 

Spain and then sets off for America. Th ere, in disguise, she is able to enjoy a freedom 

she has never known in her home country and to experience a great many adventures, 

of the kind which are traditionally reserved for the opposite sex. Th is woman’s 

account—combined with the type of material generally found in the travel literature 

of the time, and the picaresque style, which was frequent during the Spanish Golden 

Age—contributes to shaping a very particular genre of travel and adventure literature, 

halfway between literary fi ction and history, in which from the very fi rst moment the 

journeys traveled play a signifi cant role in the construction of the literary identity. 

Email isabelhg@fi lol.ucm.es 


Panel 23 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

José Hernández-Téllez ( Universidad Veracruzana, Facultad Bionalisis, Veracruz, 

Mexico ) 

Ambient Temperature Variability in the City of Veracruz, Mexico, According to 

von Humboldt in 1804 and Today 

For Abstract, Please refer to Javier Aldeco 

Email jhtellez@hotmail.com 


Panel 29 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Judith Hernández Aranda ( Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Veracruz, 

Mexico) 

Humboldt en Veracruz, una revisión arqueológica 

En su Ensayo Político sobre el Reino de la Nueva España, Alejandro de Humboldt dejó 

una serie de notas en las que registró aspectos importantes sobre las instalaciones 

urbanas del puerto de Veracruz, sobre su población, economía y recursos naturales, 

en un momento crucial de la política novohispana que culminaría con la guerra de 

Independencia. Una investigación bibliográfi ca, cartográfi ca y documental, así como 

el estudio de materiales arqueológicos de fi nes del Siglo xviii y principios del xix, 

nos permiten una reinterpretación más amplia de su discurso, al tiempo que nos 

acerca a las imágenes del ambiente cotidiano del puerto que recibió a este notable 

barón. 

Email judasaranda@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 76 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Elia Hernández Socas ( Universität Leipzig, Institut für Angewandte Linguistik und 

Translatologie, Germany ) 



For abstract, please refer to José Juan Batista Rodríguez 

Email socas@uni-leipzig.de 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Adrian Herrera Fuentes ( Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Institut 

für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie, Hispanistik und Altamerikanistik, 

Germany ) 

Stierkampf und indianische Märkte : ein europäisches Bild von mexikanischen 

Kultur 

Zwei europäische Reisende sind im postrevolutionären Mexiko gewesen : ein 

Deutscher, Josef Maria Frank ( 1938 ) und ein Engländer, D.H. Lawrence ( 1926 ). Frank, 

in seinem Reisebericht Mexiko ist anders ( 1938 ), und Lawrence, in seinem Roman 

Th e Plumed Serpent und seinem Reisebericht Mornings in Mexiko ( 1933 ), haben auf 

die gleichen Objekte des mexikanischen Alltagslebens geschaut : Stierkämpfe und 

indianische Märkte. Durch ihre Beschreibung dieser Elemente bemerkt man, wie 

eine europäische Mentalität, von den pragmatischen Ansichten der Moderne geprägt, 

sich mit der mexikanischen Welt der Mestizos und Indios, für beide Reisende 

geheimnisvoll, aber gleichzeitig barbarisch begegnet. Als Frank einen Stierkampf in 

Mexiko-Stadt und dann einen indianischen Markt in den Gebirgen vom Estado de 

México besucht, befi ndet er sich in einer Welt, deren Exotik ihm grausam und dunkel 

erscheint. Einige Jahre vor ihm war auch D.H. Lawrence in Mexiko gewesen. Frank 

hat die Memoiren von Lawrence gelesen und seine Konzipierung über das besuchte 

Land übernommen. In diesem Vortrag möchte ich die Korrespondenz zwischen 

beiden Autoren analysieren sowie ihre eigenen Ansichten des mexikanischen 

Alltagsleben durch ihre Beschreibungen der Stierkämpfe und indianischen Märkte, 

da diese für beide Intellektuelle der Zentralpunkt des mexikanischen sozialen Lebens 

jener Zeit sind. Unsere Analyse nimmt H.S. Gadamers Ideen der Modernität sowie 

T. Todorovs Ideen über Alterität als theoretische Basis. 

Email aherrera@uni-bonn.de 


Panel 77 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Gregor Herzfeld ( Seminar für Musikwissenschaft , Freie Universität Berlin ) 

“Always On Th e Road”. Bob Dylans Never Ending Tour 

1988 begann eine besondere musikalische Reise : Bob Dylans Never Ending Tour, die 

nahezu ununterbrochen bis heute anhält und den Songschreiber und Performing 

Artist über den gesamten Amerikanischen Kontinent, durch Europa und Asien bis 

nach Australien und Neuseeland geführt hat. Während das “touring” für die Kultur 

der Rock- und Popmusik zentral ist, indem es dazu dient, zum rechten Zeitpunkt 

den Fans ein neues Album neben den altbekannten Hits vorzuführen, also den 

Wiedererkennung- und damit Marktwert zu steigern, scheint Dylan andere Ziele 

damit zu verfolgen. Bei ihm steht jeden Abend eine andere Mischung auf dem 

Programm, und der Grad an Veränderung des präsentierten musikalischen Materials 

ist derart hoch, dass eine Wiedererkennung selbst dem Experten nur ausnahmsweise 

gelingen mag. Das reisende Auff ühren scheint tief in die musikalische Substanz 

einzugreifen, ja sich selbst in der Musik niederzuschlagen. In dieser ständigen De- 

und Rekonstruktionsarbeit, die Dylan im Rahmen dieser Tournee nun schon zwanzig 

Jahre auf der Bühne permanent leistet, fi ndet eine weitere Reise, eine Zeitreise, statt . 

Die Hits der Vergangenheit werden erinnert, auf die Probe gestellt, aktualisiert 

und mit dem Neuen, dem Gegenwärtigen synchronisiert. Eine solche performative 

Präsenz der im Prinzip niemals endenden Konzertt ournee scheint daher geeignet, die 

Zeit selbst zu suspendieren. Diese musikalische Reiseutopie kann als Dylans kreative 

Antwort auf das Problem des Alterns von Rockmusik, die Beschleunigung von 

Generationenwechsel auf einem hartumkämpft en Markt gelesen werden. Im Vortrag 

sollen die theoretischen Überlegungen durch Auff ührungsvergleiche anhand von 

Audio- und Videobeispielen veranschaulicht werden. 

Email gregor.herzfeld@fu-berlin.de 


Tourism 

Panel 63 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Ernest W.B. Hess-Lütt ich ( Universität Bern, Institut für Germanistik, Switzerland ) 

Deutschsprachige Minderheiten in Argentinien. Über Sprachinselforschung in 

San Jerónimo Norte 

Die Untersuchung von Sprachminderheiten, die Sprachinselforschung und die 

Analyse des sog. Code Switching sind relativ junge Forschungsgebiete der Angewandten 

Linguistik im Schnitt feld von Dialektologie, Areal-, Ethno- und Sozio linguistik. 

Während der Sprachstand etlicher deutscher Enklaven im Ausland heute einigermaßen 

gut dokumentiert ist, gibt es für die Varietäten von aus der Deutschschweiz 

ausgewanderten Minoritäten kaum verläßliches empi risch erhobenes und linguistisch 

analysiertes Material. Daher soll der Vor trag eine exemplarische Untersuchung des 

Schweizerdeutschen ( genauer : des Walliserdeutschen ) in ausgewählten Gemeinden 

( hier besonders der Kolonie San Jerónimo Norte in der argentinischen Provinz Santa 

Fé ) auf der Grundlage eines Corpus von authentischem Sprachmaterial ins Zentrum 

stellen. Der Vortrag gliedert sich in drei Teile. Der erste Teil bietet einen Überblick 

über die historischen Bedingungen der Entstehung schweizerdeutscher bzw. 

wallisischer Gemeinden in Argentinien und die ökonomischen Gründe für die 

Auswanderung mit einem genaueren Blick auf die hier ausgewählte Kolonie und die 

in ihr noch gepfl egten Walliser Traditionen. Der zweite Teil verankert die 

Untersuchung in den für sie maßgeblichen Forschungsansätzen und knüpft an den 

Stand der germanistischen Sprachminoritätenforschung in Südamerika an. Der dritt e 

Teil informiert über die empirischen Ergebnisse der Untersuchung. Gemessen an 

dem Anspruch, eine nicht-repräsentative Momentaufnahme des heutigen 

Sprachgebrauchs einer wallisischen Gemeinde in Santa Fé vorzulegen, bietet die 

Auswertung des erhobenen Gesprächsmaterials eine Fülle von Hinweisen im 

Hinblick auf Formen des Sprachkonservativismus, auf Kriterien domänenspezifi scher 

Sprachwahl zwischen wallisischem Dialekt und argentinischem Spanisch, auf das 

instabile Verhältnis von Generationensprache und Sprachwandel ( bzw. Sprachtod ), 

auf die Bedeutung von familiären Schweiz- bzw. Besuchskontakten und von privaten 

Nachbarschaft snetzwerken für den Spracherhalt, auf den Zusammenhang von Code 

und Th emenwahl, auf die Folgen sprachpolitischer Entscheidungen und 

sprachpsychologischer Funktionen für die soziale Mobilität und sprachliche 

Präferenz, auf die Interferenzphänomene durch grammatisch-lexikalische 

Systemkonkurrenzen. 

Email hess@germ.unibe.ch 


Panel 97 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Max Hinderer ( Freier Künstler, Berlin ) 



For abstract, please refer to Alice Creischer 

Email maxhinderer@googlemail.com 


Panel 39 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

E. Walter Hoefl er Ebers ( Universidad de La Serena, Artes y Letras, La Serena, Chile ) 

El viaje América/Europa en la poesía lírica chilena 

Se trata de una revisión del corpus de la poesía chilena para establecer tanto las 

modalidades del viaje como su particular modo de asumirlo en la poesía lírica, 

entendiendo que se asume como viaje de conquista, de exploración, de simple turismo, 

de indagación, de apropiación hasta como crítica cultural o antropología. Se trata 

de concluir con consideraciones históricas como tipológicas de su funcionalización. 

Se presume que hay una correlación entre las modalidades epistémicas del viaje y el 

desarrollo lírico, al mismo tiempo que suele presentarse una refl exión metapoética en 

torno al alcance y sentido del viaje. 

Email whoefl er@userena.cl 


Panel 85 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Joerg Esleben ( University of Ott awa, Modern Languages and Literature, Canada ) 

Th e Myth of Enlightenment in Pre-Independence New Granada : Jose Celestino 

Mutis and Alexander von Humboldt encounter in 1801 

For abstract, please refer to Andrés Arteaga 

Email jesleben@uOtt awa.ca 


Panel 31 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Dirk Hoff mann ( Bolivian Mountain Institute, La Paz, Bolivia ) 

Travel Literature as a Source for Historical Analysis of Landscape Change in the 

Apolobamba Mountain Range in the Bolivian Andes 

Scientifi c work on landscape transformation in their great majority relies on visual 

or remote sensing data for comparison in time. While remote sensing data might 

be available from the 1970s onward, aerial photographs reach back some further 

decades, and black-and-white photo images for some regions of the world even exist 

from the last part of the 19th century. For remote mountain regions in countries 

like Bolivia, however, when it comes to retracing the change a certain landscape has 

undergone over the last decades or centuries, one highly important information 

source are writt en reports from travelers. For the Apolobamba region in the Northern 

part of the Bolivian Cordillera Oriental, the fi rst sources available come from 

Spanish conquistadors and missionaries and Date back to the 16th century. At the 

end of the 18th century a new generation of explorers, this time mainly made up of 

European scientists ( geologists, botanists, and cartographers ) traveled Apolobamba, 

leaving more precise descriptions and early att empts at systemization of the 

observations. Beginning with the middle of the 19th century we count with numerous 

mountaineers’ reports of the Apolobamba mountain range. A common thread 

regarding landscape description is, in the fi rst place, a very subjective view, according 

to the traveler’s education, interest and intention in visiting. In terms of conclusion ; 

analysis of these writt en sources shows that they hold valuable information to 

establish factors of landscape transformation in the past, but by themselves do not 

allow reconstructing the process in a scientifi cally sound way. 

Email dirk.hoff mann@berlin.de 


Panel 29 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Michaela Holdenried ( Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany ) 

Vom ‘Volk ohne Raum’ ins Land der Zukunft . Stefan Zweigs melancholische 

brasilianische Utopie 

Stefan Zweigs Exilbuch über das Land, das ihm politische Zufl ucht gewährte, als 

er vor den Nazis fl iehen musste, Brasilien. Land der Zukunft ( 1941 ) soll für eine 

bestimmte Form der Annäherung von Exilanten an ihre Gastländer stehen, die 

nicht verallgemeinerbar ist. Zweig, der auch schon seine Indien-Reise-Erlebnisse 

veröff entlicht hatt e ( Fahrten, Landschaft en und Städte, 1919 ), war mit dem Genre 

des Reiseberichts bestens vertraut. Sein Buch, in dem er ein Land beschreibt, 

in dem sich für ihn aufgrund gerade des ungeheuren kreativen Potentials der 

mestizaje, der Mischkulturen, Zukunft shaltigkeit manifestiert, verbindet Elemente 

aus verschiedenen Subgenres der Reiseliteratur und folgt geradezu in klassischer 

Manier den Brasilienberichten früherer Reisender, in denen die Einfahrt in die 

Bucht von Guanabara einen fast mystischen Ton erhielt ( bei Jean de Léry war dies 

schon so, auf den sich wiederum Lévi-Strauss bezieht ). Wie ihm selbst soll sich 

Rio den Lesenden als ein zu entziff ernder Text darstellen ; im Spazierengehen wird 

der Text durchschritt en, und die Stadt gibt dem Fußgänger oder aus der Stadt 

Hinausfahrenden mehr und mehr ihre Geheimnisse frei. 

Zweigs Hymne auf Brasilien hängt mit der Situation des Exils und dem eigenen 

Ende scheinbar in keiner Weise zusammen. Die Fragestellung des Vortrages wird es 

daher sein, in welcher Weise die psychische Grenzsituation des Exils und der Versuch 

einer Selbststabilisierung über die brasilianische Utopie einer tropischen Moderne im 

Medium des Reiseberichts ihren Niederschlag fi nden. 

Email laholde@gmx.net 


Panel 40 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Lee Wallace Holt ( Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Anglistisches Seminar, 

Germany ) 

“Th e Playground of Europe” : Alpine Travel Culture( s ) in the Alps and Beyond 

During the Weimar Republic, mountaineering organizations sought to establish 

hegemony over the travel culture of mountaineering. Contemporary texts published 

by various alpine organizations sought to position mountaineering as an activity 

reserved for a select elite, casting alpinists as masculine nationalists committ ed to the 

preservation of the Alps as their exclusive “playground of Europe.” Until World War I, 

the German-Austrian Alpenverein, the largest alpine club in the world, exercised a 

powerful infl uence over alpine travel culture. I argue that, during the Weimar years, 

this travel culture was challenged by other organizations ( such as the socialist alpine 

club, Die Naturfreunde ), commercial competitors ( the mass tourism industry in 

the Alps ), and alternative representations of mountaineering in both literature and 

the cinematic genre of the Bergfi lm. Th is profusion of alternative representations of 

alpine travel, as well as major shift s in the practice of mountaineering, fundamentally 

reshaped alpine travel culture. In its analysis of texts and fi lms as normative cultural 

products, my presentation will focus on how alpine travel culture was contested 

in the realm of narrative and visual representations. I draw upon popular alpine 

journals and the Alpenverein’s own publications, paying close att ention to how alpine 

organizations articulated their critiques of the mass tourism industry, published 

essays lamenting the increasing modernization of the Alps, and critiqued the Bergfi lm 

genre for its melodramatic plotlines. Th ese competing advocates of diff erent travel 

cultures, it seemed, could no longer get along in the “playground of Europe.” 

Email lee.holt@as.uni-heidelberg.de 


Tourism 

Panel 68 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Alexander Honold ( Universität Basel, Deutsches Seminar, Switzerland ) 

Strömungslehre bei Humboldt und Hölderlin 

Skizziert wird eine mögliche epistemische Gemeinsamkeit zwischen Humboldts 

Reisewerk und Hölderlins poetischen Texten. Während Alexander von Humboldt 

distributionsgenetische Überlegungen zur Verbreitung und Verteilung insbesondere 

von Pfl anzen, aber auch von anderen Lebewesen und geographischen Faktoren 

anstellt, beschäft igt sich Hölderlin in mythopoetischer Annäherung mit den 

Erscheinungsformen und geschichtlichen Wirkungsdeterminanten der menschlichen 

Ökumene. Beiden gemeinsam ist die “Reiseform des Wissens”, der gemäß die 

Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Natur und Kultur mithilfe von Bewegungen im 

Raum : Reise, Landkarte, Imaginationsprozeß, rekonstruiert werden. Was die Erde 

in ihren geographischen wie klimatischen Strukturen zusammenhält wie auch 

untergliedert und diff erenziert, ist die “Einheit des in sich selbst Unterschiedenen”. 

Als ein in sich gegliedertes Ganzes erfahrbar ist die Erde in Form von individuellen 

und kulturellen Wanderungsbewegungen, deren Grundlage naturale Faktoren wie 

Meeresströmungen, Gebirgslinien, Wasserläufe und Windrichtungen darstellen. 

Diese Wanderungsbewegungen lassen sich beziehen auf ein — zu entfaltendes — 

Paradigma der Strömungskunde und Strömungslehre, das den geographischen Reisen 

Humboldts wie auch den Imaginationsbewegungen Hölderlins als ästhetisches 

Modell zugrunde liegt. 

Email alexander.honold@unibas.ch 


Panel 16 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Roberto Hozven ( Pontifi cia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile ) 

Luis Oyarzún: El viaje es un regreso al propio principio 

Así como ascender una colina no es lo mismo que bajarla, viajar desde Sudamérica 

hacia los “países adelantados” ( como escribía Domingo F. Sarmiento en el siglo 

xix ) no era lo mismo que viajar desde éstos a Sudamérica. Ir a Europa o a los 

ee.uu., para nuestros modernistas, era algo más que un desplazamiento espacial, 

signifi caba saltar un siglo ; del mismo modo que, hoy día, en un museo, tres pasos 

nos cambian de milenio. Cuando Octavio Paz escribe, en Vislumbres de la India 

( Barcelona, 1995 ), que la India es una versión cultural extrema de México porque 

ha hecho de la estratifi cación de tradiciones una manera de vivir su tiempo del 

ahora, plantea un asunto decisivo : el diálogo entre literaturas y culturas es un asunto 

de traducción cultural, ella misma efecto de una transposición conceptual. La 

transposición conceptual signifi ca dar cuenta de qué modo las transformaciones 

de lengua, presentes en cada cultura, pueden servir de modelo para comprender las 

transformaciones de la conciencia misma. Lo que signifi ca-al igual que la subida y 

la bajada de la colina-que no se dirá ni comprenderá lo mismo de aquí hacia allá, y 

viceversa. Ahora bien, ¿cuáles son las traducciones fallidas más signifi cativas, con sus 

respectivas transposiciones conceptuales y de conciencia, presentes en el Diario de 

Oriente. Unión Soviética, China e India ( Santiago, 1960 ), escrito por Luis Oyarzún, 

a su regreso de su viaje por el Oriente entre noviembre de 1957 y mayo de 1958 ? En el 

texto de Oyarzún, me concentraré en su compte rendu a la Unión Soviética. 

Email rhozven@uc.cl 


Panel 25 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Ana María Dolores Huerta-Jaramillo ( Benémerita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, 

Mexico ) 

Humboldt en las bibliotecas poblanas y su tránsito a la historiografía local y 

nacional 

Este trabajo se propone revisar las publicaciones de Alejandro Von Humboldt desde 

su presencia en las bibliotecas poblanas, como la que perteneció al colegio del Espíritu 

Santo de la ciudad de Puebla, actual biblioteca José María Lafragua de la Benemérita 

Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Textos como Volcans des cordilléres de Quito 

et du Mexique, Cosmos , Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del Nuevo Continente : 

realizados desde 1799 hasta 1804, y el Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva 

España de 1822, impactaron los imaginarios a nivel local proporcionando la mirada 

de un viajero sobre el territorio mexicano desde la investigación humboldtiana que 

indudablemente modifi caron o reorientaron la producción historiográfi ca local y 

nacional. 

Email amadoh@gmail.com 


Panel 81 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Margaret-Anne Hutt on ( St Andrews University, French, United Kingdom ) 

“Nous sommes tous Américains” : French Representations of the Events of 9/11 

In the immediate aft ermath of the events of 9/11 an editorial in Le Monde concluded 

with the words “Nous sommes tous Américains”. Such expressions of ‘Western’ 

solidarity were rapidly eroded as events called ‘French’, ‘European’, and ‘Western’ 

identities and identifi cations into question. Le Monde’s editor soon modifi ed his 

position : “Mais nous sommes d’abord Européens”. Working from Derrida and Zizek’s 

theorising of 9/11, this paper will analyse the representation in works of French prose 

of identifi catory stances—national and supra-national—precipitated by the events 

of 9/11, focusing especially on the use of diff erent genre conventions and cognitive 

frameworks. Th e corpus includes two works of non-fi ction writt en by ‘Frenchmen 

abroad’ : Luc Lang’s 11 septembre mon amour ( 2003 ) is a travel narrative ( “je traverse 

le rêve américain” ) and scathing critique of the us ; Bruno Dellinger, author of World 

Trade Centre 47e étage ( 2002 ), defi nes himself as an ‘immigrant’ and ‘métis francoaméricain’. 

Two works of fi ction complete the corpus : Frédéric Beigbeder’s Windows 

on the World ( 2003 ) is constructed around a dual narrative : one American narrator 

in the Twin Towers as the planes strike, one French narrator in Paris. Although 

only one narrator literally travels ( the French narrator goes to New York ), both 

base their constructions of identities on a history of franco-American crossings 

and dis-locations. Finally, Maurice Dantec’s Vers le nord du ciel ( 2007 ) off ers us a 

radically ‘other’ traveller : an alien from outer space who rescues a young girl from the 

collapsing wtc. 

Email mh80@st-andrews.ac.uk 


Panel 18 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Gladys Ilarregui ( University of Delaware, Foreign Language & Literatures, Newark, 

u sa ) 

“Th e Road Scholar” : el rol intelectual de Von Humboldt en los estudios sobre 

México 

En este trabajo se examinará la contribución de Alexander Von Humboldt en la 

descripción de las culturas indígenas de México ( Siglo xix ), el proyecto excede 

la idea de mirar a su trabajo como literatura de viajes para ubicarla dentro de un 

contexto transnacional/globalizante, en activas interacciones y desplazamientos 

con los imaginarios europeos de ese momento y con el pensamiento americano 

que encontró a través de visitas sociales o cartas, en diálogo activo con otros 

contemporáneos americanos. En mi investigación analizaré cómo von Humboldt 

expone la identidad de los pueblos americanos, desde la perspectiva de una crítica 

cultural en fusión con otros elementos de la narrativa científi ca y personal de su 

propio momento histórico. 

Email gladys@udel.edu 


Panel 76 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Judith Irwin-Mulcahy ( Wake Forest University, English, Winston-Salem, North 

Carolina, u sa ) 

Postcolonial Ecologies and Cultures of Motion : A Study of Th ree Novels 

My paper examines texts by two contemporary Caribbean-American authors to bett er 

understand the forms of fl ow, migration, and the interlaced networks of relations 

that constitute location. I draw upon Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory, a 

novel that traverses the spaces of Brooklyn, La Nouvelle Dame Marie, and Croixdes-Rosets 

Haiti, and Th e Farming of Bones, a story set on both sides of the Massacre 

River, which separates the Dominican Republic from Haiti. I also examine Jamaica 

Kincaid’s A Small Place, a novella about the complexities of British and American 

tourism and local Antiguan life in the British West Indies. My paper argues that 

contemporary Caribbean postcolonial literature is an important vehicle for readers 

interested in understanding the operations of place as creative strategies for living. 

Such literature can give purchase to forms of mobility and discovery that fall outside 

of historiographic accounts of postcolonial Caribbean landscape—spaces bypassed 

as obsolescent, non-productive, or generally beyond the sphere of real modern action. 

By building upon recent work in cultural-process geography by Doreen Massey 

and Mike Crang and the ecofeminist scholarship of Greta Gaard and Lori Gruen, I 

consider the ways literature explores the relations of self to place, and the connection 

between movement and ontology. Stories give insight into the ways users design their 

environment even as these environments seem to determine them. Th ey are archives 

of movement and spatial representation. “Every story,” Michel De Certeau wrote, “is a 

travel story—a spatial practice.” 

Email irwinmj@wfu.edu 


Panel 34 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Th omas Janota ( American School, Middle School, México City ) 

Did Humboldt Shift his Paradigm of Botanical Exploration on his Arrival in 

New Spain ? 

For abstract, please refer to Robert Bye 

Email hawksnt@yahoo.com 


Panel 51 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Rolf-Peter Janz ( Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische 

Philologie ) 

Von Prag nach New York ? Zu Kafk as Roman Der Verschollene 

In Kafk as Fragment gebliebenem Roman sind zwei gegenläufi ge Tendenzen zu 

beobach ten. Zum einen erzählt er die Geschichte Karl Roßmanns von seiner Ankunft 

in New York bis zur Bahnreise nach Oklahoma vermitt els unerhört genauer 

Beschreibungen von Schauplätzen und Begebenheiten. Gegenüber seinem Verleger 

äußert Kafk a die Absicht, “das allermodernste New York” darzustellen. So kommen 

der Großstadtalltag, die Anonymität, die Beschleunigung, die Werbung und die 

Schrecken des Kapitalismus in den Blick. Er greift dabei auf Arthur Holitschers 

Berichte zurück, der 1911 im Auft rag des S. Fischer Verlags neun Monate durch die 

u sa gereist war. Zum anderen ist der Roman darauf angelegt, nicht nur das Stadtbild 

New Yorks zu derealisieren. Mit Verfremdung wäre dieser Vorgang nur unzureichend 

beschrieben. Vieles, was er in den Blick nimmt, entzieht sich unvermitt elt der empirischen 

Erfahrbarkeit. Zu untersuchen ist u.a., ob das imaginäre Amerika, das in 

diesem Roman entsteht, sich dem illusionslosen Eingeständnis einer unverlässlichen 

Wahrnehmung oder einer fi ngierten Traumarbeit verdankt. 

Email rpjanz@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 13 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Paul Jordan ( University of Sheffi eld, Hispanic Studies, United Kingdom ) 

Questioning the acriollamiento of Richard Lamb ( W. H. Hudson, Th e Purple 

Land that England Lost ) 

Hudson’s novel inaugurates a substantial corpus of journey writings set in the English 

countryside and in South America, comprising travelogue in the present, remembered 

journeys and fi ctional narratives. Hudson was Anglo-Argentine, born near Buenos 

Aires in 1841. Brought up in an English-speaking family, he felt a strong identifi cation 

with England. But he was a country boy, from the pampas in the time of Rosas, who 

acquired a double fascination with nature : scientifi c curiosity ; a mystical, nostalgic 

att raction to the untamed. In 1874 Hudson defi nitively abandoned the River Plate 

for London, the industrial metropolis of late-Victorian Britain. He returned to South 

America in memory and imagination : overtly in travel texts, novels and memoirs ; 

covertly in some English nature writing. Th e Purple Land, which evokes Hudson’s 

1868 visit to Uruguay, inverts Hudson’s journey : a young Englishman, Richard 

Lamb, around 1860 fl ees his wrathful Argentine father-in-law. His wife remaining in 

Montevideo, Richard journeys round Uruguay seeking work—and having adventures. 

Th rough a confrontation between civilised ( English ) values and primitive, vital rural 

Uruguayan life, Richard undergoes assimilation ( acriollamiento ), fi nally identifying 

with the Blanco cause : a similar culture to that of Hudson’s youth. Th rough Lamb’s 

understanding of Uruguayan and British realities, I question his cultural migration, 

identifying instead a fi gure who is criollo from the outset : despite his remarkable 

powers of observation of nature and rural life, Hudson’s cultural perception remains 

shaped by his early life experiences. 

Email p.r.jordan@sheffi eld.ac.uk 


Panel 42 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Miriam Junghans ( Fiocruz Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ) 

Going Th rough an ‘In-Between Place’ : Emilie Snethlage’s Crossing Xingu- 

Tapajós in 1909 

In the social history of science, debates on the science produced out of North 

Atlantic countries in the beginning of the twentieth century are oft en trapped in the 

dichotomy of nucleus and periphery. Recent historical literature has att empted to get 

away from this polarization. Taking into consideration that scientifi c production is 

a specifi c form of cultural expression, we have developed the present analysis based 

on the concept of ‘in-between place’, created by Brazilian literary critic Silviano 

Santiago ( 1978 ). According to Santiago, an ‘in-between place’ is a sphere of cultural 

production with singular characteristics, which have to be taken into consideration 

in order to analyze and understand it. In 1909, German naturalist Emilie Snethlage 

( 1868-1929 ), together with just her Indian guides, walked the land between Xingu and 

Tapajós rivers, Amazon River tributaries, which, at the time, was a region unknown 

to scientists. Graduating in Jena in 1904, Snethlage developed her scientifi c career 

in Brazil, in two important Natural History museums, Emílio Goeldi Museum in 

Belém do Pará and Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. At a time when the increasing 

specialization divided scientists between ‘fi eld’ and ‘offi ce’ scientists, she worked in 

both worlds with the same profi ciency. By using Xingu-Tapajós crossing as a case 

study, we have used the concept ‘in-between place’, which allowed us to identify some 

peculiarities in the scientist’s career and in the kind of science produced in that social 

and scientifi c scenario. 

Email miriamjung@gmail.com 


Panel 100 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Anna Kaae Jensen ( University of Aarhus, Department of Comparative Literature, 

Institute of Aesthetic Studies, Denmark ) 

Lévi-Strauss’ Transatlantic Journeys : From Ethnographic Study of Pure, 

Autonomous Cultures to Travel Writing about Hybridizing Cultural 

Encounters 

Th is paper considers Claude Lévi-Strauss’ Tristes Tropiques ( 1955 ) which describes 

two transatlantic journeys that had an immense infl uence on his life and career : His 

travel to Brazil in the 1930s to do ethnographic fi eldwork and his fl ight to the u sa 

during World War ii. I will argue that the text is caught between two confl icting 

discursive positions : On the one hand it adopts a combined positivist and cultural 

relativist position which posits both anthropology and its scientifi c object, i.e. socalled 

primitive cultures, to be pure, autonomous entities. Lévi-Strauss’ positivist 

att itude manifests itself in his att empt to distinguish himself from non-specialist 

travelers by criticizing their travelogues for being biased, superfi cial, and amateurish 

in their ethnographic approach and by contrasting them with the scientifi c, objective 

and autonomous works of professional anthropologists. His cultural relativist att itude 

manifests itself in his critique of the contemporary global cultural exchange which 

threatens to replace cultural diversity with a westernized monoculture. Tristes 

Tropiques is a nostalgic elegy on the vanishing primitive societies which according to 

Lévi-Strauss are more genuine than modern Western society because of their cultural 

purity. But on the other hand Tristes Tropiques also adopts a more postmodern 

position which celebrates the exchange between diff erent cultures, disciplines, and 

genres. It is itself a hybrid text that combines professional ethnography with the 

literary and autobiographical modes of the travelogue. Furthermore, it conveys a 

fascination with the new hybrid cultures which have arisen in the wake of the colonial 

encounter between the old and the new world. 

Email aestakj@hum.au.dk 


Panel 54 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Sascha Keilholz ( Universität Regensburg, Media Studies, Germany ) 

Reise ins Ich — Das amerikanische Independent-Road Movie 2002/2003 

Reisen im Film hat seine eigene Form : das Road-Movie. In ihm kommt dem medial 

konstitutiven Moment der Bewegung eine besonders exponierte Stellung zu. Gerade 

in der amerikanischen Kinematographie nimmt dieses Quasi-Genre eine spezifi sche 

Funktion ein. Historisch taucht das us-Road-Movie vor allem im Kontext des New 

Hollywood, der Zäsur im klassischen Erzählkino, auf. Gerade in den vergangenen 

Jahren ist im amerikanischen Independent-Bereich, der sich explizit auf das Erbe 

des New Hollywood besinnt, eine Reinkarnation des Road-Movie zu konstatieren. 

Mit Gerry ( 2002 ), Th e Brown Bunny ( 2003 ) und Twentynine Palms ( 2003 ) sind 

innerhalb weniger Monate unabhängig voneinander Autorenfi lme entstanden, die 

ich unter dem Aspekt des Reisens als Trilogie fassen möchte. Im ersten Fall handelt 

es sich um eine Variation der Pilgerreise, im zweiten um eine imaginäre Reise in die 

Vergangenheit. Twentynine Palms schließlich wirft einen Meta-Blick auf das fremde 

Land und seine Kultur — den europäischen Blick seines Regisseurs. Vereint ist 

die Trias sowohl durch ihre ästhetischen Gestaltungslinien, in denen Reduktion 

zum besonderen Inszenierungsmerkmal avanciert als auch durch ihre auff ällige 

Personenkonstellation, in der sich das Prinzip des Dualismus manifestiert. Die 

Filme erforschen seismographisch die Befi ndlichkeiten einer Generation, ihrer 

Kultur und Kommunikationsform. Das Prinzip des Reisens wird mit einer ‘rite 

en passage’, einer Identitätssuche, parallel geführt. Fragen der Sexualität und 

nach dem Selbstverständnis der bereisten Zivilisation, geboren aus dem Mythos 

der ‘regeneration through violence’, führen zu einer existentialistischen Schau von 

Aufl ösungsprozessen. Eine pointierte vergleichende Lektüre und Analyse der drei 

Filme soll deren Begriff des Reisens herausarbeiten und zur Diskussion stellen. 

Email saschakeilholz@yahoo.de 


Panel 89 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Marita Keilson-Lauritz ( Amsterdam, Th e Netherlands ) 

Lauter schwule Reisen ? Ein Versuch zu einer Th eorie der Homotextualität am 

Beispiel von Richard Kandt, Wolfgang Cordan und Hubert Fichte 

Vor gut drei Jahrzehnten versuchte der junge Amerikaner Jacob Stockinger in 

Homotextuality — A Proposal ( 1978 ) mit Hilfe einer Reihe von symptomatischen 

Bausteinen eine Th eorie des “Homotextes” zu entwickeln. Zu diesen Bausteinen 

gehört auch der homotextuelle Raum ( “homotextual space” ) und — als Bewegung 

im Raum — “the fl uid space of voyage”, mit der Schlussfolgerung : “literature does 

not develop in neutral space and space does not develop neutrally in literature”. Das 

wäre zu überprüfen — zumal auff ällig viele Texte des Genres “Reiseberichte” von 

mehr oder weniger schwulen Autoren zu stammen scheinen. So möchte ich nun 

meinerseits versuchen, diese Th ese und ihre Implikationen an einigen Beispielen 

genauer zu betrachten. Da Hubert Fichtes Reisebücher als Standardbeispiel allzusehr 

auf der Hand zu liegen scheinen ( aber in diesem Kontext nicht ganz unberücksichtigt 

bleiben sollten ), richte ich den Blick in erster Linie auf die Reisen des Richard Kandt 

zu den Quellen des Nils ( Caput Nilii, 1907 ) und vor allem auf die Reiseberichte aus 

der Feder Wolfgang Cordan, der den europäischen Kontinent verliess, nachdem er 

im niederländischen Exil die deutsche Besetzung überstanden hatt e ( Der Israel und 

die Araber, 1954 ; Mexiko, 1955 und 1967 ; Der Nil, 1956 ; Geheimnis im Urwald, 1959 ; 

Mayakreuz und rote Erde, 1960 ; Gött er und Gött ertiere der Maya, 1963 ; Tigerspur, 1964 ). 

Email MaritaKeilson@cs.com 


Panel 48 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Tanja Kersting ( Freie Universität Berlin, Peter Szondi-Institut für Allgemeine und 

Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft ) 

Collecting Impressions and Voices from the German Democratic Republic by 

travelling in East-Germany in 1989/1990 Robert Darnton’s “Berlin Journal 

1989-1990” 

In September 1989, American historian Robert Darnton visited the Wissenschaft skolleg 

( Institute for Advanced Study ) in West-Berlin, intending to stay a year to write 

a monograph on the French Revolution. Surprised by the events before and aft er the 

fall of the Wall on November 9, he decided to leave his desk to follow the events and 

investigate the socio-political changes in Germany by empiric fi eldstudies, visiting 

various places and travelling in East-Germany ( and the Czech Republic ). 

Travelling to places like Prague, he came across the crowds of gdr citizens 

occupying the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany demanding to leave the 

gdr. He went to Leipzig during the Monday demonstrations, collected impressions 

of the crowds conquering the urban space of Berlin, the diff erent meanings of the 

fall of the Wall and the opening of the Brandenburg Gate, the storming of the Stasi 

headquarters in East-Berlin and the preservation of the Stasi archives of the “Round 

Corner” in Leipzig. He travelled to the brown-coal industry wastelands of Bitt erfeld, 

had dinner in Halle at the rector’s home of the local University and followed the 

activities of the “New Forum” in the remote village of Laucha in Th uringia. 

During his travel in East-Germany he encountered citizens from various profession 

al backgrounds, among them car-mechanics, bar keepers, artists, former censorers 

of the Sector for gdr literature, pastors, students, professors, politicians, presseditors 

and town councilors, whose voices resound in his journal. By writing about 

the experiences and encounters during his travels that gave him a privileged look 

behind the curtains of the falling dictatorship and by putt ing his impressions into the 

context of contemporary discourses, Darnton draws a wide panorama of the German 

society and its signifi cant changes in the period of the “turnabout” ( “Wende” ). 

In my paper I will examine his account of the mechanisms of the gdr dictatorship, 

of the dis/functionality of East-German society, and of the various positions and 

counter-positions that he traces throughout his travels. 

Email tkersting@hotmail.com 


Panel 30 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Sophie Kienlen ( Université de Versailles Saint Quentin, Histoire, France ) 

Eastern European Travellers to the Americas and American Travellers to 

Eastern Europe : a Comparative Study in a Time of Globalisation 

My paper will aim at showing how today, through travelling, Bulgarians and 

Americans experience a cultural environment that has been antagonised during the 

Cold War. We’ll look at these two cultural areas from particular countries. Th e United 

States of America is the country I chose to observe the American area. Bulgaria is 

the country from which I’ll look at the Eastern European area. As for Americans 

travelling to Bulgaria, the study will mainly cover peacecorps volunteers, Fulbright 

scholars and backpacking tourists. As for Bulgarians travelling to the United States, 

the study will essentially include participants of work-travel programmes and transfer 

students. In order to compare American and Bulgarian travel cultures and practices, 

we’ll be looking at : 

— Th e purpose of the trip : what the trip represents in the traveller’s life, whether it is 

a choice or not, a primary or a secondary need 

— Th e stays’ length and price 

— Th e main activity of the trip, its subsequent social environment and the degree to 

which the traveller is expected to interact with the locals 

— A sociological analysis taking into account the economical, political, cultural 

“capital” ( P. Bourdieu ) of the traveller 

— Th e participant’s travel culture, his previous travel experience 

Th e sources I will be basing my demonstration on are the following : 

— Data providing a quantitative evolution of exchanges between the two countries, 

and revealing the prevailing typology of these exchanges 

— All media that may be used by travellers to relate their experiences, including 

reports, lett ers, emails, logs, and articles 

— Interviews 

Email sophie.kienlen@gmail.com 


Panel 25 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Youn Sin Kim ( Humanities Research Institute of Chungnam National University. 

Korea ) 

Amerikareise und Naturauff assung von Alexander von Humboldt 

Die Naturforschung auf der Amerikareise von Alexander von Humboldt zeichnet 

sich durch naturwissenschaft liche Prinzipien und Methoden aus. Humboldt wollte 

das Ziel erreichen, die Natur als ein Ganzes aufzufassen. Naturwissenschaft und 

Naturphilosophie, zwei zu seiner Zeit eher gegensätzliche Disziplinen, begegnen 

sich hier. Das große Reiseunternehmen nach Südamerika spielte für beide eine 

Vermitt lungsrolle. Insofern spiegelt das Reisewerk das wissenschaft sgeschichtliche 

Umfeld um 1800 wider, versteht sich aber als ein harmonischer Lösungsversuch. In 

meinem Referat wird daher untersucht, inwiefern die Ergebnisse der Forschungsreise 

die naturwissenschaft liche bzw. die naturphilosophische Naturauff assung der 

Zeit revidieren, ergänzen oder bestätigen, welche neuen Fragestellungen und 

Naturansichten bei Humboldt entstehen, und schließlich, ob ein Paradigmenwechsel 

in der traditionsstarken Metapher des ‘Buches der Natur’ statt fi ndet. Was das letzere 

angeht, möchte ich aus einer literaturwissenschaft lichen Perspektive besonders 

darauf Wert legen, die naturforschende und naturbetrachtende Forschungsreise 

Humboldts in den Diskurszusammenhang des ‘Buches der Natur’ aufzunehmen. Eine 

Entdeckungs- bzw. Forschungsreise in eine fremde Welt kommt einem Heben des 

Schleiers der Natur gleich. Dabei berücksichtige ich neben Humboldts Reisewerken 

auch noch seine Ansichten zur Natur, ein Buch, das er nach der Reise auf Deutsch 

geschrieben hat. 

Email younsin03@hotmail.com 


Panel 6 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Andreas Kranke ( University of Oxford, Subfaculty of German, United Kingdom ) 

Der freie Gebrauch der Kräft e. Der Reisephilosoph Georg Forster 

Beschäft igen sich heutige Wissenschaft shistoriker mit der Person Georg Forsters, 

dann meist aus sekundärem Interesse, um Alexander von Humboldt besser verstehen 

zu können. Ihnen gilt der Südamerikaforscher als Beginn einer neuen Wissenschaft 

skultur in Deutschland, der eine selbständige Naturwissenschaft förderte, frei 

von Th eologie und der idealistischen Philosophie. Markiert Humboldt einen solchen 

Wendepunkt, setzt eine fundamentale Diskussion um ein neues Wissenschaft sbild 

schon früher ein. Alexander von Humboldts Lehrer, Georg Forster, interessiert 

daher als eine Zwischenfi gur im Umbruch zu den modernen Wissenschaft en. Die 

Charakterisierung durch Alexander von Humboldt betont den Neuansatz des 

Forster schen Reisewerks ( autobiographische Notiz, 8. April 1801 ). Seine Aussage 

macht er am Philosophischen fest, einem Begriff der in Forsters Reise um die Welt 

stark diskutiert und methodisch immer wieder hinterfragt wird. Die Zielsetzung des 

Vortrags soll es sein, genauer zu betrachten, welche Konnotationen hinter dem Begriff 

des philosophischen Reisenden, ohne dessen naturwissenschaft liche Einbindung in 

Frage zu stellen, stehen. Denn gerade diese Begriffl ichkeit steht für Forsters Art der 

Auseinandersetzung mit dem Erlebtem. Wie Forster seine persönlichen Erfahrungen 

und Entdeckungen visualisierte, ordnete und in eine narrative Beschreibung einband, 

um zu begründen, wie anhand dieses Begriff s zeitgenössische Prioritäten dargelegt 

werden, ihnen Rechnung getragen wird oder eben jene verändert und bewertet 

wurden, soll Ziel des Vortrages sein. Insbesondere ist die Rolle von Reisenden in 

Aus- und Umformung von epistemologischem Fragen im Zeitalter der Aufk lärung 

aufzuweisen, um Zusammenhänge herzustellen und Erklärungsansätze für die 

beobachteten Phänomene anzubieten. Um dies sehr exakt zeigen zu können, 

beschränkt sich der Vortrag auf Forsters Hauptwerk, der Reise um die Welt. 

Email andreas.kranke@spc.ox.ac.uk 


Panel 100 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Kay LaBahn Clark ( Humboldt State University, World Languages and Cultures, 

Arcata, California, u sa ) 

Celluloid Travels : German Cinema Explores America 

Th is paper will use some of the strategies and insights derived from travel literature 

criticism in order to investigate the portrayal of the u sa in German fi lms from 

the 70s to the present. Images of America as a “promised land” or as both an 

extremely diff erent and particularly enticing culture have long been part of German 

iconography. One need only think of Goethe’s : “Amerika, du hast es besser.” or Fritz 

Lang’s use of the New York skyline as a source of inspiration for his metropolis of the 

future. Th is paper analyzes the cinematic representation of travel through the u sa 

by some of Germany’s most distinguished fi lm directors from Herzog, Wenders, and 

Adlon to newcomers such as Michael Schorr and Stefan Kluge. It explores the role 

of gender in travel, the political function of the portrayal of travel as well as concepts 

such empire, spectacle, displacement and disillusionment. As some of these directors 

travel across America, they present a landscape, people, and culture that exist only 

in their lens and only for their perceived German or European audience. For some, a 

cinematic encounter with the United States connects more to a particular historical 

and psychological moment in Germany or to a larger theoretical theme, rather than 

to the United States. Are these fi lms constructed renderings of an exotic “other,” 

the perpetuation of stereotypes, a strange type of cultural imperialism, or just the 

opposite ? 

Email kjl3@humboldt.edu 


Panel 89 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Juan José Lara Ovando ( Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Facultad de Ciencias 

Políticas y Sociales, Mexico ) 

La realidad del sueño. El obrero textil viaja al Vaticano 

La industria textil era una de las más desarrolladas en México a principios del siglo 

x x. Los obreros se disputaban un lugrantar ideológico como proletariado, ya por la 

vía socialista, ya por la católica, en México se conjugaron ambas, más aún en la ciudad 

de Querétaro y concretamente en la fábrica El Hércules, una de las más grandes 

e importantes del país, que dio lugar a una pequeña población industrial, donde 

para evitar que los movimientos rebeldes del siglo xix se introdujeran, los mismos 

dueños incentivaron el catolicismo y la población, obrera o no, se debatió entre ambas 

posturas y pasivamente llegaron a aceptar ambas por la situación cambiante del país. 

Esta es la historia de un habitante de Hércules, que decidió dedicarse fi nalmente al 

comercio y que ante la falta de la imagen de la Purísima Concepción de la iglesia del 

pueblo le pidió a la virgen que si llegaba a prosperar el mismo compraría la imagen 

que le hacía falta al pueblo para que la veneraran. Aprovechando las campañas del 

catolicismo social y obviamente gracias a que si prosperó viajó al Vaticano y buscó las 

imágenes de la virgen y de San José que hoy después de un siglo se conservan en su 

pueblo. En este trabajo se comenta el viaje realizado, la situación de la industria textil 

en México y las condiciones de la vida y lucha obrera en Hércules entre la segunda 

mitad del siglo xix e inicios del siglo x x. 

Email laraova@uaq.mx 


Panel 37 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Markus Lasch ( Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil ) 

Auf Humboldts Spuren ? Anmerkungen zu Robert Menasses Trilogie der 

Entgeisterung, aus “brasilianischer” Perspektive 

Der österreichische Autor Robert Menasse war von 1981 bis 1988 Lektor an der 

Universität von São Paulo. Sinnliche Gewißheit, der erste Band seiner Trilogie der 

Entgeisterung, entstand und spielt in der brasilianischen Metropole, und auch die 

nachfolgenden Selige Zeiten, brüchige Welt und Schubumkehr sind zumindest noch 

teilweise in der Millionenstadt südlich des Äquators angesiedelt. Die europäische 

Menasse-Rezeption hat jedoch bis dato, abgesehen von einigen wenigen, die Regel 

bestätigenden Ausnahmen, diesem Kontext kaum Rechung getragen. In Brasilien 

wiederum, wo immerhin die ersten beiden Romane der Trilogie seit geraumer Zeit in 

portugiesischer Übersetzung vorliegen, wurde das Werk Menasses bisher nur spärlich 

wahrgenommen. Der vorliegende Beitrag möchte dieses angesichts so viel beschriener 

Phänomene wie Globalisierung und Aufl ösung von Nationalliteraturen doch recht 

erstaunliche Vakuum zumindest ansatzweise füllen, indem er auf Menasses Saga der 

Rückentwicklung einen Blick durch die “brasilianische” Brille wirft . 

Email mlasch@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 88 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Christine Laurière ( Institut interdisciplinaire d’anthropologie du contemporainlahic, 

Paris, France ) 

Th e Ethnographic Experience of Paul Rivet in Ecuador ( 1901-1906 ) : Far Away 

from Poetry and Literature, a Contribution to Knowledge and Science 

through Anthropology 

By the turn of the twentieth century in France, the fi eldwork ethnographic experience 

is far from being institutionalized and does not form an obliged part of the profession 

of anthropologist yet. Th erefore Paul Rivet’s long fi eldwork in Ecuador ( 1901-1906 ) is 

very important to examine closely for several reasons. Rivet would change the very 

defi nition of the discipline itself in the 1920’s and make the fi eldwork ethnographic 

experience the “baptism of fi re” for the ethnologist. Let’s be reminded that he is 

the founding father of French modern ethnology with Mauss and an international 

leader of Americanism. Rivet wrote extensively about his stay in Ecuador : he wrote 

numerous papers depicting the Indian reality according to the canons of then good 

and sound science. Quite signifi cantly he chose to keep his moving poems and literary 

essays about the Indians hidden, never publishing them whereas these writings help 

us to understand how strongly and deeply stirred he was by his encounter with this 

otherness that was to completely change his career. But that was actually part of his 

strategy to penetrate the anthropological Parisian milieu. In my presentation I would 

like fi rst to show how his poems and literary writings shed light on his ethnographic 

fi eldwork experience, enriching it, and second to explain why he kept them hidden, 

mistrusting the power of literature to do justice to the Amerindian otherness. Did he 

not write that “novels and theatre are dreadful ethnographic schools” ? 

Email christine.lauriere@wanadoo.fr 


Panel 64 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Elodie Laügt ( St. Andrews University, French Studies, St. Andrews, Scotland ) 

America in Time: Aphoristic writing in Jean Baudrillard’s travel account 

Th is paper analyses the way postmodern thinker Jean Baudrillard, in his travel 

account entitled America ( 1986 ), uses America as a pretext in order to build a type of 

discourse that might be able to challenge globalization and what he calls hyperreality. 

Hyperreality is defi ned by Baudrillard as a system produced by increasingly fast 

communication and mediatization, within which signifi ers are disconnected from 

concrete objects and function autonomously. My starting point lies in the fact that 

Baudrillard’s book breaks from more traditional travel narratives and discursiveness, 

and that it belongs to the aphoristic genre. I argue that Baudrillard exploits the 

question of legitimacy as it is raised by the aphorism so as to suggest not so much 

the possibility of resisting the hyperreal than the necessity to create new ways of 

questioning the conditions of possibility of any discourse. Th is paper looks at the way 

the notion of parody as defi ned by Hutcheon in the context of postmodernity helps 

to understand America ( the book ) in relation both to its supposed ‘object’ ( America ) 

and the existing network of representations of America. I would like to suggest that 

Baudrillard’s controversial text might open up the possibility of rethinking the notion 

of identity in other terms than that of origin and authenticity. 

Email el40@st-andrews.ac.uk 


Panel 18 

Date July 28 

Time 15:00 

Location l 113

Linda Ledford-Miller ( University of Scranton, World Languages and Culture, 

Pennsylvania, u sa) 

Ephraim George Squier in Peru 

Ephraim George Squier ( 1821-1888 ) was a journalist, diplomat, and self-taught 

archaeologist. In part due to his extensive investigations of indigenous mounds in 

the Mississippi Valley, he is also credited with being one of the founders of American 

anthropology. He worked and traveled in, and published widely on, Central America. 

In 1863 President Lincoln appointed him to a commission in Peru. Squier arrived in 

Lima in July 1863. He concluded his diplomatic work in November, and then spent 

the remainder of his eighteen months in Peru exploring native ruins and antiquities, 

doing the research that would lead to a major publication, Peru Illustrated, or, 

Incidents of Travel and Explorations in the Land of the Incas ( 1877 ). Peru is both 

a travel narrative and an archaeological study. Squier traveled with “the compass, 

the measuring-line, and the photographic camera ; knowing well that only accurate 

plans, sections, elevations, drawings, and views can adequately meet the rigorous 

demands of modern science, and render clear what mere verbal description would fail 

to make intelligible.” An example of the success of his illustrated work is his drawing 

of the hanging bridge across the Apurimac River, built centuries before the arrival 

of the Spaniards ; the image led Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham to Peru and his 

discovery in 1911 of the ruins of Machu Picchu. Th is presentation examines Squier’s 

investigations, which included Inca ruins and a trepanned skull. 

Email ledfordl1@scranton.edu 


Panel 14 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Susanne Leeb ( FU Berlin, Sonderforschungsbereich 626 : Ästhetische Erfahrung im 

Zeichen der Entgrenzung der Künste ) 

Kosmopolitismus/Globalismus : Der Kunstbegriff des Humboldtforums 

Der Name Alexander von Humboldts steht u.a. für Kosmopolitismus. In diesem 

Sinne soll er auch dem Humboldtforum jene Off enheit verleihen, die das 

Zentrum Berlins als Weltstadt verlangt. Zu konfrontieren sind in dem Kurzbeitrag 

unterschiedliche Konzeptionen von “Weltläufi gkeit” oder “Weltgeltung” in 

Verbindung mit dem jeweiligen Kunstbegriff . Dies soll geschehen in aktueller 

wie in historischer Perspektive — d.h. einerseits die Globalisierung und ihre 

beschworenen Herausforderungen, andererseits Handelsbeziehungen aber auch der 

koloniale Kontext, der mit dazu beigetragen hat, dass ethnologische Museen allererst 

entstanden. Möglicherweise erweist sich ein Weltkunstbegriff vor allem als eine 

kuturpolitisch nützliche museale Phantasie. 

Email leeb@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 44 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Rose Lema ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Cuajimalpa, División de 

Ciencias de la Comunicación y Diseño, Mexico ) 

Orientación Oeste 

Hay varias formas de viajar hacia el Oeste y son muchas las mujeres que lo han 

hecho. En Australia los aborígenes condenan a perderse en el desierto hacia el oeste 

a aquellas que violaron algún tabú que hubiera puesto en peligro los valores del 

clan. Caminan leguas y ya nunca deben volver. En los fi lmes de cowboys hacia el 

Oeste ruedan las carretas con alegres entraîneuses o con pioneras que irán creando 

matria. Irán algunas al este para regresar más pulidas al oeste. Parece que les falta 

algo cuando se dirigen hacia el Oeste, piensan encontrarlo y de esa falta se van 

construyendo narrativos en torno a mujeres que de un modo u otro integran la 

cultura. Hacia el Oeste que fue la Nueva España ( México ) avanzó una virgen de los 

Remedios que se fue transformando en la de Guadalupe. Faltaba algo entonces en la 

América India. Hacia este Oeste viajaron refugiadas venidas de España alrededor de 

1939. La falta en todas ellas debe haberse convertido en un sentimiento de conquista, 

en experimentación del descubrimiento, quizá en la constitución de cierto poder. 

Mediante distintos estudios de caso, seguiremos pasos hacia el oeste junto con 

algunas mujeres, verdaderas o fi ccionales, preguntándonos si tomaban ellas mismas la 

decisión de marcharse o se veían obligadas por otros o por las circunstancias a partir a 

la aventura. En el camino seguramente encontremos a varias que tomaron la decisión 

plenamente y para las que explorar se ha ido convirtiendo cada vez más en un modo 

de vivir que se aleja de lo sedentario. 

Email roselema@hotmail.com 


Panel 38 

Date July 29 

Time 13:15 

Location l 113

Ana María Liberali ( Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Centro de Estudios 

Alexander von Humboldt, Argentina ) 

Por los Caminos Andinos de Humboldt 

Durante los primeros años del siglo xix, Alexander von Humboldt cumplió su 

gran sueño de recorrer la cordillera de los Andes, en América del Sur, con el fi n de 

realizar sus estudios y poderlos comparar con otras regiones del planeta. Dicho 

trayecto abarcó fundamentalmente los entonces virreinatos de Nueva Granada y 

Perú, destacándose el recorrido entre las ciudades de Bogotá y Lima, pasando por 

su admirada Quito. En tan extenso y rico trayecto realizó importantes mediciones, 

ascendió a las montañas consideradas, para ese entonces, las más altas del planeta y 

descubrió las bajas temperaturas del mar en la costa peruana. Dos siglos después se ha 

hecho realidad nuestro deseo de andar por los caminos andinos de Humboldt en los 

actuales estados de Colombia, Ecuador y Perú. Es así como nuestro trabajo consiste 

en mostrar cuáles son las semejanzas y diferencias entre la experiencia de Humboldt 

y la actualidad. Para esto contamos con las imágenes y los relatos que Humboldt 

ha realizado y los contrapondremos con anotaciones, información bibliográfi ca, 

entrevistas, fotografías y otros aportes recogidos durante nuestro viaje. 

Email amliberali@yahoo.com.ar 


Panel 86 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Mario Lillo ( Pontifi cia Universidad Católica de Chile, Literatura, Santiago de Chile ) 

Cartas en/desde el exilio : Morir en Berlín, de Carlos Cerda y El desierto, de 

Carlos Franz 

Berlín constituye el espacio común de enunciación del discurso epistolar que emana 

de las protagonistas femeninas de las novelas Morir en Berlín ( Carlos Cerda 1993 ) y El 

desierto ( Carlos Franz 2005 ). No obstante, el análisis de ambos tipos textuales revela 

diferencias signifi cativas que se expresan fundamentalmente en aspectos tales como : 

el emisor, el destinatario, el microespacio de la enunciación y el tiempo de remisión. 

Estas diferencias traducen a su vez estrategias divergentes respecto de la memoria 

confl ictiva. 

Email mlillo@uc.cl 


Panel 75 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Dirck Linck ( Freie Universität Berlin, Sonderforschungsbereich 626 : Ästhetische 

Erfahrung im Zeichen der Entgrenzung der Künste ) 

“… ich kann ihre Kraft sehen”. Ästhetische Erfahrung bei Hubert Fichte 

Fichtes Reisen in die Kulturen des “Schwarzen Atlantik” galten Kulturen, denen 

die Ausdiff erenzierung in funktionale Teilsysteme ( Kunst, Politik, Wissenschaft 

etc. ) fremd ist. Sie ermöglichten es Fichte, einen anthropologischen Begriff des 

Ästhetischen zu konturieren, der nicht auf Kunst bezogen ist, sondern das Ästhetische 

als eine sich in allen Sphären der Gesellschaft ereignende Kraft beschreibt, die das 

Subjekt und seine Handlungen übersteigt und beides im ungerichteten Spiel einer 

plötzlich wirksam werdenden Energie transformiert. Die “Kraft ”, die der Reisende 

dank einer eingeübten Off enheit zur Welt beim Studium der Oberfl ächen fasziniert 

erfährt und deren Produktivität sein literarischer Gegenstand ist, zeigt sich ihm 

primär im Umgang der Menschen mit den Gegenständen ihres Alltags. Die “Ästhetik 

des Faktischen” erweist sich unter dem Blick des “Ethnopoeten” als ein Prozeß, 

in dem zweckbestimmte Handlungen immer wieder durch Ästhetisierungen 

unterbrochen werden und in ein zweckloses Tätigsein übergehen, dessen Folgen 

weder geplant waren noch planbar sind. In der Refl exion seiner Reiseerfahrungen 

konzeptualisiert der Autor gesellschaft lichen Fortschritt schließlich als Resultat einer 

politischen Praxis, die notwendig der erneuernden Kraft des Ästhetischen bedarf, 

ohne die ihr rasch die Energie ausginge. Das Referat fokussiert zum einen Fichtes 

Darstellung synkretistischer Praktiken, zum anderen beschreibt es die Literatur 

Fichtes als eine, die ihrerseits “ästhetisch” wird nicht nur in der hervorbringenden 

Leistung des Lesers, sondern als ethnologische Praxis selbst Unterbrechung erfährt 

durch Ästhetisierung. Als Handlung erneuert sich Fichtes Schreiben, indem der 

ritualerfahrene Autor den Text immer wieder einer Kraft überläßt, über die er nicht 

verfügt. 

Email orlann@gmx.de 


Panel 88 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Claudia Lindner Leporda ( Roehampton University, English Literature, London, 

United Kingdom) 

Binocular Genders, Stereoscopic Vision 

Societal gender roles do not easily permit a ‘territory between’ placing too much 

weight on the end destinations of ‘man’ and ‘woman’. Yet, does anyone fi t the 

description of being completely male or female ? Are we not always embodied, 

rather, somewhere in-between, on our journey towards becoming male or female, 

while perhaps gravitating more to one gender than to the other ? Using the term ‘to 

traverse’ as a fi ne-tuning instrument for my ongoing exploration of ‘genders’, my paper 

focuses on Brigid Brophy’s novel In Transit ( 1969 ), which un-dresses constructions 

of gender and interrogates the mechanisms of gender representation from within. 

In the international terminal of an airport, a no-place, an elsewhere, with its undifferentiated 

linguistic space, Brophy’s traversing-between-genders fi gure, Patrick/ 

Patricia ( the novel’s bifocal, bivocal, bisexual narrator ), deliberately decides to miss 

the plane for which she/he has a ticket. Rather than speaking from a fi rm platform 

of identity, Brophy satirizes the laziness of gender conventions, leaving opposing 

concepts ‘in transit’, in the in-between dialogue with one another. In my analysis, ‘to 

traverse’ defi nes alternations, movements, developments of meanings which take 

place as a result of travels and shift s between the poles of masculinity and femininity. 

‘Traversing genders’ is not so much an identity as a narrative, a journey and a story of 

crucial bodily landmarks. 

Email claudia_leporda@yahoo.co.uk 


Panel 23 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Helga Lindorf ( Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela ) 

Historia de un efímero asentamiento alemán en Venezuela en el año 1921 

Esta ponencia reseña las primeras impresiones de un grupo de inmigrantes alemanes 

llegados a Venezuela en el año 1921, en el marco de un proyecto de fundación de 

una colonia agrícola. Se describen los enfrentamientos con el organizador, las 

adversidades del clima y las difi cultades enfrentadas. El trabajo está basado en un 

informe con quejas enviadas por los colonos a autoridades alemanas y venezolanas. Se 

complementa con variada comunicación epistolar. 

Email hlindorf@movistar.net.ve 


Panel 40 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Isabel Lipthay ( Verband deutscher Schrift steller, Münster, Germany ) 

De cómo Beethoven escapó de las bombas lacrimógenas en Chile 

Jamás imaginó Beethoven —al estrenar ya sordo en 1824 su espectacular Novena 

Sinfonía en Viena— que un día estaría cantando a gritos su Ode an die Freude junto 

a muchos en las calles de la dictadura chilena. Tampoco imaginó que viviría la 

represión como también viviría aquel inmenso gozo que siempre añoró en vida. Con 

el cineasta norteamericano Kerry Candaele y su equipo, Isabel Lipthay regresa a 

Chile el año 2007 desde su autoexilio alemán tras las huellas de Beethoven, 

con un grupo de chilenos que compartieron esos dramáticos años acompañados por 

el espíritu del genio. 

Email volcanosorno07@gmail.com 


Panel 70 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

José Lira ( University of São Paulo, School of Architecture and Urbanism, Brazil ) 

Voyages, Frontiers and New Maps of Architecture : Warchavchik and the Avant- 

Gardes from Odessa and Rome to São Paulo ( 1912-1927 ) 

Gregori Warchavchik ( 1896-1972 ) is considered pioneer of modern architecture 

in South America. Having writt en and built some of its fi rst manifestos in Brazil, 

he’s reputed as introducing avant-garde design within local, still Beaux-Arts or 

nationalistic, professional milieu. Th is epical representation of individual role, along 

with ethnocentric centre-periphery hierarchies, is based in litt le knowledge about 

his itinerary. Fact is that he neither came to Brazil as an avant-garde architect, nor 

was his destiny liberally chosen out of full professional status. Born in a Jewish 

meshchane family in Odessa, Warchavchik started architectural education in 1912 

at the local Art School, a regional institution of probationary importance in the 

Russian art system. In 1918, during civil war in Ukraine, he moved to Rome, where 

in 1920 became architect from the Fine Arts Institute. Aft er assisting diff erent Italian 

architects in minor jobs, in 1923 he was hired by the Santos Building Company, the 

biggest in Brazil, held by industrial Simonsen, a local Rathenau. As an employee, he 

got acquainted with taylorized systems applied to building. In 1927 he started an 

infl uential authorial career as architect, closely engaging on the local modernist 

circles and signing many articles and projects for an avant-garde and well-to-do 

clientele in São Paulo and Rio. My intention here is not to highlight the poetic force 

of his work, but to address his itinerary in order to grasp issues that bind together 

international exchanges on the cultural scene to economic mediations impressed 

upon the production of ideas and forms. 

Email jtlira@sc.usp.br 


Panel 67 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Ricardo López ( University of California, Berkeley, Department of Spanish and 

Portuguese, u sa ) 

Spain’s Encyclopedia Metódica : An Example of Imaginative Knowledge in the 

Enlightenment 

Th e Encyclopedias of the eighteenth century were a new means of generating 

knowledge and imagining the world. Consequently, they became a space for debate 

and polemic, where individual entries on countries and histories were oft en contested. 

One such example is the polemic between the authors of the French Encyclopédie 

méthodique and the authors of its Spanish translation, La encyclopedia metódica. Th is 

is most evident in their article on the Americas, where the hotly debated question 

of the conquest and colonization is passionately addressed. Such a debate is largely 

motivated by Spain’s need to control knowledge in its struggle to rationalize and 

rebut the Black Legend of colonization, as well as to justify its colonial presence 

in the Americas. Furthermore, the Spanish encyclopedia article on the Americas 

constitutes an att empt to rescue the Spanish pride that had been severely wounded 

by the harsh criticisms of the French encyclopedists. Th us, in the Enlightenment, a 

polemical and interesting body of knowledge about the Americas grows out of the 

debate taking place between the Spanish and the French. What is more, out of this 

body of knowledge shaped to fi t Spain’s political and economic agendas emerges an 

interesting hybrid narrative that bridges at least two forms of expression : a heroic 

providential narrative and an Enlightenment account of history based on rational and 

scientifi c categories. 

Email rlopez47@berkeley.edu 


Panel 4 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Laura López Morales ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de 

Filosofía y Letras, México City ) 

El Nuevo Mundo desde la mirada femenina 

Cuando el europeo entró en contacto con América, su percepción de las nuevas 

tierras ya venía condicionada por los mitos antiguos y los sueños renacentistas. 

Desde su modelo cultural, la experiencia ante un entorno insólito suscitó toda 

suerte de reacciones : del asombro al deslumbramiento, de la incredulidad a la 

curiosidad, muchos de esos pioneros y sus sucesores por esas rutas trasatlánticas, 

nos dejaron valiosos testimonios para entender mejor los primeros contactos entre 

los dos continentes. Entre crónicas de viaje, correspondencias epistolares y diarios 

personales existe un rico acervo en el que se puede documentar la evolución de la 

“mirada del otro”. En este caso, nos interesa presentar el punto de vista femenino a 

partir de algunos escritos de europeas que, por diversas razones, viajaron al Nuevo 

mundo en el siglo xix y consideraron importante consignar sus impresiones acerca 

de la naturaleza, del entorno humano, de las costumbres, en fi n, de todo aquello que 

contrastaba con su propia visión del mundo. En la mayoría de los casos, se trató de 

mujeres pertenecientes a la burguesía e incluso a la nobleza, por lo que su formación 

cultural era más o menos respetable para la época. No obstante, los criterios de 

exactitud en tales escritos varían tanto por los diferentes niveles de instrucción como 

por el grado de conciencia asumido por cada una al buscar dejar por escrito sus 

vivencias ante una realidad que no podía dejarlas indiferentes. 

Email lalomo@prodigy.net.mx 


Panel 33 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Anne Katrin Lorenz ( Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Deutsches Seminar, 

Germany ) 

In-Between Chairs : Neither Cultural Stereotyping Nor Uniform World Culture 

Even in times of worldwide exchange processes of information, wares and people, the 

exotic has not lost its fascination and att raction. At the same time, these processes 

draw deep trenches where people with diff erent value systems meet and heterogeneity 

originates. Despite the interdependence of identity and alterity as a way of living 

together, the dilemma described by Lévi-Strauss still remains. A persistent evaluating 

view of the unknown that develops into a criticism of criticism of ethnocentric 

perception ( Humboldt, Said ). From a European point of view, the affi rmation of 

cultural diversity as a diff erence becomes diffi cult and unsustainable when it collides 

with the universally understood rights of the individual ( e.g. head scarf discussion ). 

A starting point to bypass this paradigm is to fathom the boundaries, where a fi xed 

revaluation of a focused cultural identity ceases and the appropriation and levelling of 

the foreign begins. Literary texts in this context run the risk to appropriate the exotic, 

as a projection screen of the own identity. Among other things, it should be possible 

to over-think the own perception and measure of values in a form of oscillating 

pendulum motion with multiple perception. Especially texts from real or imaginary 

widely travelled authors ( Fuentes, Barthes ) should be reviewed in order to determine 

to which extent the works make cultural identities comprehensible as a penetrable 

construct of ideas and a dynamical process by using irony and polyphony. In this way, 

binary perception structures can be broken. 

Email ak-lorenz@gmx.de 


Panel 90 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Alicia Lubowski ( New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, New York, u sa ) 

Th e Humboldt Landscape : Art & Ecology 

Th e interplay of ecology and art spans plural forms of artistic expression. Scientifi c, 

conservationist, and socio-political branches of ecology infl uenced several 

nineteenth-century landscape painting styles—including the landscapes of French 

painter Th éodore Rousseau ( 1812-1867 ) of the Barbizon school—as well as diff erent 

nature philosophies—such as romanticism and organicism. Despite Ernst Heinrich 

Haeckel’s ( 1834-1919 ) contribution of the term ecology and its defi nition later in the 

nineteenth century, Aaron Sachs and others have recognized the scientist Alexander 

von Humboldt ( 1769-1859 ) as a precursor to ecological philosophy. 

Th is talk focuses on Humboldt’s “ecological” landscape aesthetics. Humboldt’s 

perception of nature’s unity resonates with our modern understanding of the 

term ecology as “the totality or patt ern of relations between organisms and their 

environment” ( Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2008 ). My talk will present various 

landscape paintings that were infl uenced by Humboldt’s “ecological” view of 

nature. For example, the landscapes of the American artist Frederic Edwin 

Church ( 1826-1900 ) evoke Humboldt’s scientifi c understanding of a harmonious, 

magnifi cent, and unifi ed nature. I will also discuss how Humboldt’s South American 

travels contributed to his development of an ecological understanding of nature’s 

interrelatedness. Finally, I will assess how Humboldt’s global consciousness of 

interconnection and comparison further shaped his visual representation of tropical 

America relative to Europe. Humboldt’s ecological vision of the natural world refl ects 

his unifying comparative methodology. 

Email alicia401@gmail.com 


Panel 34 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Naomi Lubrich ( Jewish Museum Berlin ) 

Empires of Muslin : Dresses and Politics in Revolutionary France 

Much has been writt en on indigenous inhabitants of the New World adopting and 

adapting European clothing styles as their own. But what about the instances when 

an att ire from colonized countries fi nds a wide acceptance in Europe ? One such 

example could be the high-waisted white muslin Empire dress popular among 

wealthy ladies in Paris around the time of the French Revolution from 1790 to 

1820. It was widely looked on as a reference to classicism, antiquity, Greece and 

Rome. It became a political signifi er, being understood as an embodiment of and a 

commitment to democracy. Upon closer scrutiny, however, the dress appears less 

straightforward than its legend. Could it have instead been patt erned on light, fl owing 

blouses and tunics from the West Indies ? In that case, what can we make of the shift 

in meaning from colonial to Greco-Roman, from imperial to democratic and from 

simple to wealthy ? 

Email naomilubrich@web.de 


Tourism 

Panel 68 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Karin Lundberg, Zvi Ostrin ( Hostos Community College, Department of Language 

and Cognition, New York, u sa ; Hostos Community College, Department of 

Natural Sciences, New York, u sa ) 

Between Science And Imagination : Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World Narrative 

“Th e big blank spaces in the map are all being fi lled in, and there’s no room for 

romance anywhere.” Th at statement at the beginning of his novel, Th e Lost World, 

describes Arthur Conan Doyle’s world in the early twentieth century. Behind him 

lay an unprecedented period of scientifi c discovery, during which the world was 

physically and mentally mapped. “Blank spaces” were being fi lled in, the jungle 

succumbed to the railroad, and the once-impenetrable forests were measured, and 

off ered up their treasures. Although Doyle was scientifi cally enlightened, imbued 

with the theories of Lyell and Darwin as well as the latest scientifi c discoveries, he 

also sensed that the price for this knowledge was a concomitant loss of mystery and 

romance. Th e Lost World can be seen as an att empt by Doyle to revive the imaginative 

mind, using the narrative freedom of a “boy’s” story about an English expedition 

to fi nd and collect evidence that dinosaurs were living in the unexplored “blank 

spaces” of South America. A naive newspaperman’s eyewitness accounts provide 

a framing device to mediate among the many realities in this fi ctional world. In an 

age of institutionalized knowledge, imperial expansion and a new public sphere 

of science, Doyle recreated a comforting myth—the quest to fi nd and capture a 

mythological beast—within the narrative space of “what lies beyond,” as he tried to 

meld modernity with myth to heal the rift between knowledge and the imagination. 

Email Klundberg@hostos.cuny.edu 


Panel 14 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Karen Macknow Lisboa ( Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, History, Brazil ) 

Das humboldtsche Werk im Dialog mit europäischen Reisenden in Brasilien in 

der ersten Hälft e des 19. Jahrhunderts 

Auch wenn Humboldt nicht dazu kam, die portugiesische Kolonie in Amerika 

zu bereisen, hatt e er doch Gelegenheit, sich mit einigen Reisenden, die Brasilien 

besuchten, aktiv auszutauschen und Einfl uss zu nehmen. So verinnerlichte der Stil 

der Malerei von M. Rugendas, der einige Jahre in Brasilien verweilte, für Humboldt 

die vollkommste Darstellungsweise der tropischen Natur. Der Naturforscher Wied- 

Neuwied, beeindruckt von der artenreichen Natur in den brasilianischen Wäldern, 

zitierte ganze Absätze von Humboldt in seinem Reisebericht. Das Bild Forêt Vierge 

vom Comte de Clarac, welches den brasilianischen Urwald darstellt, bedeutete für 

Humboldt ein perfektes Beispiel des Naturgemäldes von den Tropen. Es gab den 

Totaleindruck des Zusammenwirkens der Kräft e wieder, dabei belehrte es, und 

zugleich gewährte es dem Leser den “Genuss”, in den Tropen zu sein. Diese Ansätze 

des “Naturgemäldes”, die Humboldt in seinem Buch Ansichten der Natur darstellt, 

sind in den poetischen Naturbeschreibungen im Reisebericht der bayerischen Naturforscher 

Spix und Martius ebenfalls erkennbar. Mein Anliegen in diesem Beitrag ist es, 

die Rezeption des humboldtschen Werkes in Bezug auf die ästhetische Behandlung 

der Naturobjekte und der positiven Naturerfahrung in den Tropen bei europäischen 

Reisenden, die in Brasilien in der ersten Hälft e des 19. Jahrhunderts gewesen sind, 

zu untersuchen und im Kontext der neo-kolonialistischen “Wiederentdeckung” 

Brasiliens zu verstehen. 

Email karenlisboa@terra.com.br 


Panel 1 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Olga Maiorova ( University of Michigan, Department of Slavic Languages & 

Literatures, Ann Arbor, u sa ) 

Alexander von Humboldt and Russian Nineteenth-Century Travelers to 

Central Asia 

Russia’s conquest of Central Asia ( 1860s-1870s ) galvanized her cultural elite into a 

heightened sense of national identity and set its members searching for their national 

distinctiveness. Th is paper seeks to trace how Russians’ perceptions of Central Asia 

evolved in the second half of the nineteenth century to refl ect Russians’ troubled 

quest for their own national self-understanding. To approach this issue, I study how 

Russian travelers, who visited this region on the eve, during and in the immediate 

aft ermath of the conquest, drew on Alexander von Humboldt’s legacy and at the 

same time questioned the interpretive paradigm of Central Asia established by 

Humboldt. I focus on texts of exploration produced by P. P. Semenov-Tian’-Shanskii, 

Ch. Valikhanov, N.M. Przheval’skii, N.N. Karazin, and V.V. Vereshchagin. My 

analysis of these texts counters a common scholarly assumption that Russians, 

concerned primarily with constructing their own national identity, always presented 

Asians as their inferiors. As my paper suggests, in this era of imperial expansion, 

Russians’ perceptions of Central Asia shift ed back and forth—from cultivation of 

a sense of Russian superiority to belief in their indivisible cultural unity with the 

peoples of Asia. Despite the imperial nature of the tsarist regime, transition from the 

former to the latt er marked the most decisive transformations in the image of Central 

Asia. 

Email maiorova@umich.edu 


Panel 56 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Silvia Manzini ( Buenos Aires, Argentina ) 

Alexander y Wilheim Humboldt. Una travesía entre lenguas 

Cartas y escritos se entrecruzan a partir de los viajes de Alexander von Humboldt 

a España en 1799, considerado Un Viaje del espíritu, antecedente de su expedición a 

América y su relación epistolar con Bolívar, mito fundacional de la independencia. 

Inicio de un proyecto transdisciplinario y cosmopolita en ciencia. Cartografía del 

naturalista que parte a América con sus instrumentos de medición y observación 

científi ca y el de su hermano Wilhelm von Humboldt quien abre su proyecto literario 

con viajes a Vasconia y en su estudio sobre lenguas americanas. Viaje Español ensayo 

dedicado a Goethe. Viaje que leo a través de cartas a Goethe ( entre 1799 y 1801 ) al 

ritmo lento de un viaje en coche ; consistió en aprender la lengua más antigua de 

Europa : el euskera y la recolección realizada por cuatros vascos y un italiano polígrafo 

( Farinelli ). Escritura como partitura en Cuatro ensayos sobre España y América en 

la traducción de Unamuno y Garate, escritura como proyecto en los hermanos 

Humboldt. “Si Alexander va a América para explorarla, Wilhelm hace un esfuerzo 

en su Ensayo entre las lenguas de un Nuevo Continente cita a su hermano como a la 

gramática de Nebrija. Esfuerzo sólo comparable al del brillante Alexander en su 

proyecto intercultural y científi co. Fratría que acuerda sus diferencias luego del 

regreso de Alexander en 1805 y su temporada en Roma con Wilhelm. Travesía no sólo 

de letras y geografías, sino de etimologías, entre lenguas europeas y americanas, uno 

amante de la poesía y el euskera como el otro por la biodiversidad de faunas, fl oras. 

Encuentro donde se abre y se sella una poética de vida y escritura 

Email silmanzini@gmail.com 


Panel 99 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Kathleen March ( University of Maine, Modern Languages & Classics, Orono, u sa ) 

Women Writers Who Went to War 

Th e paper is a study of three women writers from the United States who went to 

Spain during the Spanish Civil War : Martha Gellhorn ( 1908-1998 ; novelist, travel 

writer, journalist ), Josephine Herbst ( 1892-1969 ; novelist, biographer, journalist ), 

and Dorothy Parker ( 1893-1967 ; prose writer and poet ). All wrote or spoke about the 

war, and were received in various ways on returning to the u s. Th ey are among the 

premature anti-fascists who believed that the Republicans or supporters of Azaña’s 

government were in the right and that solidarity with that faction was the right 

thing to do. Like all who served in the Lincoln Brigades or otherwise supported 

anti-fascism, they were undermined by a government which for various reasons 

maintained a non-intervention policy. Th ese writers’ work has been understudied 

or ignored, as they joined the list of other writers who were branded as ‘reds’ during 

the 1930s and who had fi les in the fbi ( cf. N. Robins, Alien Ink : Th e fbi’s War 

Against Freedom of Expression ). In comparison, male writers who were actively 

pro-Republican during the war, such as Hemingway and Dos Passos, overcame this 

political stigma to become bett er known, less silenced literary fi gures. Th is paper 

focuses on commonalities of the three careers, and especially their experiences in 

Spain during the war as well as the eff ects on their work aft er returning to the States. 

It considers the causes and eff ects of travel during war ( and pending dictatorship ), 

and addresses ways gender infl uenced their treatment of violence, political ideology, 

and writing. 

Email kathleen.march@umit.maine.edu 


Panel 30 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Luigi Marfé ( University of Turin, Comparative Literature, Italy ) 

Th e Strange Case of Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia 

Th e most important travelogue by a European writer in South America in the last 

forty years is no doubt Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia ( 1977 ). Th e critical reception 

of this book is ambiguous. Some critics ( the ‘postcolonial’ ones ) look at it as a 

collection of lies. Others ( the ‘postmodern’ ones ) consider it as the holy book of 

contemporary travellers. Th is paper describes the techniques of representation used 

by Chatwin to depict Patagonia. Th e aim is to overcome this contradiction, studying 

the value of In Patagonia from a specifi cally literary point of view. For the postcolonial 

critics, Chatwin’s blame depends on his disinterest for the political responsibility 

of travel writing. Chatwin took the pose of a naїf writer, unaware of the problems 

of globalization. His perspective described the places in an aesthetic way, which 

is seductive for the occidental readers, but false. Th e paper thus enumerates the 

deformations recently denounced by Adrian Gimenez-Hutt on in a humorous book 

( La Patagonia de Chatwin, 1999 ). However, if In Patagonia plays an important role in 

the canon of contemporary travel writing, it is not a question of documentary truth. 

Th e paper will demonstrate how Chatwin’s book overcame the opposition between 

fi ction and non-fi ction and redefi ned travel writing as a narrative genre. Chatwin’s 

Patagonia is therefore something similar to what Paul Ricoeur defi ned as the 

narrated Time “a cloth woven with stories”. Subverting the geography, In Patagonia 

reconfi gures South America by the means of literature and gives it new symbolic 

meanings. 

Email luigi_marfe@hotmail.it 


Panel 57 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Maria Trinidad Marín Villora ( Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 

Germany ) 

¿ El exiliado explorador o el explorador exiliado ? Una aproximación a 

Entdeckungen in Mexiko, de Egon Erwin Kisch 

Tras la toma de poder del partido nacionalsocialista alemán en 1933, Egon Erwin 

Kisch, también llamado “der rasende Reporter”, se vio obligado a marchar en el 

exilio como muchos otros autores. Kisch llegó en 1940 a México, después de haber 

participado en la Guerra Civil española en las Brigadas Internacionales y de una breve 

estancia en Estados Unidos. Allí residió hasta 1946, fecha en la que volvió a Praga, su 

ciudad natal. Durante su exilio mexicano se publica Entdeckungen in México ( 1945 ), 

un conjunto de reportajes al más puro estilo humboldtiano. Tomando como punto 

de partida este texto, en mi ponencia pretendo mostrar en primer lugar la faceta del 

exiliado como explorador. En sus páginas, Kisch da a conocer al lector las tierras y 

costumbres mexicanas, creando lo que en la literatura española se llama un cuadro de 

costumbres, que tiene su equivalente en la tradición de literatura de viajes alemana. 

Objetivo de mi trabajo es analizar cómo Kisch re-descubre México al lector y las 

similitudes que se encuentran entre el carácter de su texto y la obra de Humboldt, a 

pesar de que las razones por las que éste llegó a tierras americanas son en su origen 

muy distintas. 

Email tmarinvillora@googlemail.com 


Panel 45 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Marton Marko ( University of Montana, Missoula, u sa ) 

Motioning the Muse : Wim Wenders, Intercontinental Cinema, and the Global 

Soundtrack 

Th is paper critically examines the role played by soundtracks in selected road fi lms 

set on both sides of the Atlantic by German director Wim Wenders. Th rough these 

soundtracks, Wenders produces a discursive relationship not only between notions 

of the literary, the acoustic and visual but also a dialogic site of cultural negotiation 

and mobility, where notions of German and European fi lm making become directly 

engaged with the realities of international cinematic culture, most notably American. 

As such, they extend Central Europe’s historic projection of the Americas as site of 

encounter with otherness into the present day in terms of both cultural and aesthetic 

exploration. For Wenders, who by the 1990’s became a genuinely transatlantic fi lm 

maker, the interspersing of commercial American pop with vernacular musical 

sources drawn from such fi lm locales as Portugal and Cuba affi rms his role not 

only as fi lm industry insider but also as an outside analyst and interpreter of the 

Hollywood establishment through a discernably intercontinental critical perspective. 

In this regard, I situate Wenders’ fi lm sett ings and expeditions in the larger historic 

framework of the German Forschungsreise, a form of exploration, modeled most 

notably by Alexander von Humboldt, rooted in dimensions of Romanticism which 

sought to balance and fuse aspects of the vernacular with the universal in terms 

of motion and fl ow. Wenders’ project of the global soundtrack, I argue, can be 

recognized as a contemporary refl ection of this enterprise that spans a critical 

trajectory from late 18th century modernity to the postcolonial discourse of today. 

Email marton.marko@mso.umt.edu 


Panel 89 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Benjamin Marschke ( Humboldt State University, History, Arcata, California, u sa ) 

Enlightenment Travel Journals and Anti-Intellectualism : Th e Eighteenth- 

Century German Historical Background of Alexander von Humboldt 

My paper explores the historical background of the career, travels, and reception of 

the works of von Humboldt. My paper will explore two facets of this background— 

the genre of the travel journal and popular intellectualism and anti-intellectualism 

in Enlightenment Germany. Th ough scientifi c exploration had simply not yet been 

invented, and even science was a novel concept in the eighteenth century, I argue that 

von Humboldt’s work ( and the reception of it ) was based on these earlier precedents. 

First, the travel journal genre in eighteenth-century Germany, though quite diff erent 

than the writings of von Humboldt, proceeded and presumably served as a model 

for his travels and for his writings about them. Nature simply did not have the status 

that it did at the time of von Humboldt and travelling to see natural things was rather 

unknown. Nonetheless, these travel journals served as the model for later travel and 

travel writing. Th e Enlightenment ( Aufk lärung ) in Germany included not only new 

enthusiasm for scholarly learning and science, but also skeptical thinking and polemic 

debate. Th e expansion of the printing market and the rise of the public sphere, also 

enabled partisanship and allegations of charlatanry. Science ( Wissenschaft ) was used 

as a word in eighteenth century but it applied to lots of things, like technology, magic, 

medicine, and religion. We should understand the Enlightenment and its ways of 

producing knowledge ( science ) as the backdrop to Alexander von Humboldt’s work 

and the reception of it. 

Email marschke@humboldt.edu 


Panel 21 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

María-Rosario Martí Marco ( Universidad de Alicante, Filología Alemana, Spain ) 

Bernardo Giner de los Ríos, Alejandro de Humboldt y la educación naturalista 

Bernardo Giner de los Ríos, el traductor al español de obras emblemáticas de 

Alexander von Humboldt como Ansichten der Natur, Kosmos y Vues de Cordillères, 

no es un personaje casual. Hermano de Francisco Giner de los Ríos, fundador de la 

“Institución Libre de Enseñanza” en España, la entidad educativa más vanguardista 

del momento situada en el movimiento intelectual del Krausismo que se está 

desarrollando en España, va a ayudar con sus traducciones a consolidar en este 

signifi cativo movimiento de modernización nacional la visión humboldtiana de la 

naturaleza. La exposición traza algunos paralelismos entre el naturalista Humboldt 

y el fi lósofo Krause, contemporáneos si bien de muy diferente singladura vital, para 

subrayar la incidencia de la corriente fi losófi ca, denominada “Krausismo” español 

y, desde éste, hacia el espacio cultural latinoamericano. Evidentemente se hace 

referencia a los traductores al español de estos dos insignes alemanes y a la tendencia 

o escuela que se constituye decididamente como núcleo germanístico con varias 

versiones en español de obras preparadas por discípulos de Krause. Se hace hincapié 

en la refl exión traductológica de los prefacios de Bernardo Giner de los Ríos para 

fi nalmente evidenciar la huella de Humboldt en la nueva pedagogía naturalista 

gineriana y en la educación artística en relación al paisaje. 

Email Rosario.Marti@ua.es 


Panel 21 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Alison E. Martin ( Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Witt enberg, Institut für 

Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Halle, Germany ) 

“An Imperfect Copy of a Sublime Model” ? : Helen Maria Williams’s Translation 

of Alexander von Humboldt’s Relation historique 

Helen Maria Williams’s English translation ( 1814-29 ) of Alexander von Humboldt’s 

Relation Historique ( 1814-25 ) remains beleaguered by accusations made in the 

nineteenth century that it drew on ‘fl owery French expressions’ and enthused 

excessively, while the language of Humboldt’s source text was fl at, scientifi c and 

modern. Th is paper off ers a re-evaluation of Williams’s translation on three levels. 

Firstly, I examine how far it departed from the source text in its stylistic choices and 

use of language and what kind of eff ect this had on the target text as a whole. I then 

explore the extent to which the Personal Narrative could be seen as a continuation 

of Williams’s own creative literary oeuvre, and analyse stylistic parallels with 

her previous writing and literary translations. Drawing on recent discussions in 

translation studies of the translator as ‘animator’ of the original text, this paper asks 

where Williams’s ‘voice’ can be heard in the Personal Narrative. In a second section, 

I off er a brief micro-textual analysis of archive material containing Humboldt’s 

corrections of parts of Williams’s manuscript, which illustrates the variants he 

favoured as well as the translation solutions he criticised as excessively ‘poetic’. Finally, 

this paper discusses Humboldt’s own refl ections on the importance of literary style in 

scientifi c writing and the extent to which Williams’s translation satisfi ed these aims. 

Email alison.martin@anglistik.uni-halle.de 


Panel 46 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Claire Emilie Martin ( California State University, Long Beach, Roman, German, 

Russian Languages and Literatures, u sa ) 

Traveling Women : Lett er Writing and “Causeries” in the Works of the Countess 

Merlin and Eduarda García de Mansilla 

Th e customary Grand Tour of the European upper classes had its counterpart in the 

quasi-obligatory journey to Europe by the men who belonged to the cultural and 

political intelligentsia of Latin America throughout the nineteenth century. Women 

travelers of the time oft en had very diff erent motives to cross the Atlantic. Many were 

accompanying their husbands ; some traveled to reclaim inheritances ; others sought 

to bring home models to insert in the new republics. Th e Countess Merlin published 

in 1844 her encyclopedic work, La Havane, comprised of 36 lett ers addressed to her 

daughter, the Baron Rothschild, Rossini, George Sand, and many other infl uential 

fi gures in the areas of economics, politics and the arts. Her literary production 

was based on triangulated relationships among her points of reference : Europe 

( France and Spain ), the United States and Cuba. Th e Franco-Cuban writer wished 

to off er in her narratives her personal experience interwoven with the ambitious 

project of the enlightenment that guided La Havane. Almost four decades later, the 

Argentinean Eduarda Mansilla published Recuerdos de viaje ( 1882 ) aft er her stay in 

the United States. Her travel narrative abounds in oft en erroneous observations of 

the much admired as well as maligned “Colossus of the North.” Mansilla was aware 

of her privileged position as traveler and observer and related her experiences and 

understanding of the country with the intimate tone of the “causeries” to an audience 

rapt with interest. Th ese two women travelers provide us with the opportunity to 

explore the ways in which nineteenth-century Latin American women constructed 

their own authorial voices through the travel genre and contributed to the fashioning 

of the new republics in the explicit and public act of travel writing. 

Email cmartin@csulb.edu 


Panel 33 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Marina Martínez Andrade ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México City ) 

Crónica de La Pimería alta o Favores celestiales del misionero y explorador Jesuita 

Eusebio Francisco Kino 

La Crónica de la Pimería alta o Favores celestiales escrita por Eusebio Francisco Kino 

S. J. ( 1645-1711 ), es motivo central de mi ponencia. De origen italiano, Kino ingresó 

a la Compañía de Jesús en 1665 y llegó a México en 1681 ; además de sacerdote, fue 

explorador, cartógrafo, geógrafo, astrónomo. La península de Baja California 

constituyó su primer espacio misionero y, más tarde, la Pimería Alta ( Sonora, Sinaloa 

y parte de Arizona ) situada al noroeste de la Nueva España. En 1687, fundó allí 

la misión de Nuestra Señora de Dolores, punto desde el cual extendió y organizó 

una amplia red de centros misionales, en los que no sólo se circunscribió a la esfera 

espiritual, sino que preocupado por el bienestar material de los indígenas, les enseñó, 

además del castellano, diferentes ofi cios, prácticas de agricultura y cría de ganado 

vacuno, caprino y equino, instaurando un modelo a seguir por los misioneros jesuitas. 

Recogió sus experiencias en cartas, informes, crónicas –una de ellas la que me 

ocupa ; así como en mapas y opúsculos de carácter científi co. La labor del misionero 

repercutió, por tanto, en los aspectos políticos, militares y económicos de la región. 

Email marinamrmr@aol.com 


Panel 17 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Kathryn Mayers ( Wake Forest University, Romance Languages, Winston-Salem, 

North Carolina, u sa ) 

Truth and History in Columbus’s Carta a Santángel and Léry’s Histoire d’un 

voyage 

In this paper, I propose to re-examine the controversial historical value of two 

narratives of travel between Europe and America : the Carta a Santángel by 

Christopher Columbus and Histoire d’un voyage by Jean de Léry. In particular, I 

am interested in the type of history created and the type of truth told when these 

two Early Modern European explorers translate their discoveries of America into 

European historiographical modes. While Columbus’s exaggerations and Léry’s 

Huguenot biases have, for centuries, led scholars to question the truth-value of their 

accounts, recent theoretical developments in cultural studies have further reinforced 

this skepticism by revealing that, like writers of literature, historians approach their 

evidence with a sense of the possible forms diff erent kinds of human situations can 

take and that, like in literature, these forms play a role in ordering the “facts” of 

historical narratives. Such theories reduce the historical value of narratives such 

as Columbus’s and Léry’s to records of their authors’ largely unconscious eff orts 

to mediate between alternative, transhistorical modes of emplotment. However, 

the Carta and the Histoire present ample evidence that their authors’ choice of 

historiographical mode—not to mention their exaggerations—arise not from 

unconscious or collective ideological beliefs, but rather, from conscious and concrete 

political, social, and economic factors. In this paper, I would like to explore the 

historical value of these texts as records of the social and dialogic pressures of their 

times—as records of confl icts that wracked Europe at the time these texts were 

writt en. 

Email mayerskm@wfu.edu 


Panel 2 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Joanna Mazurska ( Vanderbilt Univerity, History, Nashville, Tennessee, u sa ) 

Eur-rica : Czeslaw Milosz’s Life Divided 

Th e life of Czeslaw Milosz, a Polish poet born in 1911, was shaped by travels between 

Europe and America. Milosz fi rst encountered America in 1946, when he became a 

diplomat representing the Polish communist government in the United States. In 

1950, Milosz went back to Europe, visited Poland, and broke ties with the Polish 

government. Consequently, he found himself in exile in France, separated from 

his family, left without a job, in the depth of a psychological crisis. Th e Cold War 

propaganda prohibited Milosz from entering America. Eventually, in 1960, he once 

again moved to America, this time for good in order to fulfi ll a new role of a professor, 

and then of a Nobel prize holder. Th is travel inaugurated a long painful period of 

separation from his European friends and the Polish readers. In 1980s, the cycle 

of travels had brought Milosz back to the places of his childhood. In this paper I 

introduce the concept of Eur-rica, which is an imaginative space created by Milosz in 

order to unify the experience of Europe and America. My research on Milosz’s Papers 

at Yale University shows his life as an inspiring struggle for a common denominator 

to the life on both continents. Today, when we all strive to build Eur-ricas from 

the pieces scatt ered in the globalized world, Milosz’s experience of travels between 

Europe and America off ers a rich “case study” of the struggles and costs of a life lived 

in perpetual displacement. 

Email joanna.m.mazurska@vanderbilt.edu 


Panel 65 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Marcus Vinicius Mazzari ( Universidade de São Paulo, Teoria Literária, Brazil ) 

Die brasilianische Reise von Carl Friedrich Philipp Martius und ihre Rezeption 

bei Goethe 

Zu den bedeutendsten Südamerika-Reisenden im 19 Jahrhundert gehört sicherlich 

C. F. P. Martius. Zusammen mit Spix hat er in dreieinhalb Jahren über 10000 km 

auf brasilianischem Boden bereist und dabei die verschiedensten Forschungen 

durchgeführt. Ein erster Ertrag dieses Aufenthalts sind die drei Bände der Reise 

durch Brasilien. Was den vielen Werken Martius’ eine besondere Note verleiht, ist 

das ihnen von Goethe entgegengebrachte Interesse, von welchem der Briefwechsel, 

die aufgezeichneten Gespräche und weitere Äusserungen des Dichters Zeugnis 

ablegen. Aus dem wissenschaft lichen Austausch mit dem Botaniker ging auch 

Goethes Essay über die Spiraltendenz der Vegetation ( 1831 ) hervor. Ziel des Vortrags 

ist es, einige Aspekte der Forschungen Martius’ darzulegen und darüber hinaus ihre 

Rezeption bei Goethe zu erörtern. Die Umarbeitung ( 1825 ) eines “Brasilianisch” 

betitelten, 43 Jahre zuvor geschriebenen Gedichts, ist wohl auf den Kontakt mit dem 

“Brasilianer Martius” zurückzuführen. So wird ein Schwerpunkt des Vortrags in der 

Erörterung der Hypothese liegen, dass bestimmte Texte von Martius, darunter in 

Brasilien verfasste Gedichte und Naturbeschreibungen, Spuren im Faust ii ( vor allem 

im letzten Akt ) hinterlassen haben. Anhand der Charakterisierung des Faust als 

Werk eines kollektiven Wesens möchte ich also zeigen, dass zu den vielen Dichtern, 

Philosophen, Wissenschaft lern usw., die an dieser opera della vita mitgeschrieben 

haben, auch Martius zu zählen ist. Ihm verdankt Goethe nicht nur einen äusserst 

fruchtbaren Austausch, sondern auch die Vertrautheit mit dem Land, dem die seine 

Besprechung der Abhandlung Genera et species palmarum abschliessenden Worte 

gelten : “und so empfi nden wir uns in einem weit entlegenen Weltt eile durchaus als 

anwesend und einheimisch”. 

Email mazzari@usp.br 


Panel 88 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Gabrijela Mecky Zaragoza ( México City ) 

Der Fall Huitzilopochtlis — Stationen einer Reise 

Es ist ein Tag im November 1519, der Huitzilopochtlis Fall einleitet. Der erste Besuch 

im Hauptt empel, den Hernán Cortés vier Tage nach seiner Ankunft in Tenochtitlan 

mit Motecuhzoma unternimmt, erweist sich als folgenschwer. Denn Cortés’ 

Empörung über die brutzelnden Menschenherzen für den diablo Uichilobos kennt 

auch Monate später keine Grenzen. Noch vor dem eigentlichen Fall der Wasserstadt 

wird der aztekische Sonnengott zum Höllengott degradiert, zum teufl ischen 

Etwas, das durch spanische Berichte und Briefe seine Reise über das Meer des 

Ostens antreten muß, um sich wenig später auch im deutschsprachigen Raum zu 

etablieren. Poetisch-phantastische Spiele mit dem Fall Huitzilopochtli/s sind nicht 

nur deshalb interessant, weil sie schon durch die Namenswahl — von Adramelech 

über Vitzliputzli bis zu Zuccad-Haol — auf die Eigendynamik kolonialer Prozesse 

verweisen. Aus der sicheren Distanz der Fiktion spielen sie zudem mit ihren Text- 

Teufeln Aspekte von Kultur, sowohl der fremden als auch der eigenen, neu durch. 

Dieses Projekt untersucht ausgewählte Stationen von Huitzilopochtlis Reise durch 

die deutschsprachige Textwelt. Von Deutschland, Österreich und Frankreich geht es 

über das Meer des Westens bis nach Missouri. Nach einer Einführung in die Lektüre- 

Strategie des Darüberhinausgehens, mit der eine multiperspektivische Annäherung 

an literarische Behandlungen der Konquista gewährleistet wird, und einem Überblick 

über Huitzilopochtlis Karriere als übelthätiges Wesen höherer Art, stehen die 

Verteufelungsstrategien in der Konquista-Literatur des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts im 

Mitt elpunkt : in Justus Zachariaes Epopee Cortes ( 1766 ), August Klingemanns Drama 

Ferdinand Cortez ( 1819 ), Heinrich Heines Matrazengruft -Gedicht Vitzliputzli ( 1851 ) 

und Friedrich Schnakes Exil-Schauspiel Montezuma ( 1870 ). 

Email gabrijela.zaragoza@gmail.com 


Panel 72 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Frank Mehring ( Freie Universität Berlin, John F. Kennedy Institute, Cultural 

Studies ) 

Democratic Pleas for ‘Color’ : Ethnic Representations of Post-Revolutionary 

Mexico, the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ and ‘Neue Sachlichkeit’ in German- 

American Contexts 

What could a German artist who emigrated to the United States in 1913 possibly 

have to say about non-western minorities, racial self-esteem, and the future of 

American democracy ? Winold Reiss’s ethnic portraits off er a fascinating perspective 

on questions of cultural hybridity, processes of cultural translation, and dissent in 

the name of democracy. Reiss’s outspoken dedication to the American promise of 

equality raises the question whether the political agenda behind his portraits can be 

contextualized as a synecdochic nationalism ? If Reiss achieves the eff ect of tying 

a specifi c locality to a national ideology in his portraits, what cultural parameters 

inform the larger concepts of American identity and the nation state from the 

perspective of a naturalized foreigner during two World Wars ? In order to understand 

the cultural and political implications of Reiss’s portraits, I will contextualize 

his artistic “plea for color” with the artistic visions of Katherine Anne Porter and 

Alain Locke, who struggled with similar challenges at the time albeit in diff erent 

media. Th eir collaborations function as prime examples to analyze transcultural 

confrontations in the inter-bellum years. My talk is structured into three parts : 

First, I will look at the inter-cultural fault-lines at work in Reiss’s American vistas 

in Germany. Second, I will reveal a hidden trajectory in Reiss’s “plea for color” by 

focusing on his disconcerting experience of encountering “America.” Th ird, I will 

analyze the concept of “transnational America” by looking at ethnic representations 

of post-revolutionary Mexico, the Harlem Renaissance, and Neue Sachlichkeit in 

German-American contexts. 

Email fmehring@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 77 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Maria Elena Mena, Maria Elena Pubillones ( Universidad de la Habana, Cuba ) 

Alejandro de Humboldt : Segundo descubridor de Cuba 

Alejandro de Humboldt está considerado como el segundo descubridor de Cuba, 

porque a pesar de que su estancia en la isla fue relativamente corta, realizó una serie 

de minuciosos y detallados estudios sobre el clima, las corrientes marinas, la fl ora 

y la fauna autóctonas, la composición social y racial de la sociedad colonia cubana 

y la producción de azúcar en la isla, sobre la base de signifi cativos análisis políticoestadísticos. 

Durante dos décadas ordenó y analizó profundamente los datos e 

informaciones recopiladas en Cuba, durante su primera visita de tres meses realizada 

el 19 diciembre de 1800 y la segunda, en donde permaneció del 19 de marzo al 29 

de abril de 1804. El resultado de estos estudios fue la publicación de su libro Essai 

politique sur l’île de Cuba ( Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba ), que constituye un 

análisis detallado de la sociedad cubana de las primeras décadas del siglo xix, y que 

fue una importante contribución al surgimiento de la conciencia nacional, e infl uyó 

notablemente en la intelectualidad cubana de esa época. Por el enorme signifi cado 

de sus investigaciones sobre Cuba, Alejandro de Humboldt constituye sin dudas el 

vínculo más lejano, estrecho y sólido de las relaciones entre Alemania y Cuba. Esta 

relación nunca se ha interrumpido y su huella se descubre en la base de numerosas 

investigaciones y estudios de científi cos, fi lósofos, artistas y economistas cubanos a 

partir del siglo xix y son puntos de referencia para obras más contemporáneas. 

Email 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Claudia Méndez Rentería ( Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, 

Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Morelia, Mexico ) 

Two Paradoxical Cases from the Lecture of Travel Writing 

Th is paper focuses on the way that travel literature about Mexico was read in the 

20th Century. Th omas Gage, Alexander von Humboldt, D. H. Lawrence, etc. were 

known by other authors of travel writing, like Vicki Baum. Th ey were also read by 

the French historian Jacques Lafaye. Although Baum was a best seller author and 

Lafaye is an academic, they both used these books like historical sources. Baum wrote 

from an exile situation and Lafaye did it from the fall of French Empire. Each context 

infl uenced their lectures and visions, and these two authors became pardoxical cases 

of lecture of travel writing. 

Email aidualcende@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 92 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Annerose Menninger ( Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Geschichts- und 

Kulturwissenschaft en, Historisches Seminar, Germany ) 

Columbus und die Neue Welt im Spielfi lm : 1492 — Conquest of Paradise ( 1992 ) 

Historienfi lme zählen zu nicht zu unterschätzenden Massenmedien, die einem 

breiten Publikum Geschichts- und Kulturbilder in kurzer Zeit, unterhaltsam und 

nachhaltig ( im Kino, im tv, auf dvd ) vermitt eln. Das gilt auch für die Darstellung 

historisch fassbarer Personen, historischer Ereignisse und indigener Kulturen, die 

mit der Entdeckungs- und Kolonialgeschichte Amerikas verbunden sind, wie die 

internationalen Produktionen “Th e Mission” ( 1986 ), “Th e New World” ( 2005 ), 

“Apocalypto” ( 2006 ) oder “1492 — Conquest of Paradise” ( 1992 ) zeigen. Dieser 

letzt genannte Historienfi lm startete pünktlich im magischen Jahr 1992 an den 

Kinokassen und kombiniert das Leben von Christoph Columbus mit dem Beginn der 

Entdeckung, Eroberung und Kolonisierung der Neuen Welt durch die europäischen 

Expansionsmächte. Auch wenn der Spielfi lm keinen solchen Kinoerfolg wie etwa 

“Gladiator” ( 2000 ) erlebte, muss er als populärste Verfi lmung unter den zahlreichen 

Verfi lmungen über Columbus bezeichnet werden. Denn er wird sowohl in Europa als 

auch in Lateinamerika bis heute jährlich von Fernsehsendern wiederholt. Im Vortrag 

wird “1492 — Conquest of Paradise” unter folgenden Leitfragen analysiert, die sich 

methodisch an traditionellen Verfahren der Geschichtswissenschaft , nämlich der 

Motiv-, Rezeptions- und Wirkungsgeschichte, orientieren : Auf welchen Vorlagen 

basiert der Film : auf Romanen, der Forschungsliteratur oder auf Quellen ? Wie 

geht der Film mit seinen Vorlagen um : Hält er sich an dieselben oder konstruiert 

er ? Wie stellt der Film Columbus dar : Idealisiert er diese Person, oder entwirft 

er ein kritisches Bild ? Welche Vorstellungen vermitt elt der Film über die längst 

untergegangenen Indiokulturen der Karibik : Kolportiert er Stereotype, oder entwirft 

er ein diff erenziertes Bild ? 

Email annerose.menninger@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de 


Panel 93 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Bernhard Metz ( Freie Universität Berlin, Peter Szondi-Institut für Allgemeine und 


Skepticism in Travel Literature, and Why Th is Genre Has Never Been Modern 

Th e Odyssey—the epitome of travel literature—can also be read as a lamentation on 

travel. Odysseus is no voluntary traveler, and he is certainly not a tourist ; rather, he 

tries not to participate in the Trojan War and would prefer to stay at home instead. 

Apart from his return, he does not stop anywhere along his journey voluntarily. He 

even says to Eumaios : “You free me from atrocious misery/and wandering. Nothing’s 

harder for a mortal/than roaming” ( xv, 342-43 ). Many ancient writers share this 

skepticism, and it is considered an important diff erence between ancient and 

modern concepts of travel : while ancient writers depict travel as a form of heroic 

suff ering associated with fate, modern writers are more oft en seen as celebrating 

travel as a means of pleasure and discovery or an escape from fate. However, the 

ancient conviction that staying at home is preferable to going anywhere is actually 

a recurring theme in modern literature as well. By looking at various examples of 

travel skepticism in European and American literature, including the work of Charles 

Baudelaire, Mark Twain, Paul Th eroux, Julio Cortázar and Ingomar von Kieseritzky, 

this paper will show how the Odyssey may be read as mapping the conditions of all 

later travelogues and travel writings. 

Email bernhard.metz@fu-berlin.de 


Panel 95 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Tabea Metzel (Freie Universität Berlin, Kunsthistorisches Institut/Sonder forschungs 

bereich 626 : Ästhetische Erfahrung im Zeichen der Entgrenzung der 

Künste ) 

Reisegüter — Von Lateinamerika nach Berlin und von Dahlem nach Mitt e. Oder 

Was verspricht das Humboldt-Forum ? 

Im Rahmen der Entstehung des Humboldt-Forums auf dem Berliner Schlossplatz 

ist auch der Teilumzug verschiedener ethnologischer Sammlungen der Staatlichen 

Museen zu Berlin von Berlin-Dahlem nach Berlin-Mitt e geplant. Damit steht die 

Konzeption von ethnologischen Sammlungen außereuropäischer Kunst erneut zur 

Disposition und Diskussion, zumal mit der Prominenz des Schlosses in der Mitt e 

des historischen Berlins nationale Repräsentationsansprüche verbunden sind. Die 

aktuelle Ausstellung Die Tropen, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin ( bis Januar ’09 ), deren 

Methode sich dadurch auszeichnet, die Kunstwerke der Dahlemer Sammlungen 

mit zeitgenössischer Kunst zu kombinieren und die damit alle Artefakte unter 

einen einheitlichen Kunstbegriff subsumiert, wird von den KuratorInnen wie 

auch der Berliner Kulturpolitik als Modell für das Humboldtforum genannt. Die 

Herausforderungen der Globalisierung, aber auch die Geschichte der Stadt Berlin 

mit ihrer Verknüpfung mit dem Kosmopolitismus Alexander von Humboldts wurden 

u.a. in der Pressekonferenz der Tropen als Grund bemüht, Berlin als Weltstadt mit 

einer Weltkunstsammlung präsentieren zu wollen. Eine solche Rhetorik droht aber, 

Unterschiede zwischen Kunstbegriff en, Kontexten und Provenienzen aufzuheben 

und Künste unter einen neuen Weltkunstbegriff zu homogenisieren. Das Panel 

präsentiert unterschiedliche Perspektiven, die sich zu dieser Herausforderung aus vor 

allem zwei Perspektiven verhalten : zum einen steht die Frage nach der Erzählung des 

Humboldtforums und seiner geplanten museologischen Phantasie im Raum ; zum 

anderen die Frage nach Möglichkeiten, den ungleichen Transfer zwischen Europa 

und den Americas anders zu erzählen, wobei vor allem auch die Rückreise von Gütern 

von Europa nach Lateinamerika sowie die dortigen Aneignungspraktiken auch 

während und nach dem Kolonialismus eine Rolle spielen. 

Email t.metzel@fu-berlin.de 


Panels : 39/44 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15/15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Elizabeth Millan-Zaibert ( DePaul University, Philosophy, Chicago, Illinois, u sa ) 

How Alexander von Humboldt’s Fusion of Art and Science Shaped the Image of 

America 

Humboldt was a natural scientist who struggled to fi nd a way to blend the natural 

scientist’s att ention to empirical detail with the poet’s love of nature’s beauty. In his 

work he strives to blend science and art. I will present the intellectual roots of this 

blending project, roots that I argue are to be found in Humboldt’s close relation to the 

early German Romantics. I shall then explore the ramifi cations of this commitment 

to fusion as refl ected in Humboldt’s att itude toward the fl ora, fauna, culture, and 

people of America. Unlike most of the Europeans of his generation, Humboldt 

was no anti-American : he approached America with an open mind and a deep 

appreciation for the landscape and the culture he encountered in the Americas. I will 

analyze selections from his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, Voyage to the 

Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, and Views of Nature in order to give evidence 

of his open, appreciative view of American culture and to show how this open view is 

related to his commitment to fusing science and art. 

Email emzaibert@yahoo.com 


Panel 46 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Jürgen Misch ( Alexander von Humboldt Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain ) 

Übereinstimmung und Diff erenz. Alexander von Humboldt und Karl Philipp 

Moritz in Äusserungen zur Ästhetik 

Wenn ich nicht irre, sind ( bis jetzt ) nur zwei Äusserungen von Alexander von 

Humboldt über Karl Philipp Moritz bekannt. Zur publizistischen Verbreitung der 

Ästhetischen Ideen von Moritz hatt e Goethe beigetragen, der Teile des Essays Über 

die bildende Nachahmung des Schönen ( veröff entlicht 1788 ) in seine Italienische Reise 

aufnahm. Goethe war der Auff assung, dass in dieser Schrift die Grundzüge seiner 

Morphologie dargestellt waren : “Alles einzelne, hin und her in der Natur zerstreute 

Schöne ist ja nur insofern schön, als sich dieser Inbegriff aller Verhältnisse jenes 

grossen Ganzen mehr oder weniger darin off enbart … Das Schöne kann daher nicht 

erkannt, es muss hervorgebracht oder empfunden werden.” Sein Wesen besteht “in 

seiner Vollendung in sich selbst.” Nun ist bekannt, dass die “Geographie der Pfl anzen” 

nach den gleichen morphologischen Prinzipien aufgebaut ist, wie sie Goethe in seiner 

“Metamorphose der Pfl anzen” beschrieben hat. Obgleich Alexander sein mangelndes 

Einverständnis mit dem Begriff der Schönheit bei Moritz bekundet, glaube ich doch, 

dass mehr Gemeinsamkeiten als Diff erenzen in den Auff assungen von Humboldt und 

Moritz bestehen. 

Email jmischtenerife@yahoo.es 


Panel 1 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Gastao Moncada ( Universidad de Sevilla, Grupo de Investigación de Filología 

Alemana, Spain ) 

Th e Literary Relations between Portugal and Brazil 

From the beginning of the 16th century, portuguese seamen began to have the fi rst 

impressions from the coastline of a new world, on the other side of the Atlantic. Th e 

fi rst encounters with the inhabitants of this world, savages or semi-savages, are 

refl ected in the early literary texts and cronicles of the travellers of that age. In the 

course of evolution, Brasil began to develop its own culture, and literay and cultural 

relations between both countries fl ourished until today. In a brief presentation of 

such relations between both countries, it will be att empted to picture the evolution of 

relations between the Old and the New world, in diff erent cultural perspectives. 

Email gastao_moncada@hotmail.com 


Panel 83 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Giovanna Montenegro ( University of California, Davis, Comparative Literature, 

usa) 

German Conquistador and the Native Other : Niklaus Federmann and the 

German Colonization of Venezuela 

In 1528 Charles V gave the right to govern a section of the Tierra Firme to the wealthy 

banking family based in Augsburg, the Welsers. Th e Welser family had played an 

important part in the ascension of Charles V from King of Spain to that of Holy 

Roman Emperor, having contributed 851000 fl orins to his electoral campaign. In 

exchange for the empire’s debt to the Welsers, the emperor granted the right to govern 

the province of Venezuela. In 1529, a 24 year-old Niklaus Federmann from Ulm, set 

out with the interim governor for the sett lement of Coro. In 1530 Federmann went 

south of Coro into the jungle in search of El Dorado. He encountered many native 

tribes [some perhaps fi ctional] such as the nations of Xideharas, Ayamanes, Cayones, 

Xaguas, Caquetios. He came back in 1531 with fi ve thousand gold pesos and quite a 

number of “hostile” natives plucked from villages. His adventurous travel narrative 

was published in Germany under the title : Indianische Historia. Ein schöne kurtzweilge 

Historia Niclaus Federmanns des Jüngern von Ulm erster raise so er von hispaniam und 

Andalosia ausz in Indias des Occeanischen Mörs gethan hat und was ihm allda begegnet 

bis auff sein wiederkunfft inn Hispaniam auff s kurtzest beschriben, gantz lustig zu lesen. 

Getruckt zua Hagenaw bei Sigmund Bund 1557. In this paper I will explore the way 

Federmann focalizes the experience of the German colonizer in relation to the native 

barbarian “Other” in his making of a German “Indianische Historia.” 

Email gmontenegro@ucdavis.edu 


Panel 7 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Stephan Mühr ( University of Pretoria, Modern European Languages, South Africa ) 

“Es wandelt niemand ungestraft unter Palmen…” — Alexander von Humboldts 

Fremderfahrungen bei Mary Louise Pratt und Daniel Kehlmann 

Das Zitat aus Ott iliens Tagebuch ( Goethe : Die Wahlverwandtschaft en ) soll auf 

Georg Forster, nicht Alexander von Humboldt, gemünzt sein. Letzteren schätzt 

Ott ilie dagegen, wenn sie schreibt, “Wie gern möchte ich nur einmal Humboldten 

erzählen hören.” Diese Wertschätzung scheint auf Humboldts ökologischer ‘Erfahrungs-art’ 

von Globalisierung zu beruhen, von der Art, “uns das Fremdeste, 

Seltsamste, mit seiner Lokalität, mit aller Nachbarschaft […] darzustellen.” Dass 

Humboldts Reisebeschreibungen so allerdings nicht immer rezipiert wurden, sollen 

Analysen von zwei einfl ussreichen Texten zeigen, die dem Narritiv des Eingangszitats 

folgen : Mary Louise Pratt s für den postkolonialen Diskurs einfl ussreiche Studie 

Imperial Eyes. Travel writing and Transculturation ( 1992 ) und Daniel Kehlmanns 

Bestseller Die Vermessung der Welt ( 2005 ). Im Vordergrund dieses Beitrags steht 

nicht die Rezeptionsgeschichte der Reisebeschreibungen Humboldts, sondern die 

Untersuchung eines Narrativs der Kritik des Sichaussetzens, mit dem Ziel, dieses als 

eine epistemologische Funktion von Xenophobie nachzuvollziehen. 

Email stephan.muehr@up.ac.za 


Panel 41 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Claudia Müller ( Leeds Metropolitan University, Centre for Tourism and Cultural 

Change, United Kingdom ) 

Beatles, Jeans and Beggars. East Germans’ Holiday Experiences in other 

Socialist countries, 1971-1989 

Between 1971 and 1989, citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (gdr ) 

were usually not allowed to travel to the Americas—except for Cuba. East Germans, 

if they left the gdr, spent their holidays in other socialist countries, especially in 

Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Soviet Union ( Wolle, 1999 ). Travelling East, 

gdr citizens oft en encountered people and things which seemed to be Western. 

Especially in Hungary and Czechoslovakia East Germans found a diff erent or wider 

range of consumer products like books, West-German newspapers and magazines, 

records or the famous American Levi’s jeans. Some East Germans recount in oral 

history interviews of the greater freedom they enjoyed in the encounters with 

other, international tourists. Yet, secret police offi cials were present even on the 

Hungarian Beach resorts and reported on these encounters. Th us this feeling of 

more freedom was not unadulterated. Visiting Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania also 

allowed glimpses of the fl ip-sides of capitalism. Many East Germans narrate how 

they encountered beggars during such a trip—something totally unknown from 

the gdr. In my presentation I am going to explore in which manifold ways East 

Germans experienced not only the East, but also the West during their holidays in 

other socialist countries. In their experiences the West got much more complex than 

the widespread idea of the West as a yardstick for East German consumer politics and 

behaviour ( Stitziel, 2005 ) suggests. 

Email c.mueller@leedsmet.ac.uk 


Panel 20 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Eduardo Muratt a Bunsen ( Freie Universität Berlin ) 

Las miradas de Humboldt o la tensión entre Próspero y Calibán 

Durante su viaje por el Nuevo Mundo Alexander von Humboldt mantuvo un 

intensiva actividad espistolar y llevó un diario de viajes. En ellos se consigna no sólo 

valiosa información biográfi ca y científi ca sino también importantes consideraciones 

que enseñan cómo Humboldt percibía los espacios y sus habitantes en esa parte 

del globo. Aquí me interesa problematizar la representación literaria del espacio 

urbano con el ejemplo de la ciudad de Lima y la percepción de sus habitantes desde 

la concepción del reconocimiento basada en la noción de la “mirada” ( Sartre ) y el 

cuestionamiento postcolonial sobre “cómo se ha representado al otro” ( Bhabha ). 

Mi argumentación tiene dos pasos. Primero trato de la mirada humboldtiana frente 

al otro y su espacio y luego discuto la tensión de ésta entre las perspectivas centroperiferia 

o, como también se las ha denominado, entre las miradas de Próspero y 

Calibán. 

Email eduardomuratt a@yahoo.com 


Panel 86 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Ricarda Musser ( Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin ) 

Going to the Opera in the Tropics. European Travellers Describe Th eir 

Impressions of Brazilian Musical Life in the 19th Century 

Operas and concert performances constituted an important part of the social life 

in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century. Both at the Emperor’s Court and in the city’s 

theatres, music concerts drew large audiences. Impressive opera houses were also 

constructed in other parts of the country. Th e rubber boom in the northern cities 

of Manaus and Belém, for example, provided the fi nancial support to build new 

music venues. In the 19th century, European tradition considerably infl uenced the 

repertoire and its interpretation in Brazil. European musicians and composers who 

came to Brazil as well as Brazilian students educated in European conservatories 

contributed to this phenomenon. In addition, immigrants from France, Italy and 

Germany established the fi rst publishing houses for music and opened the fi rst music 

bookstores in Brazil. Th is paper investigates how 19th-century European travellers 

described the musical life in Brazil and, moreover, it examines the connection 

between Europe and the New World in this fi eld. 

Email musser@iai.spk-berlin.de 


Panel 42 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Th omas Philip Nehrlich ( Freie Universität Berlin, Philosophie und 

Geisteswissenschaft en ) 

Jorge Semprúns Le grand voyage 

Die fünft ätige Zugfahrt von Compiègne nach Buchenwald im Jahre 1943, die Jorge 

Semprún in seinem ersten Buch als “Le grand voyage” ( 1963 ) beschrieben hat, gleicht 

keiner gewöhnlichen Reise : Weder Ursprung noch Bestimmung, weder Dauer noch 

Strecke, weder Zeitpunkt noch Reisebegleitung unterliegen der Entscheidungsmacht 

dessen, der sie unfreiwillig antritt . Mit Gewalt entfernt die Reise ihr Opfer aus dessen 

Wirklichkeit : Sie steht in Opposition zur Heimat des Protagonisten und zu seiner 

Tätigkeit als Widerstandskämpfer, zu Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung ; ihr Zweck ist 

sein Tod. Dass der Protagonist nicht bereits an dieser Aussicht zerbricht, wie viele 

seiner Reisegefährten, liegt daran, dass er der Reise auch Trost abgewinnen kann : Er 

beginnt seine Narration mit der Beschreibung des Moseltals, dessen Schönheit selbst 

der Zweck, zu welchem er es per Zug durchquert, nicht trüben kann. Auch bildet 

die Bewegung der Reise einen Gegensatz zum Stillstand des Todes. Als er jedoch 

als Überlebender zurückkehrt, muss er die Reise, die für so viele den Tod bedeutete, 

hinter sich lassen : Auf die Reise folgt das Schweigen. Erst indem Semprún — 20 

Jahre später — dieses Schweigen überwindet, schließt er die “große Reise” vollends 

ab. Semprúns Reisebeschreibung schwankt — hierauf will ich näher eingehen — 

perspektivisch zwischen autobiographischem Einzelschicksal, kollektiver Erinnerung 

und literarischer Fiktion. Das Zeugnis, das er ablegt, geht bewusst über seine 

eigene Person hinaus und ist dennoch unvollständig, da es das Ziel der Reise — das 

Konzentrationslager — fast völlig ausspart. Mein Vortrag soll beleuchten, wie sich 

Erinnerung und Reiseschilderung um diese Leerstelle herum fügen. 

Email thomasnehrlich@other-net.de 


Panel 10 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Robert Nelson ( University of Windsor, History, Canada ) 

Seeing Poland in Manitoba : Max Sering, Inner Colonization, and the Journey of 

a Concept 

In 1883 the young agrarian scientist Max Sering was sent by the Prussian government 

on a six month research trip to North America to discover why farming there was 

so effi cient, and additionally what was so att ractive that thousands of Germans 

continued to emigrate from the Eastern reaches of the German Empire and sett le 

in the American Midwest and the Canadian Prairies. Aft er studying farming and 

sett ling techniques, and especially the results of the American Homestead Act of 1862, 

Sering claimed that, while standing in the Great Plains of North America, he saw 

Germany’s future in Eastern Europe. Upon his return home his ideas were received 

with great interest and in 1886 Chancellor Bismarck began the Prussian program of 

inner colonization, the buying of Polish land and providing it to incoming German 

colonists. Th e slow transformation of Eastern Europe into a German colonial empire 

had begun. Inner colonization is sett lement colonialism within a nation’s borders, 

usually at the edge, the borderlands. Such colonization is oft en a project of nation 

building and is used either to claim ‘empty’ land for the metropole, or to att empt to 

outnumber those living in the disputed region who are not members of the national 

community. Th e practitioners of inner colonization saw this project as directly linked 

to, and a part of, worldwide overseas colonization, and there existed a global transfer 

of knowledge among ‘inner colonizers’, with specialists in England, the u sa, Russia 

and Germany all exchanging ideas as to how best to sett le farmers and strengthen the 

nation. 

Email rnelson@uwindsor.ca 


Panel 19 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Paul Nissler ( Stanford University, Language Center/German/Spanish, Palo Alto, 

California, u sa ) 

Humboldt in Spanish and German discussion : from ‘pacha’ and ‘ayni’ to Die 

Vermessung der Welt 

Alexander von Humboldt, typical of his contemporary German idealist thinkers, 

stated : “everything is interconnected.” Th is quote just as well could have come from 

the teachings of indigenous American philosophy or from modern ecological thought. 

I will explore this sense of ‘interconnectedness,’ positioning Humboldt both as 

being behind his times—and therefore as a part of an already established indigenous 

American philosophy and thought—and ahead of his times—as a precursor and 

impetus for modern ecological science and environmentalist thought. By considering 

recent scholarly work of Andean philosophy by Josef Esterman ( Filosofi a andina ) 

and Carlos Milla Villena ( Ayni ), including the concepts of time-space ( pacha ) and 

natural ‘reciprocity’ ( ayni ), I hope to situate Humboldt within an already developed 

cultural and philosophic understanding. Th e publishing of Humboldt’s Kosmos by 

H. M. Enzensberger will help re-situate the discussion within German presentations 

in Germany and Europe of the 1960s/70s. Hereaft er I will consider references to 

Humboldt within cultural-political discussions in Spanish as in Eduardo Galeano’s 

Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina as well as more contemporarily in William 

Ospina’s América Mestiza. I will conclude with an exploration of Humboldt presented 

in literary works in German by Daniel Kehlmann in Die Vermessung der Welt and in 

Spanish by Gabriel Garcia Márquez in El General en su laberinto. I hope to present, 

and thereby participate in and add to the discussion of Humboldt—the discussion 

itself—interconnected between Europe and the Americas, German and Spanish, and 

past and present. 

Email pnissler@stanford.edu 


Panel 41 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Horst Nitschack ( Universidad de Chile, Centro de Estudios Culturales 

Latinoamericanos, Santiago de Chile ) 

Sujetos viajeros y aventureros en los trópicos 

Antiguamente, una manera del individuo para acreditarse como sujeto era exponerse 

a la aventura y superarla como una prueba. Ulises —según Horkheimer/Adorno, el 

primer sujeto moderno— tenía que comprobarse como tal en las distintas estaciones 

de su odisea. También la “aventura” del caballero medieval tenía objetivos parecidos : 

solamente exponiéndose a peligros extremos, que lo ponían en riesgo y amenaza de 

muerte, él podía reafi rmarse y encontrar un reconocimiento como sujeto. Desde el 

siglo xvi una de las regiones de “alto riesgo” para el sujeto occidental moderno han 

sido los trópicos, donde le esperan todo tipo de peligros ( antropofagia, amazonas, 

exuberancia de la naturaleza, sensualidad, pereza ), peligros que no provienen de la 

escasez, sino de la abundancia, y cuya amenaza reside en la atracción de perderse en 

este mundo de promesas seductoras. Analizar en relatos seleccionados las estrategias 

de cómo unos resisten ( desde A. von Humboldt hasta E. Jünger — Atlantische Fahrt ), 

o las razones de por qué otros sucumben ( en general invadidos por la locura : de Lope 

de Aguirre a G. H. von Langsdorff ) es la propuesta de esta ponencia. 

Email horst.nitschack@gmail.com 


Panel 87 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Traci S. O’Brien ( Auburn University, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Alabama, u sa ) 

Race and Mobility in Ott ilie Assing’s Transatlantic Reporting 

In the years between 1851-1865, Ott ilie Assing wrote many articles for Morgenblatt fuer 

gebildete Leser which are a signifi cant contribution to the study of race and mobility 

in the nineteenth century. Aft er emigrating to the us in 1852, Ott ilie Assing’s focus 

on the plight of African-Americans is juxtaposed with the theme of her own travels. 

Establishing a connection between technological advances and social progress, she 

enjoyed travel in her own life and vigorously supported the abolitionist movement 

in the u s. However, while she favored granting equal rights to African-Americans, 

curiously her own prejudices prevented her from supporting such rights for Native 

Americans. In my paper, I discuss how the theme of travel intertwined with much of 

her enthusiasm for and criticism of her adopted country in terms of race, as well as her 

own contradictory stance on human rights. As she became involved in the abolitionist 

movement, the fi ght for freedom and the elimination of racial barriers between black 

and white took center stage in her work. Oft en equating the technology of travel 

available in the u s with the inevitable forward march of progress, she greeted the 

potential of African-American mobility as indicative of such progress. At the same 

time, Assing created racial boundaries against the Native Americans and excluded 

them from her new conception of mobile humanity, deeming them the antithesis of 

civilized travel and thus incapable of forward motion. 

Email tso0001@auburn.edu 


Panel 49 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Zvi Ostrin ( Hostos Community College, Department of Natural Sciences, New York, 

u sa ) 

Between Science And Imagination : Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Lost World” 

Narrative 

For abstract, please refer to Karin Lundberg 

Email zostrin@hostos.cuny.edu 


Panel 14 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Georg Ott e ( Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Faculdade de Letras, Belo 

Horizonte, Brazil ) 

Zwischen Goethe und Hitler — die Verdrängung des NS-Regimes im 

Deutschland-Tagebuch von João Guimarães Rosa 

Der brasilianische Schrift steller João Guimarães Rosa war von 1938 bis 1942 Vice- 

Konsul in Hamburg. Während dieser Zeit führt er ein zunächst dienstlich geprägtes 

Tagebuch, in welchem er Vorkommnisse wie Bombeneinschläge registriert und die 

vom n s-Regime zensierte Presse kommentiert. Darüberhinaus fi ndet sich im selben 

Tagebuch jedoch auch eine Reihe privater, von literarischem Gestaltungswillen 

geprägter Eintragungen, durch die zwar deutlich wird, dass er die n s-Diktatur wahrnimmt 

und ihr ablehnend gegenübersteht, sie aber gleichzeitig einem Verdrängungsprozess 

unterzieht. Der Kommentar zu einer Faust-Auff ührung, der mit einem 

Heil Goethe endet, steht emblematisch für die Verdrängung einer Wirklichkeit, die 

einem vorgeprägten, positiven Bild von der deutschen Kultur zuwiderläuft . Ziel des 

Beitrags ist, den Konfl ikt zwischen diesem vermeintlich vertrauten Bild und der als 

fremd empfundenen Wirklichkeit des Dritt en Reiches aufzuzeigen. Es handelt sich 

hierbei um das Ergebnis eines Forschungsprojekts am Acervo de Escritores Mineiros 

( Sammlung der Schrift steller von Minas Gerais ) an der Universidade de Minas 

Gerais. 

Email georg.ott e@uol.com.br 


Panel 10 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Carolin Overhoff Ferreira ( University of São Paulo, Brazil & University of Coimbra/ 

c e i s 20 , Portugal ) 

Resentment and Delirium—Travels between Brazil and Portugal in National 

and Transnational Film Productions 

According to the Portuguese literary critic Eduardo Lourenço ( 1999 ), there are 

two very distinct cultural discourses when it comes to the interpretation of the 

relationship between Portugal and Brazil and their common colonial history. While 

Brazil off ers a reading of its past that denies Portuguese fatherhood by erasing the 

former coloniser’s participation, Portugal glorifi es Brazil’s discovery and camoufl ages 

the historical confl icts by calling it a brother country. Hence, Lourenço considers 

it to be about time to review and restructure these national discourses, founded on 

incomprehension by either ignoring the roots of national identity ( Brazil ) or by 

being excessively possessive about a now independent former colony ( Portugal ). A 

possibility to enhance the cultural dialogue between the two countries appeared 

in 1994 when they signed a Protocol for Luso-Brazilian Cinematographic Coproductions. 

So far twenty fi lms have been the result of this Luso-Brazilian initiative. 

Since the travels between the two countries have not only been fundamental for 

their relationship but also feature largely in these productions ( from colonial to 

contemporary times ), this paper aims to analyse how they represent the constitution 

of the national, or even transnational, identities of their main characters that range 

from colonizers, travellers, missionaries to migrants. In order to understand whether 

or not a shift is occurring in the cultural discourses described by Lourenço, it will, 

moreover, compare these fi ndings with a study of the representation of journeys 

between Brazil and Portugal depicted in the respective national cinemas. 

Email carolinoverferr@yahoo.com 


Panel 72 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Christina Pareigis ( Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin, Literature/ 

Cultural Studies ) 

“Zwischen Hegel und uns die Sintfl ut”. Zum transatlantischen Ideentransfer in 

Susan Taubes’ Korrespondenz der 1950er Jahre 

Lebensgeschichte und Werk der Religionsphilosophin und Schrift stellerin Susan 

Taubes ( 1928-1969 ) stellen das Zeugnis einer für das 20. Jahrhundert historisch 

brisanten Erfahrungsgeschichte dar, in der Judentum, Emigration und Exil, 

weibliche Intellektualität und Avantgarde zusammentreff en. Zudem dokumentieren 

sie exemplarisch den transatlantischen Ideenaustausch in der Nachkriegskultur 

Europas und der u sa in den 1950er Jahren. Taubes’ Lebensweg ist kulturell zwischen 

Europa, Amerika und Israel verortet. Aufgewachsen im säkularen jüdischen Milieu 

in Budapest, ist sie 1939 in die u sa emigriert, wo sie, nach Studienaufenthalten 

in Paris und Jerusalem, in Harvard mit einem PhD in Philosophie abschloss. Ihre 

wissenschaft lichen Beiträge sind Teil einer religionsgeschichtlich interessierten 

Kulturanthropologie, wie sie in jenen Jahren an amerikanischen Universitäten 

entwickelt wurde ; im Unterschied dazu beziehen sie sich aber auf Traditionen 

der deutschen und französischen Philosophie. Die ästhetischen Kontexte ihres 

literarischen Werks sind dagegen in der europäischen Nachkriegsavantgarde 

zu suchen. Taubes’ Hinterlassenschaft en dokumentieren ein Ineinanderspiel 

von Religion, Philosophie, Literatur und Leben, das die disziplinären Grenzen 

überschreitet und in dessen Zentrum die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von jüdischem 

Denken und deutscher Philosophie nach 1945 steht. Wir haben es dabei mit einer 

Biographie pure ( Weigel ) zu tun, denn keine vorausgegangene Sekundärliteratur 

steht als Bezugspunkt für Taubes Lebensgeschichte bereit. Insofern werden erst 

während der Arbeit am Material die Operationen erkennbar, mit denen hier die 

‘graphe’ eines Lebens in dessen Darstellung verwandelt werden. Das möchte ich 

entlang von Briefäußerungen aus der frühen Korrespondenz zwischen Susan 

Taubes und ihrem Ehemann Jacob Taubes zeigen, in denen jener transatlantische 

Ideenaustausch zwischen intimer Mitt eilung und öff entlicher Debatt e zur Sprache 

kommt. 

Email pareigis@zfl .gwz-berlin.de 


Panel 8 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Christina Pareigis ( Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin, Literature/ 

Cultural Studies ) 

“Von Warschau nach New York”. Die poetischen Passagen der Dichterin 

Kadye Molodovsky 

Lyrik und Prosatexte der jiddischsprachigen Dichterin Kadye Molodovsky ( 1894- 

1974 ) verarbeiten in je unterschiedlicher Weise Erfahrungen der Emigration. 1935 

— noch vor Beginn der Okkupation Polens durch die deutschen Nationalsozialisten 

— emigriert Molodovsky aus Warschau nach New York. Ihre Texte eröff nen nun 

vielfältige Fragen in Hinsicht auf Diff erenzerfahrungen und Schwellensituationen 

der Emigrantin : religiös-kulturelle und sprachliche Barrieren zwischen Jüdinnen 

und Nichtjuden sowie sexuelle Diff erenzen innerhalb des jüdischen Lebens in 

Osteuropa und in Amerika. Dabei geht es nicht nur um eine Auseinandersetzung 

mit der unbekannten Kultur, sondern auch um die Suche nach Orten in dem in 

Bewegung geratenen System der Geschlechterverhältnisse innerhalb der vertrauten 

Kultur. Die verbreitete Formel von der doppelten Alterität der Immigrantin — als 

Frau und als Teil einer anderen ethnischen Gruppe — scheint erstarrt angesichts 

der wechselnden und neuen Allianzen, die alte Diff erenzierungen aufh eben, vertikal 

zu den bestehenden verlaufen und in unaufl ösbaren Binnenspannungen zueinander 

stehen. Molodovsky Debüt 1920 bildet den Auft akt für ein literarisches Lebenswerk, 

das eine enge Verbindung von jüdischer Tradition und säkularer Yiddishkayt eingeht, 

welche die Erfahrung jüdischer Armut und antisemitischen Terrors verarbeitet, aber 

auch das Erleben jüdischer Frauen zwischen Emanzipation und Loslösung vom 

orthodoxen Herkunft smilieu. Die in den u sa entstandene Dichtung akzentuiert 

die Schwellen-Situation der Einwanderer, den Druck der Schmelztiegelgesellschaft 

— und vor allem die Sprache als Trägerin von Tradition und Identität sowie den 

drohenden Verlust des jiddischen Sprachgedächtnisses durch eine Gesellschaft , in 

der Diff erenzen absorbiert werden. Die skizzierten Fragestellungen sollen nun im 

Verfahren eines integriert intertextuellen und sozialgeschichtlichen Close-Readings 

entlang ausgewählter Texte der Autorin debatt iert werden. 

Email pareigis@zfl .gwz-berlin.de 


Panel 75 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Ulrich Päßler ( Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaft en, Alexandervon-Humboldt-Forschungsstelle, 

Berlin ) 

Alexander von Humboldt, Carl Ritt er and the Representation of the Americas in 

the Berlin Geographical Society ( c. 1840-1859 ) 

During the 1840s and 1850s a wide variety of topics concerning the Americas was 

discussed in the monthly meetings of the Berlin Geographical Society. Th e choice of 

these topics was mainly made by Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritt er ( founder 

and long-term president of the Society ). Humboldt used the Society and its journal 

“Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde” to advocate his continuing interest in the 

exploration of the American continent and in its historical geography. E.g., when 

British and North-American geographers discussed various projects to build an 

inter-oceanic ship canal in Central America during the 1850s, Humboldt successfully 

urged Ritt er to present these projects in a series of articles for his journal. In my 

paper I would like to discuss which role Humboldt played generally as a scientifi c 

intermediary between the Americas and Berlin. Th e discussions on the American 

continent in the Geographical Society depended highly on already published 

reports by British and North-American explorers and researchers. Th us, Ritt er put 

special emphasis on collecting, analyzing and comparing geographical knowledge 

while accusing the Geographical Societies of London and Paris of superfi ciality and 

sensationalism. It shall be asked, how this “outside perspective” shaped the view 

on the Americas in the Berlin Geographical Society. Finally I would like to analyze, 

in which way Ritt er and his disciples positioned the American continent in their 

Christian-teleological interpretation of world history. 

Email paessler@bbaw.de 


Panel 36 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Th omas Pekar ( Gakushuin University, German Department, Tokyo, Japan ) 

Exil im Quadrat. Transgressive ( Selbst- )Übersetzungen in Gedichten von Kurt 

Bauchwitz 

Die in Japan geschriebenen Gedichte des jüdisch-deutschen Juristen und 

Schrift stellers Kurt Bauchwitz, alias Roy C. Bates ( 1890-1974 ), die unlängst durch 

eine Publikation ‘neu’ entdeckt wurden ( vgl. : Kurt Bauchwitz : Heim-Findungen. 

Lebensbuch eines Emigranten. Hg. von Johannes Evelein. Bonn 2006 ), verdanken 

sich einer ganz besonderen Situation : Als Exilant, der 1939 Deutschland verlassen 

musste, auf seiner Exilreise in die u sa allerdings anderthalb Jahre in Japan festsaß, 

stand Bauchwitz zwischen drei Sprachen : dem Deutschen, seiner Mutt ersprache, 

die er zu dieser Zeit aber ablegen wollte, dem Englischen, in welches er, wie in seine 

neue Heimat u sa, überzuwechseln strebte, und dem Japanischen, welches die 

Sprache war, mit der er aktuell konfrontiert wurde. In einigen seiner dreisprachig 

geschriebenen Gedichte thematisiert Bauchwitz diese ‘Babelisierung’ seiner 

sprachlichen Situation, den Sprachverlust, aber auch einen gleichsam ‘transgressiven’ 

Sprachenwechsel. Weiter übernimmt Bauchwitz in seinen Gedichten nicht nur 

japanische Gedichtformen, um mit ihnen die prekäre Lebenssituation seines Exils 

auf künstlerisch gelungene Weise zu bewältigen, sondern nähert sich auch östlichen 

Denkweisen an, die ihm schließlich einen gelungenen Identitätswechsel — aus 

dem Deutschen Kurt Bauchwitz wird der Amerikaner Roy C. Bates — gestatt en. 

In meinem Vortrag soll diese Problematik von Sprachüberlagerungen und 

Sprach- und Identitätswechsel, die sich durch diese ‘erzwungene’ Exil-Reise für 

Bauchwitz ergab, aus der Perspektive eines erweiterten Begriff s von ‘kultureller 

Übersetzung’ diskutiert werden, der an der Formel ‘Übersetzung als transformatives 

Prinzip’ ( vgl. Bachmann-Medick, Doris : Cultural Turns. Neuorientierungen in den 

Kulturwissenschaft en, Reinbek b. Hamburg 2006 ) anknüpft . 

Email thomas.pekar@gakushuin.ac.jp 


Panel 70 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Alejandro Iván Pérez Daniel ( Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institut für 

Romanistik ) 

Palmeras de la brisa rápida de Juan Villoro : el viaje de un letrado a Yucatán o 

cómo volverse extranjero en la tierra propia 

Existe una larga tradición de relatos de viaje a la Península de Yucatán que se remonta 

a las crónicas de Indias y que culmina con la literatura de viajes decimonónica. En 

Palmeras de la brisa rápida, Juan Villoro ensaya una variante poco común del relato de 

viajes : el autor se traslada a una región que, si bien se halla lejos del centro, pertenece 

a la propia geografía mexicana, es decir a su propia realidad. El objetivo general de 

este trabajo es descubrir y analizar las implicaciones de este aparente contrasentido. 

La primera estrategia del escritor capitalino frente a esta empresa un tanto caprichosa 

es acudir precisamente a esa tradición literaria, histórica y antropológica de viajeros 

extranjeros que han recorrido la Península. Desde las primeras páginas del libro trata 

de inscribir su crónica en la serie formada por autores tan diversos como Bernal Díaz 

del Castillo, Fray Diego de Landa, el mayista inglés Eric S. Th ompson, o el aventurero 

estadounidense John Lloyd Stephens. La forma autobiográfi ca de la crónica toma un 

matiz peculiar, dado que el autor se asume como un extranjero que viaja a Yucatán. El 

narrador puede adoptar el punto de vista de un explorador recién llegado a un nuevo 

país gracias a que apela a su ascendencia española. Esta singular crónica de viajes se 

compone de varios nodos de interés : el más importante es el cruce entre la cultura 

letrada mexicana, de raigambre eurocentrista, y una realidad regional que todavía a 

fi nales de la década de 1980 muestra rasgos de una cultura tradicional. 

Email aipdaniel@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 84 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Stefanie Peter ( Ethnologin, freie Autorin, Berlin ) 

Todtraurig : Levi-Strauss und die Ausstellung Tropen als Trailer für das 

Humboldtforum 

Die Berliner Ausstellung Tropen bezieht sich explizit auf den Ethnologen und 

Wissenschaft stheoretiker Claude Lévi-Strauss. Seine Mythenanalyse, heißt es, 

liege der Ausstellungskonzeption zugrunde, bilde ihr Gerüst. Die bloße Idee der 

Übertragung eines so komplexen, ja sperrigen Denksystems wie der strukturalen 

Anthropologie auf den populären Kontext des Ausstellungsmachens überrascht, 

war doch der Strukturalismus in den letzten Jahrzehnten vollständig aus der Mode 

geraten. Handelt es sich hier tatsächlich um eine Relektüre, eine Auseinandersetzung 

mit der Th eorie des Autors der Traurigen Tropen oder bloß um ein Herausgreifen 

einiger schlagkräft iger Metaphern im Jahr seines 100. Geburtstags ? Lévi-Strauss war 

nicht nur ein Sammler außereuropäischer Kunstwerke, sondern auch einer der ersten, 

die über deren Präsentation in europäischen Museen und Sammlungen nachgedacht 

haben. Sein Ideal des ethnologischen Museums hat sich allerdings im Laufe der 

Jahrzehnte stark gewandelt : früher favorisierte er die Dioramen im New Yorker 

Museum of Natural History, zuletzt die Erlebnis-Inseln im Pariser Museé du Quai 

Branly. Was läßt sich im Hinblick auf das Humboldt-Forum von Lévi-Strauss lernen ? 

Email stefciap@gmail.com 


Panel 39 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Teresa Pinheiro ( Technische Universität Chemnitz, Institut für Europäische Studien, 

Germany ) 

Cultural Translation in Works of Jesuit Missionaries in 16th Century Brazil 

Cultural translations are not limited. At least if the outcome of a cultural translation 

process is not expected to be an exact depiction of holistic cultures, but is rather 

considered a third place. Th e transfer of cultures into familiar ways of thinking can 

not be considered to be a method of understanding the other. It rather becomes 

inevitable that cultural trans-lation ought to be seen as a contingent cultural practice. 

When the fi rst Jesuit missionaries set sail for Brazil in 1549 they were about to face 

an almost totally unfamiliar society which they were supposed to appropriate in the 

context of Portuguese colonial and missionary policy. Th e Jesuit practice of cultural 

translation thus ought to be put in context of the colonisation process. Yet in this 

colonial context there are other types of micro-contexts exercising an infl uence on 

the alterity discourses and which have to be acknowledged as well : e.g. personal 

relations, institutional constraints. In this contribution I will approach the practice 

of cultural translations by Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits in 16th century Brazil. On 

the basis of a pragmatic reading of communication processes between Europeans 

and Native Americans as refl ected in the Jesuit lett ers I will map out elements of 

an archaeology of cultural translations. I will argue that the outcome of cultural 

translations is neither an absolute appropriation nor a faithful reproduction of alterity. 

It is rather something entirely new—a space of translation in which relations and 

identities are negotiated. 

Email teresa.pinheiro@phil.tu-chemnitz.de 


Panel 82 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Martin Pott er ( University of Bucharest, English Department, Romania ) 

Evelyn Waugh and the Americas : Confl ictive Affi nities 

During his career Evelyn Waugh wrote two travel books on the Americas, Ninety- 

Two Days ( mainly on British Guiana, now Guyana, with an excursion to Brazil ) 

and Robbery Under Law ( on Mexico ), as well as sett ing a novel in California ( Th e 

Loved One ) and an episode of someone in the South American jungle ( A Handful of 

Dust ). Concentrating on the travel books but with an eye on the novels as well, I shall 

explore the role that contrastive categories such as Latin and Anglo-Celtic culture, 

civilisation and frontier life, and the religious and the secular play in Waugh’s vision, 

and I shall particularly consider how Waugh’s Catholic allegiance shapes and shift s 

his sympathies. 

Email martingpv@hotmail.com 


Panel 62 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Gunter Karl Pressler ( Universidade Federal do Pará, Faculdade de Letras, Belém, 

Brazil ) 

Th e Illumination Project in the Lett ers of Travel by Francisco X. Mendonça 

Furtado ( 1751-1759 ) and the Creative Reception in the Novels of Dalcídio 

Jurandir ( 1929, 1978 ) 

Th e Prime Minister Marques de Pombal starts aft er the Treaty of Madrid ( 1750 ) 

a modern political enterprise of “nationalization” of the colonies. Th e Treaty has 

recognized the de facto occupation, and transferred sovereignty of about half of the 

Amazon basin from Spain to Portugal. Th e political project has been executed by 

Francisco X.Mendonça Furtado against the Jesuits “State of God” who protected 

Indians from slavery and sett lers in vast semi-autonomous tracts of territory. Th e 

Spanish occupation has started from the Andes, but the Amazonian fortifi cation of 

Portugal began from the delta of the Amazon River. 

By drawing our att ention to political and ideological appropriations ( the concept 

of the modern individual/state ), and the traces left by social memory ( lett ers and 

popular narratives ) and fi ctional literature ( romances ), such fl ows of people, ideas, 

images and ideals challenge us to rethink the character of phantasmagoria and 

fi ctional values of belonging, formation and identity. Th is study compare two voices : 

the lett ers of the Portuguese ambassador-traveller Francisco X. Mendonça Furtado 

which expresses the political project of modernization ( 18th century ) and the native 

novelists Dalcídio Jurandir ( 1909-1979 ) to knowing how political and aesthetic 

imagination infl ected or confi gured the individual creative enquire and in which form 

are collectively of Amazonia ( Nationalization and Culture ) imagined or represented. 

Th is comparative study especially considering the regional background which liberate 

one of the most potentialities of imagination and confronting in dialogic interaction 

the Phantasmagoria with the ruins of the reality, the political imagination with the 

narrative fi ccionalization. 

Email gupre@ufpa.br 


Panel 98 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Nadia Prévost Urkidi ( Université de Toulouse II, France ) 

Refl exiones alrededor del estatuto científi co del ‘erudito-viajero’ durante el 

siglo xix. Casos concretos de viajeros franceses a América. 

It may seem evident that fi eld experience could enhance a traveler’s authority as 

an expert in the fi eld he hoped to dominate when he presented his analysis of his 

collected data. Nonetheless, this was not France’s academic reality, and academics 

considered travelers’ publications with disdain. Few voyagers were fortunate 

enough to be recognized as both “traveler” and “expert” by the academics who 

represented “offi cial science” in Paris. But if this “hierarchy” of knowledge is perfectly 

understandable in well established fi elds such as naturalists’ studies, it posed a serious 

problem for the new Americanist fi eld. In general, the role of the traveler consisted 

in going to the fi eld to then bring to France information that later the “real” experts 

could validate, analyze, discuss, and dveelop. But who in France had suffi cient 

knowledge of Maya archaeology to discuss and analyze the drawings Waldeck made 

of Palenque ( Mexico ) in the 1830s ? In the same line of argument, who could analyze 

the Nahuatl, Maya, or Huave linguistic data collected by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 

the 1850s ? No one, which explains the fame and success the books of these erudite 

Americanist travelers experienced in bookstores in their day. Taking these specifi c 

cases—that of Jean-Frédéric Waldeck ( 1766-1874 ) and that of Charles-Étienne 

Brasseur de Bourbourg ( 1814-1874 )—I will analyze the ambiguous and specifi c 

relations that could exist between the experience of travel and the status of expert 

Americanist in the nineteenth century. 

Email contact@nadiaprevosturkidi.net 


Tourism 

Panel 53 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Maria Elena Pubillones ( Universidad de la Habana, Cuba ) 

Alejandro de Humboldt : Segundo descubridor de Cuba 

For abstract, please refer to Maria Elena Mena 

Email marita7766@yahoo.es 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Dan Puckett ( Troy University, History, Montgomery, Alabama, u sa ) 

Th e Travel Diaries of Pastor Charles Bell and Rabbi Milton Grafman : Two 

Southerners Confront Nazi Germany 

During the 1930s, two southerners traveled to Germany as part of larger European 

tours. Southern Baptist minister Charles R. Bell of Alabama traveled across Europe 

in 1936. In Germany, Bell reported witnessing a “national resurrection” of the German 

nation under Adolf Hitler and expressed his gratitude that Hitler’s Germany had 

halted the spread of Communism. His observations diff ered litt le from other Baptist 

pastors who in 1935 had reported witnessing no antisemitism or anti-Christian 

activities. Conversely, Rabbi Milton Grafman of Kentucky toured in mid-1938 as 

part of a three month study seminar. Because of the antisemitism in Germany, 

Grafman had to conceal his Jewish heritage and traveled as “Mr.” Grafman instead 

of as Rabbi Grafman. His experience profoundly diff ered from that of Bell who had 

earlier visited Nazi Germany. Instead of the new German “spirit” Bell described, 

Grafman characterized his experiences in Berlin aft er witnessing the devastation 

wrought on the city’s Jews as “the most harrowing and crushing I have ever had.” My 

paper will examine how each individual reacted to Nazism and Nazi antisemitism. 

Th eir responses refl ected not only their own perception, but also the perception of 

their respective religious communities. Although Bell eventually condemned Nazi 

Germany, his initial observations convinced him that criticism of Hitler had been 

exaggerated. For Grafman, the trip into Germany stoked a desire to aid persecuted 

Jews. He became a Zionist at a time when a majority of Reform Jews still held the 

movement at arms length. 

Email dpuckett 45442@troy.edu 


Panel 5 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Dieter Rall ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma, México City ) 

Mexikobilder in Karl Mays Reiseerzählungen 

In vielen seiner Romane, die in Amerika spielen, hat Karl May ( 1842-1912 ) das Th ema 

Mexiko gestreift . Aber in den Bänden 51 bis 55 der Gesammelten Werke hat er Mexiko 

zum zentralen Th ema seiner “Reiseerzählungen” gemacht : Schloss Rodriganda, Die 

Pyramide des Sonnengott es, Benito Juarez, Trapper Geierschnabel und Der sterbende 

Kaiser. In engem inhaltlichen Zusammenhang mit diesen Romanen, die ursprünglich 

den Titel Das Waldröschen trugen, steht Band 77, Die Kinder des Herzogs. Das zentrale 

historische Th ema dieser Erzählungen, die mit dem Jahr 1847 einsetzen, ist 

der Machtkampf zwischen dem mexikanischen Präsidenten Benito Juárez und 

der französisch-österreichischen Koalition, welche, unterstützt von einer Gruppe 

konservativer mexikanischer Sympathisanten, Maximilian als Kaiser von Mexiko 

einsetzte ; ein Unternehmen, das letztlich scheiterte. 

Um dieses zentrale Th ema ranken sich eine grosse Anzahl von Abenteuern, Kämpfen 

zwischen den Parteien, Koalitionen mit Indianerstämmen, Intrigen, Ent führungen, 

Piraten- und Räubergeschichten, Duellen zwischen preussischen Offi zie ren, 

diplomatischen Konfl ikten und Begegnungen mit Bismarck und dem deut schen 

Kaiser Wilhelm ; — alles Szenen, die in schneller Abfolge zwischen dem Norden und 

der Hauptstadt Mexikos, zwischen Madrid und den Pyrenäen, auf Verfolgungs fahrten 

zwischen Veracruz, der Karibik, den atlantischen Inseln und Südafrika und auf 

Schauplätzen in Frankreich, in Berlin und anderen deutschen Städten spielen. Liebesbande 

werden zwischen Menschen verschiedenster kultu rel ler Herkunft geknüpft , 

und der Erzähler vermischt verbürgte Informationen, übernommene Klischees und 

seine freie Phantasie, um den Leser mit den sich immer wieder überstürzenden Ereignis 

sen bei Laune zu halten und mit den Mythen des unbesiegbaren Helden, des guten 

Wilden und der Überlegenheit bestimmter “Rassen” zu bedienen. In der bekannten 

Schreibweise Karl Mays wird Realismus nicht immer gross geschrieben, aber er 

verstand es, historische Fakten, Naturschilderungen und landeskundliche Informationen 

einzustreuen, welche das Mexikobild vieler seiner Zeitgenossen prägten. Die 

Romane sind eine Art von Zeitdokumenten, welche die Erwartungshaltung, den 

Geschmack und die Ideologie einer grossen Anzahl deutschsprachiger Leser der 

zweiten Hälft e des 19. und der ersten des 20. Jahrhunderts widerspiegeln. 

Email dieterrall@hotmail.com 


Panel 93 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

David Ravet ( Université Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, France ) 

Travelling and Emigration to New York City in French Literature and American 

Art in the Twentieth Century 

Our lecture concerns travelling and emigration to New York City in French literature, 

in particular in the fi rst part of the twentieth century. It is based on the studies of 

“Pâques à New York” writt en by Cendrars and on extracts from Bardamu’s American 

trip in Voyage au bout de la nuit by Céline. We use an interartistic approach comparing 

the travelling texts to American paintings of the 1910’s. An “avant garde” style of 

social painting, the Ash Can School was born in the United States with painters such 

as John Sloan and Everett Shin who wanted to denounce the emigrants’ wretched 

situation in New York. Th is lecture will be divided into two parts : New York and 

the dream of America in Cendrars and Céline’s writings, and the representation of 

emigrants to the New World in French Literature and the Ash Can School. 

Email ravetdavid73@yahoo.fr 


Panel 65 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Sandra Rebok ( Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales-csic, Madrid, Spain ) 

Th e Scientifi c Exploration of the United States. German Travellers during the 

19th century 

Besides numerous publications with personal experiences of immigrants, guidebooks 

for those who were interested in emigration, travel novels or travel guides, German 

travellers who visited diff erent regions of the us in the 19th century also published a 

considerable number of scientifi c studies and regional descriptions. Th is contribution 

aims to provide an overview about the interest in the natural sciences off ered by 

the partially unexplored nature of these territories of the New World as well as 

diff erent scientifi c approaches to the social, political, economic or religious life of the 

American nation. General tendencies of these studies will be presented as well as the 

chronological development and the regional diff erences regarding their predominant 

interests. Additionally, the work of some authors will be analyzed in order to give 

examples for specifi c types of scientifi c exploration. Th e image these travellers created 

about the young American nation and promoted through their writings will also be 

of interest. Among other issues, the particular focus will be on the concrete aspects 

of the American reality that raised the att ention of the travellers and the evolution of 

this image over time. Finally, we will examine how the ideological and philosophical 

perspective of these German scientists is refl ected in their writings on the United 

States. 

Email sarebok@gmx.net 


Panel 24 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Erhard Reckwitz ( Universität Essen, Deutschland ) 

British Academics Visiting the US : 

Th e Novels of David Lodge and Malcolm Bradbury 

In keeping with George Bernard Shaw’s paradoxical dictum that Britain and the 

United States are two countries separated by the same language it is small wonder 

that British academics visiting the US should also experience a number of unsett ling 

intercultural experiences : In spite of their superfi cial similarities the systems 

of tertiary education in both countries are vastly diff erent, which is due to their 

embeddedness in their respective culture. In the novels under discussion any number 

of situations and confl icts are engineered where this becomes particularly evident, 

thereby allowing them to exploit the comic potential arising from intercultural 

misunderstandings. At the same time the comical mode tends to liberate the novelists 

from the mimetic constraints of realistic writing, which enables them to give free rein 

to their satirical imagination by way of creating exaggerated types of behaviour on 

both sides und juxtaposing them in the most unlikely fashion. 

Email dekanat@geisteswissenschaft en.uni-due.de 


Panel 18 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Tercio Redondo ( Ministério da Cultura, São Paulo, Brazil ) 

Th e Brazilian Landscape in a Narrative by Ernst Jünger 

Th e most important literary work by the German writer Ernst Jünger, his book Auf 

den Marmorklippen ( On the Marblecliff s ), was set down on the verge of World War 

II, three years aft er his visit to Brazil in 1936. In one chapter of O Albatroz e o Chinês 

( Th e Albatross and the Chinese ), a collection of essays writt en by the Brazilian critic 

Antonio Candido, this latt er author draws one’s att ention to a possible infl uence that 

trip had on Jünger’s writing of his book and highlights the eff ect of some tropical 

plants and animals on it. Th is essay picks up some of these ‘Brazilian’ components 

from the German writer’s diary and compares them to the narrative, substantiating 

Candido’s hypothesis and shedding light on a symbolic aspect of Jünger’s masterpiece. 

Email tercioredondo@terra.com.br 


Panel 57 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Beatriz Resende ( Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Fórum de Ciência e 

Cultura, Brazil ) 

Brazilian Literature in a World of Flows 

Th is communication aims to relate contemporary literary production with new 

possibilities of dissemination and circulation not only of the literary texts themselves 

but also of literary criticism through the use of new Internet technologies. Blogs 

by writers and critics, virtual magazines, confi gure new forms of literary writing, 

reading, reviewing. Th e advantage this resource has off ered to authors has been the 

independence from traditional mediators not only in relation to the editorial process 

but also to the legitimation one. Th e ideological proposal of contemporary literary 

production is not to circulate outside the system of the market or the media, but is 

determined not to wait for the authorization of representatives of this system and 

has searched for alternative forms of expression and circulation, especially through 

the use of the Internet. Th ese new forms of circulation have been imposing new 

formats on literary and artistic production, such as the tributary of the use of blogs 

and other diversifi ed forms of publication in Internet electronic magazines and 

sites. In a country of continental dimensions like Brazil where the young democracy 

has not decreased an expressive form of social inequality, both the phenomenon of 

literary and artistic production by authors arriving from poor and risky areas and the 

circulation through the web, impose a new literary cartography at the same time that 

establishes new fl ows of artistic circulation in the relation between local and global 

artistic production. As A. Appadurai has said, synthesizing quite well the situation 

I’m identifying : “Th is is a world of fl ows”. 

Email resende.beatriz@gmail.com 


Panel 83 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Lucia Ricott a ( Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Departamento de 

Estudos Literários e Linguísticos, Vitória da Conquista, Brazil ) 

Th e Making of Science and the Problem of Objectivity in the Naturalistic 

Travelogue 

Humboldt’s travelogue about America broadened the notion of literature and science. 

His naturalistic narrative—which would have a salutary importance for literature 

emerging in the Americas in the eighteenth century—can be considered both an 

objective report of what he experienced for the “progrès des sciences physiques” and 

a subjective account of his “diffi cultés ( … ) dans la rédaction”. My aim is to reveal 

how the process of empirical knowledge produced by his travels through America 

encompasses a concern with the composition of “la rédaction” of his Relation 

Historique. Th rough spatial dislocation, the scientifi c purpose of the naturalistic 

travel is achieved by means of practices of collecting, registering, cataloguing, 

responding to somebody’s way of writing, using several ways of taking notes. In 

this regard, the ethnographic writing will be evaluated by taking into account how 

the scientifi c process of knowledge derives from diff erent procedures of writing 

in movement. Humboldt points out that the Relation Historique was writt en out 

of remarks which he made “sur les lieux”. Would the experience of going to one’s 

own places be able to guarantee the aimed objectivity, by taking into account that 

the very objectivity of the collected facts would be subjected to “rédaction”, to a 

re-presentation ? Th e problem of objectivity is faced in a frontal way in the Relation 

Historique. My hypothesis is that the movement and fi xity which travel demands 

places in suspended state the supposed scientifi c objectivity and destabilizes any fi xed 

position or fi xity of the subject’s experience. 

Email luciaricott a@hotmail.com 


Panel 69 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Wiebke Röben de Alencar Xavier ( Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Departamento 

de Letras Estrangeiras Modernas, João Pessoa, Brazil ) 

Ethnographical and Religious Discourses within the Context of the New World’s 

Discovery in José de Alencar’s ‘Indian Novels’ and their Translations 

In his Indian novels, José de Alencar illustrated his romanticised concept of the 

nature-loving coexistence between Europeans and Indians in the tropical landscape 

of Brazil. Th e element of European culture was not given a dominant position in these 

texts, but the community of his characters already showed a cultural amalgamation 

full of problem awareness. In parallel, he used prefaces and complex footnote 

systems to critically deal with ethnographical and religious questions in the context 

of the New World’s discovery, questions that were discussed in Europe and Brazil 

in his time. He supported his comments with references to and quotations from 

works by, among others, Barlaeus, Léry, Staden, Markgraf, Southey, and Alexander 

von Humboldt, but also with writings by his Brazilian contemporary Gonçalves 

Dias. Alencar’s Indian novels were very quickly translated into French, English and 

German and also imitated in these languages. Th us, his literary concept of Brazil’s 

tropical nature, of Indian traditions and of the coexistence between Europeans and 

Indians became the focus of interest in other cultural contexts and perspectives. His 

critical remarks, however, oft en remained untranslated or were replaced with the 

translators’ own comments. Th is contribution aims to show in detail whether and 

in what way Alencar’s examination of the indigenous and Christian context of the 

New World’s discovery diff ers from that of his translators in the late 19th and early 

20th centuries. It will also be revealed what role cultural translations and cultural 

encounters respectively played in this regard. 

Email W.Roeben_de_A.Xavier@web.de 


Panel 82 

Date July 31 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Silke Roesler ( Universität Regensburg, Chair of Media Studies, Germany ) 

“L’arrivée d’un train transdisziplinär”. Eisenbahn-, Kino- und Reisedispositive 

Mit einem Zug hat die Geschichte des Kinos begonnen, und es scheint, als fahre 

dieser Zug seither immer wieder neu in die Filmgeschichte ein. Der Zug wird als 

eines der Ursprungsmotive der Kinematographie aufgefasst, das wie kaum ein 

anderes die Auseinandersetzung mit einer modernen Erfahrung der Wahrnehmung 

erlaubte. Die kinematographische Sehweise erscheint dabei vorgeprägt im neuen 

Wahrnehmungserlebnis der Eisenbahnreisenden seit der Mitt e des 19. Jahrhunderts. 

Zugrunde liegt das neue Moment beschleunigter Bewegung. Die visuelle Wahrnehmung 

des Eisenbahnreisenden, der unbewegt bewegt wird, antwortet auf 

diese neue Geschwindigkeit mit einer Verschiebung : Die Bewegung des Zuges 

durch die Landschaft erscheint als Bewegung der Landschaft selber. Victor Hugo 

beschreibt in einem Brief aus dem Jahr 1837 die neue Eisenbahnwahrnehmung wie 

folgt : “Die Blumen am Feldrain sind keine Blumen mehr, sondern Farbfl ecken oder 

vielmehr rote und weiße Streifen ; es gibt keinen Punkt mehr, alles wird Streifen.” 

Die Bewegung und die Geschwindigkeit der Maschine sind in die Landschaft 

selbst verlegt : Das statisch-räumliche Nebeneinander von Gebäuden, Feldern, 

Blumen etc. erscheint dynamisiert. Das Tempo der Bewegung erhält sein bildliches 

Äquivalent in einem Landschaft sstreifen. Dieser ist als vorlaufende Metapher für 

den kinematographischen Filmstreifen zu verstehen. Zweifellos lassen sich im 

Moment der Eisenbahn( -reise ) Ansätze der Medientheorie, der Raumtheorie 

sowie der Kino- und Filmgeschichte miteinander verschalten. Auf eine Skizzierung 

des Eisenbahndispositivs soll im Vortrag eine Auseinandersetzung mit Baudrys 

Kinodispositiv folgen. Den Ausblick bildet eine kurze Analyse des Wes Anderson 

Films “Darjeeling Limited” ( 2007 ), in dem bisher Gesagtes visualisiert zu sein 

scheint. 

Email silke.roesler@sprachlit.uni-regensburg.de 


Panel 80 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Juan Manuel Romero Gil ( Universidad de Sonora, Historia y Antropología, 

Hermosillo, Mexico ) 

La misión científi ca de León Diguet en la Baja California, 1889-1892 

En 1885 la Casa Rothschild francesa, obtuvo la concesión para explotar las minas 

de la zona minera cuprífera El Boleo, en la Baja Califonia. Firmado el contrato 

de explotación con el régimen de Díaz, se inició la construcción de un moderno 

emporio minero que dio origen a la Compagnie du Boleo : minas en explotación, 

campamentos mineros, fundición, puerto, laboratorios y un pueblo con todos los 

servicios urbanos. La inversión inicial fue superior a los 20 millones de francos de la 

época. En su edifi cación no escatimaron ningún detalle y para lograr su ambicioso 

proyecto contrataron los servicios profesionales de destacados intelectuales : geólogos, 

ingenieros mineros, químicos, médicos, geógrafos y biólogos. Entre los muchos 

personajes que fueron contratados destaca el francés León Diguet. Este geógrafobiólogo 

arribó a las instalaciones de la Cía. Francesa en 1889, a escasos 4 años de 

iniciados los trabajos, su misión consistía en registrar y dar cuenta de la fauna y 

fl ora de la Baja California, sin descuidar el estudio socio cultural de las poblaciones 

locales. La estancia de Diguet duró 4 años, tiempo sufi ciente para escribir una reseña 

geográfi ca y estadística, acompañada de excelentes fotografías ( publicada en México 

en 1912 ). Es propósito de esta ponencia es analizar la historicidad del estudio de 

Diguet en cuanto a las aportaciones sobre una tierra prácticamente ignota al cerrar 

el siglo XIX. Es hacer una lectura con base en la mirada del otro, para reconocer los 

elementos que hizo visibles desde su mirada científi ca. 

Email jromero@sociales.uson.mx 


Tourism 

Panel 58 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Otilia Rosas ( Universidad Simón Bolívar, Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, 

Caracas, Venezuela ) 

En los Trópicos de Karl Ferdinand Appun : siguiendo la huella de Humboldt en 

Venezuela 

En este trabajo se presenta a un naturalista alemán, Karl Ferdinand Appun, quien 

en 1849 llegó a Venezuela para estudiar la fl ora y la fauna americanas. El interés de 

este botánico hacia tierras tropicales fue propiciado y encauzado por Alexander 

von Humboldt. Appun se presentó ante el entonces Presidente de Venezuela, José 

Tadeo Monagas, con una carta de recomendación de Humboldt, la cual le abrió 

las puertas para explorar el interior del país. Luego de 10 años de investigaciones 

en Venezuela, Appun viaja a la Guayana inglesa, donde pasará 9 años más antes de 

retornar a Alemania. Allá escribiría la obra producto de su estudio, titulada Unter 

den Tropen, wanderungen durch Venezuela, am Orinoco, durch Britisch Guayana und 

am Amazonenstrome in den Jahren 1849-1868. Fue publicada en Jena, en el año de 1871 

por el editor Hermann Costenoble. La traducción del alemán al español de la sección 

dedicada a la investigación realizada en Venezuela fue hecha por Federica de Ritt er y 

publicada por primera vez en los Anales de la Universidad Central de Veneuzela ( nums. 

xxxii-xxxix, enero 1953 – abril-diciembre 1954 ). Para esta ponencia se ha utilizado 

la impresión de 1961, publicada, en un solo libro, por Ediciones de la Universidad 

Central de Venezuela ( Caracas ) bajo el título de En los Trópicos. 

Email otiliarosas@gmail.com 


Panel 14 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Blanca Estela Ruiz ( Universidad de Guadalajara, Departamento de Estudios 

Literarios, Mexico ) 

Sólo los viajeros saben que al sur está el verano. La bitácora de viaje de un 

mexicano a través de Francia, Italia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria y Grecia 

Aunque el escritor mexicano Dante Medina reconoce que “los juegos de palabras 

no son un juego” citando a Alfred Jarry, y que cuando hace literatura prefi ere no 

acogerlos, su libro de viajes Sólo los viajeros saben que al sur está el verano ( Alianza 

Editorial, 1993 ), muestra ese otro ejercicio de la habilidad y del ingenio que se crea y 

se recrea en los juegos lingüísticos “harto entrespatinados”, dice él como una franca 

referencia a ese simpático personaje de la serie radiofónica cubana de los años sesenta, 

“La tremenda corte”, Trespatines, maestro por excelencia de la manipulación lúdica 

de la lengua. En muchos pasajes de su bitácora de viaje por Francia, Italia, Yugoslavia, 

Bulgaria y Grecia, hay un gusto de Medina por los juegos de palabras en un profundo 

homenaje a ese programa de radio que noche tras noche acompaña al viajero durante 

su travesía mientras concilia el sueño. Mi trabajo pretende recuperar el discurso 

lúdico y humorístico de un mexicano que durante su visita por distintos países 

europeos se enfrenta a distintas posibilidades lingüísticas así como costumbres y 

culturas diferentes en un viaje lleno de graciosos tropiezos y aventuras insospechadas. 

Email beruiz@mexico.com 


Panel 79 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Zokirjon Saidboboev ( National University of Uzbekistan, History, Tashkent, 

Uzbekistan ) 

Historical Geographical Researches of German Scientists of XIX Century 

Concerning Central Asia 

Th e x i x century was the early period of Western European scholars’ scientifi c 

investigations concerning Central Asia. As Central Asia was a bridge connecting West 

and East, this region att racted Western scholars’ att ention. Taking into consideration 

nowadays the good cooperative relations between Germany and Central Asia, it is a 

global problem to analyze the earlier period of historical relations and its scientifi c 

development. It is a current problem to analyze the period based on relations and 

raise undiscovered information to a higher scientifi c level. Our participation in 

summer seminars was devoted to the historical roots of relations between Germany 

and Central Asia and to the analysis of historical geographical research of German 

scientists of x i x century concerning Central Asia. It is planned to prepare this 

research by utilizing the manuscripts of German scientists of x i x century and 

documents of the Central State Archive of Republic of Uzbekistan. Although the 

period allowed few opportunities for the use of high-tech and information, the 

scientists of West and East tried to collect detailed information about the countries 

and nations. German scientists made great contributions by providing scientifi c 

information to Europeans about the region’s geographical position and population, 

and the ethnic composition of Central Asia. Th e facts provided by the German 

scholars about Central Asia help complete and determine the relations of the cultural 

fi eld between Europe and Central Asia. It allows us to gain more historical facts for 

scientifi c investigation as these facts are presented both in Uzbekistan and Germany. 

Email saidboboev@rambler.ru 


Panel 61 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Ute-Margaret Saine ( University of California, Irvine, Medical School, USA ) 

Travel as Literature, Literature as Travel : Metaphor and Metamorphosis of a 

Topos 

Th at travel is like literature and literature is like travel is a truism of long standing, 

of which “travel literature” is only a small segment. Yet at the same time travel = 

literature = travel it is a highly vague notion. Th is paper proposes to investigate 

the relationship between literature and travel by examining parallel narrative and 

conceptual structures characteristic of both literature and travel, structures that seem 

to be constitutive of the functioning of the human brain. An obvious area where these 

similarities surface are the references to literature ( or literary inclusions ) in travel 

accounts on the one hand and on the other, metaphors of travel in literary texts. To 

mention just one example, Dante’s Divine Comedy is a voyage through space, and by 

extension, time, whose narration follows stops on the road through the cosmos. It has 

a guide, Virgil, and a narrator, the fi rst-person “I”, a persona of Dante. Th e stops are 

characterized by landscapes and persons, each person tells and represents a story that 

consists of travel : for example Paolo traveling to Francesca, in one moment sitt ing 

next to her reading a book, which in itself represents another travel, and in the next 

moment kissing her passionately. Th is “mise en abîme” of travel, the Russian dolls of 

travel stories inside travel stories of travel, is what this paper will concentrate on. Th e 

key text in which to examine the intersection of travel and literature as narrative will 

be El amor en los tiempos del cólera by Gabriel García Márquez. 

Email umsaine@yahoo.com 


Panel 95 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

José María Salvador González ( Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Historia del 

Arte, Spain ) 

Artistas europeos en Venezuela durante la Guerra Federal ( 1858-1863 ) 

Pese a la enorme turbulencia y confl ictividad político-social que vive Venezuela 

durante su trágica Guerra Federal ( 1858-1863 ), numerosos son los artistas europeos 

que transitan brevemente o residen en estancias prolongadas en el país en aquel 

dramático quinquenio. Hemos documentado la actividad por entonces en Venezuela 

de los siguientes artistas europeos : como pintores, el francés Th éodore Lacombe y el 

suizo Johann Friedrich Schalch ; como litógrafos, los alemanes Friedrich Lessmann, 

Georg Laue, Heinrich Neun, Johannes Remstedt y Alfred Rothe, así como el danés 

Th orvald Aagaard, y el probable francés u holandés Jean Leonard Scheen ; como 

fotógrafos los alemanes Federico Lessmann y Georg Laue, los franceses Th éodore 

Lacombe, Basile Constantin, Alphonse Roux y Prospère Rey, el presunto holandés S. 

J. Nathan, y los húngaros Gaspar Lukacsy y Cª, y Pál Rosti. la presente comunicación 

documenta, en fuentes primarias, la actividad de todos esos artistas en Venezuela 

durante el período analizado. 

Email jmsalvad@ghis.ucm.es 


Panel 37 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Julio Sánchez-Velo ( Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada ) 

¿Catalina or Antonio ? : A Transoceanic Personal Quest 

In Historia de la Monja Alférez, Catalina narrates her own adventures, those of a 

young Spanish woman born in San Sebastián who, aft er having been shunned to a 

convent, decides to escape disguised as a man to start out in the New World under 

the name of Antonio. Some critics such as Luzmila Camacho and Mary Perry have 

negated Catalina her right to be a woman, stating that her transitioning was more 

aptly an att empt toward being a man. Trying to discover how Catalina felt in regards 

to her gender identity ( as woman or man ) is evidently, from our perspective, a 

diffi cult task. We come to understand Catalina through the analysis of certain sociopolitical 

aspects of Golden Age society and through specifi c key passages in her 

Memoirs, where she narrates her experiences as a woman, refl ecting upon a society 

whose prejudices infl uenced her right to self-determination. In her desire to fulfi ll 

these objectives she was left litt le choice but to assume the character of a man, the 

personae of a man, and perhaps in many interpretations, the female cross-dresser. 

Without the pretension of being categorical or creating labels of gender identity, we 

can rightfully say that this woman used her cross-dressing as a tool for self-realization, 

to cultivate and experience romantic relationships with other women, to assume roles 

of power and infl uence and to live life beyond the constraints that would be aff orded 

to her as a woman of this period. Her narrative illustrates the complexity of feminism 

within a period of Golden Age masculine dominated culture, and challenges 

stereotypes related to lesbianism. 

Email copesan@sympatico.ca 


Panel 23 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 113

Simona Sangiorgi ( Universita di Bologna, Studi Interdisciplinari su Traduzione, 

Lingue e Culture, Forli, Italy ) 

Th e Wild West Travels Overseas : Receiving Buff alo Bill in Italy 

During the last decades of the 19th century, William F. Cody, known as Buff alo 

Bill, decided to create a show that could celebrate the spirit of the Wild West. His 

intentions developed into the itinerant Buff alo Bill’s Wild West Show, an innovative 

form of outdoor mass entertainment that he created drawing on his own personal 

fame, on the world of popular culture, and on the circus. Th e presence of “authentic” 

protagonists of the West, i.e., Native Americans, cowboys, and their performances, 

seemed to have the power of bringing back to life America’s past. Commentators such 

as Paul Reddin ( 1999 ) emphasize that Buff alo Bill’s entertainment, while purporting 

to incarnate the genuine spirit of America, actually conveyed a strong ideological 

message, which could exert a signifi cant manipulative power on the collective 

imagination. Th is show was so successful that it performed in numerous cities not 

only across the United States, but also in Europe. In particular, it travelled throughout 

Italy, and thus brought the myth of the Old West to the Italian audience. My paper is 

aimed at focusing on the travels of this show in Italy, and on the issue of its reception. 

What elements had already infl uenced the popular perception of the Old West in 

Italy, before Buff alo Bill’s show ? Did this show play the role of cultural “weapon” ? 

I will att empt to address research questions such as these through a combination of 

literature review and analysis of local and national Italian newspapers of that time. 

Email sangiorgi@sslmit.unibo.it 


Tourism 

Panel 63 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 113

Concepción Sanz-Herráiz ( Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Departamento de 

Geografía, Spain ) 

La Geografía de las Plantas de Humboldt y el paisaje 

For abstract, please refer to Josefi na Gómez-Mendoza 

Email concepcion.sanz@uam.es 


Panel 96 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Marcos Sarmiento Pérez ( Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Facultad de 

Traducción e Interpretación, Spain ) 

Deutsche Reisende auf den Kanarischen Inseln : von Alexander von Humboldt 

bis zu den ersten Studienreisen 

Wie allgemein bekannt, hatt e der kurze Aufenthalt von Alexander von Humboldt 

auf Teneriff a im Jahr 1799 große Auswirkungen auf die im 19. Jahrhundert auf die 

Kanaren reisenden deutschsprachigen Naturwissenschaft ler. In vorliegendem 

Beitrag soll, außer einem Überblick über die bedeutendsten Reisenden, auf die 

Studienreisen auf dem kanarischen Archipel eingegangen werden. Nach den 

gemeinsamen Aufenthalten der Zoologen E. Haeckel und R. Greef im Jahr 1866, 

die die Grundlage für die ersten Forschungsarbeiten über Meereszoologie auf den 

Kanaren in deutscher Sprache bildeten, und der Reise der ersten Stipendiaten der 

Rüppell-Stift ung zu Frankfurt a. M., F. K. Noll und G. H. Grenacher im Jahr 1871, 

erreichte die naturwissenschaft liche Studienreise 1908 ihren Höhepunkt. Zu den 

Teilnehmern letzterer zählten 15 Studierende des eidgenössischen Polytechnikums 

und einiger anderer Universitäten sowie weitere 19 Forscher aus der Schweiz und 

anderen Ländern ( insgesamt 34 ). Drei dieser Teilnehmer ( E. Künzli, E. Bolleter y 

C. Schröter ) hinterließen schrift liche Zeugnisse dieser interessanten Reise auf dem 

kanarischen Archipel. 

Email msarmiento@dfm.ulpgc.es 


Tourism 

Panel 68 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Caroline Schaumann ( Emory University, German Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ) 

Th e Humboldtian Quest : Clarence King’s Representation of the American West 

Drawing on a transnational dialogue from Europe to the Americas, my paper 

explores the impact of Alexander von Humboldt’s travel reports on the texts by 

North American explorer Clarence King. Aaron Sachs’s seminal study Th e Humboldt 

Current : Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism 

( 2006 ) laid signifi cant groundwork in illuminating Humboldt’s infl uence on J.N. 

Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace Melville, and John Muir. But while Sachs 

approaches the topic as a historian, I am particularly interested, as a literary scholar, 

in a close analysis of King’s texts that combined scientifi c and aesthetic pursuits and 

hailed the Sierra Nevada high country as a sanctuary from the confi nes of civilization 

below. Coming of age in New England, King tirelessly educated himself in both 

science and the arts, studying Humboldt’s Kosmos along with Th oreau and Ruskin. 

Like Humboldt, he was an outspoken abolitionist and pacifi st. In 1863, King headed 

to the frontier with his friend Jim Gardiner and spent the following ten years in the 

West. Like his European counterpart, King came to the mountains to escape societal 

cultivation, and both represented the risks taken in the mountains with manifest 

Romantic grandeur and masculine heroism, but they also transcend escapist pathos. 

King’s Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada ( 1872 ) combines scientifi c measurement 

with complex, ambivalent renderings—and has been proven to contain a great deal of 

literary imagination. Examining how exploration is imagined, narrated, and marketed, 

I am interested in the connections and interactions between scientifi c task, sublime 

experience, competitive masculinity, and escapism. 

Email cschaum@emory.edu 


Panel 24 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

David Schidlowsky ( Berlin ) 

Desplazamiento poético : el viaje perenne de Pablo Neruda entre América y 

Europa 

Los viajes geográfi cos de Pablo Neruda fueron enormes. Con 23 años sale al Oriente, 

donde es nombrado Cónsul de Chile. A partir de 1933 será nombrado Cónsul en 

Buenos Aires, Barcelona y Madrid ; 1939 en París y en Ciudad de México entre 1940 y 

1943. Entre 1971 y 1972 será embajador chileno en París. Pero además Neruda efectúa 

interminables viajes que lo llevaron a conocer infi nitos países en Europa, Asia, y 

casi todos los países Latinoamericanos. Sus estadías en Europa y la infl uencia de la 

cultura europea ejercen una gran infl uencia en sus quehaceres políticos y poéticos. La 

cultura francesa y los poetas franceses ; los poetas españoles desde Federico García 

Lorca hasta Francisco de Quevedo ; William Shakespeare y Walt Whitman ; los 

movimientos poéticos y políticos de Europa, son una constante que lo acompañan 

en diferentes épocas de su vida. El propósito de este trabajo es el de concentrarse 

en la infl uencia de estos viajes en algunos de sus libros poéticos. Aunque su poesía 

no es una “Literatura de viaje” ( “Reiseliteratur” ), ella tiene una relación textual 

e intertextual con la literatura europea, y los viajes geográfi cos se transforman 

poéticamente en una contemplación, presentación, recepción y refl exión de lo 

experimentado, leído y conocido en Europa. Neruda es un ejemplo extremo de la 

infl uencia de los viajes en la obra de un autor latinoamericano lo que hace que su 

obra sea ejemplar para comprender la infl uencia que ejerce la cultura europea en la 

latinoamericana. 

Email david@schidlowsky.com 


Panel 62 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Esther Schmid Heer ( Universität Zürich, Ältere deutsche Literatur, Switzerland ) 

Brasilien — Paraguay : Der Grenzraum als Über-Setzungs- und Verhandlungsraum 

der frühen Neuzeit 

Around 1700 the New World already developed into a place of complex structures 

and varied interweaving between European and indigenous religious, economical 

and political interests. My contribution focuses on these proceedings of negotiation 

and translation of “culture” in the middle ground ( Richard White ) in the reports of 

the Tyrolese Jesuit Anton Sepp ( 1655-1733 ) from the South American Reduktionen (i. e. 

villages, Span. pueblos, Portug. aldeias). 

Among other things, the Reißbeschreibung ( 1696 ) and the Continuation ( 1710 ) 

by Anton Sepp tell about mutual hybridization and diff erentiated processes of 

assimilation and negotiation in the Reduktionen of the border area of Brazil and 

Paraguay. Th e Paraquarischer Blumengarten ( 1714 ), on the other hand, shows the 

border space Brazil—Paraguay as a ( narrative ) space, which is characterized by 

trans-lations and trans-fers on various levels : regarding space by Guaraní-Indigenous 

and Jesuits, who are trying to escape together across the rivers from the raiding slave 

hunters ( paulistas ) or, who are also taken prisoner together. Regarding Christian 

religiousness, these fl ights produce numerous narrations of miracles, which may 

result in a “new distribution of space” in an “order produced by others” (Michel de 

Certeau). Regarding textuality, there are elements of connection and interweaving 

of the occidental tradition ( verses and narrations from the Bible, Patristic literature, 

Roman history, ancient knowledge ) with contemporary events in the New World 

and especially with the reports and sermons of two central fi gures of South American 

missionary history, Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, Spaniard-Peruvian in Paraguay, and 

Antônio Vieira, Portuguese-Brazilian in Brazil and Portugal, which leads to a new 

complex, polyphonic, polyglot, decentralized and decentralizing narrative. Th erefore, 

the focus of my att ention lies on trans-lations in the geographical, political, religiouscultural 

and textual space—on Brazil „from the borders“. 

Email heerschmid@bluewin.ch 


Panel 87 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Ulrike Schmieder ( University of Hanover, Department of History, Germany ) 

Th e Sexuality of Brazilians in the Mirror of European Travel Accounts of the 

19th Century 

Europeans, many men, some women, who went to Brazil as businessmen, military 

or naval offi cers, scholars, tourists, accompanying wife or private teacher, described 

every day life scenes of Brazilians of diff erent sex, social and ethic backround. 

Many travellers felt to be in a tropical Babylon and were scandalized by the high 

rate of sexual relations outside of marriage, interethnic partnerships, “harems” on 

plantations and concubinages of Catholic priests. Although they painted very 

diff erent and gendered pictures of the sexuality of white, black and native people, 

most of them looked at the Brazilian society as immoral and uncivilized as a whole 

and had an implicit view on European societies as civilized, moralized, marked by 

controlled sexuality of its members, normally within a Christian marriage. Protestant 

prejudices against Catholic culture also played an important role in creating the 

sexualized image of Brazil. My contribution will analyse the relationship between 

sexual relations as part of social relations and every day culture in the multiethnic, 

highly hierarchical slaveholding Brazilian society and its image constructed in travel 

accounts of ( German, British and French ) travellers. I will look also for the selfdefi 

nition of Europeans in diff erentiation to Non-Europeans conceived as primitive 

and exotic. 

Email u.schmieder@gmx.de 


Panel 43 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Joanna Schmit ( University of Illinois, Hispanic Studies, Chicago, u sa ) 

Mansilla’s 19th Century Style Liberalism and his Views on Nature in Una 

Excursion a los Indios Ranqueles 

Lucio V. Mansilla’s Una Excursion a los Indios Ranqueles ( 1870 ), is a fi rsthand account 

of Coronel Mansilla’s excursion to the lands originally inhabited by the Ranquel 

Indian tribe in central Argentina. Mansilla’s observations on the customs, rites, 

and social interactions of this tribe, as well as his descriptions of the land on which 

they live, are related in expansive detail in the detailed record of his eighteen day 

expedition. What is most remarkable about them is that they present a curiosity and 

interest for the indigenous customs that was rare for his time, and even rarer in the 

highly Europeanized mentality in Argentina’s capital. While the objective of this trip 

was to ratify a treaty, the decision to live amongst the indigenous inhabitants for 18 

days came from Mansilla himself and it was the ethnographic character of this stay 

that gives these lett ers an historical and anthropological interest. Like Sarmiento, 

Mansilla argues that there is a necessary and demonstrable connection between the 

aspect of the terrain a people inhabits and their character. Unlike Sarmiento, however, 

Mansilla gradually comes to recognize that, for all their “barbarism”, the Ranquels 

live in harmony with their natural habitat. Th is paper aims to explore the ways in 

which Mansilla describes the Indian’s relationship with nature, how this relationship 

shapes their culture, and ultimately the ways in which this relationship explains the 

potential clashes seen between the two civilizations ; that of Mansilla’s countrymen 

living in the capital and that of the indigenous Ranquel Indian tribe. 

Email joschmit@gmail.com 


Panel 52 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Norbert Schürer ( California State University, Long Beach, English Department, 

u sa ) 

“Behn’s Oroonoko as Travel Narrative” 

Aphra Behn’s novella Oroonoko has been interpreted in many contexts, most 

prominently those of genre ( the fi rst novel ), gender ( a female narrator ), and 

colonialism ( in the Caribbean ). One of the questions that has only received tentative 

answers in this criticism has been whether the novella condemns or endorses slavery. 

A reading of Oroonoko as travel narrative suggests that the text does indeed sanction 

the practice of trading and owning human chatt el. Travel writing, as critics such as 

Roy Bridges and Carole Fabricant have argued, was used in the Restoration and early 

eighteenth century as a discourse to measure Britain against the rest of the world, 

constructing British superiority and promoting British values. At the time Oroonoko 

was writt en, Africa was still too much of a blank slate to deserve treatment in terms 

of travel writing. However, Surinam was bett er known and is writt en in the novella as 

an untouched tropical paradise in need of development and civilization. Since Dutch 

and African appropriations of the country end in violence and strife, the British have 

to impose their own rule and order. Th is in turn is based on a social racial hierarchy 

that legitimizes and excuses slavery and the slave trade. Like most travel writing of 

its time, Oroonoko is less interested in off ering a factually and historically correct 

representation of its ostensive object and more interested in promoting an ideology 

that benefi ts Britain. 

Email nschurer@csulb.edu 


Panel 17 

Date July 28 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 116

Th omas Schwarz ( Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre of German Studies, New 

Delhi, India ) 

Imaginary Cartography of Guayana—Robert Müller’s Amazonian Novel Tropics. 

Th e Myth of Travel ( 1915 ) 

Exoticist fantasies of the 19th century present ‘Th e Tropics’ in visions of gracile palms, 

under which the native lives his simple life in a fruitful land beneath a perennial sun. 

Intrepid white explorers like Alexander von Humboldt, Robert Schomburgk or Carl 

Ferdinand Appun press onwards through the fever-stricken swamps of Guayana and 

try hard to map their routes. 

At the turn of the century, the tropics still appear as an “untold vacant space”. 

According to Charles Reginald Enock’s geography of Th e Tropics ( 1915 ), the forests 

of the Amazon are the most extensive area of virgin forest in the world. Th ese blank 

spaces in the map, the uncharted tributaries of the Amazon, leave room for literary 

projections like Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel Th e Lost World ( 1912 ). 

In my paper, I will compare travelogues from German ethnographer Th eodor 

Koch-Grünberg ( 1872-1924 ), considered an expert on native American groups living 

in Guayana, and Robert Müller’s ( 1887-1924 ) 1915 novel Tropics. Th e Myth of Travel. 

I will focus on the discursive construction of the tropics as a zone of colonial terror 

and sadistic libertinage. Th e Devil’s Paradise ( Walter Hardenburg, 1912 ) is not only 

an object of colonial but also of sexual desire, a zone of hybridity. In this context, 

my analysis will reveal Robert Müller’s deployment of the Amazon River’s fl uvium 

system as a metaphor of the human nervous system, while the tropics appear as the 

unknown realm of neurasthenia ( George Miller Beard ), a land without inhibiting 

sexual morals, a zone of anti-bourgeois denormalisation. 

Email thomschwarz@yahoo.de 


Panel 52 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Hinrich C. Seeba ( University of California, Berkeley, USA ) 

Jacob Schiel : Der Namensgeber der Geisteswissenschaft en auf Entdeckungsreise 

in Amerika 

Der für das deutsche Wissenschaft sverständnis und seine bipolare Struktur zentrale 

Begriff der Geisteswissenschaft en stammt, wie wir durch eine kleine Anmerkung in 

Erich Rothackers Logik und Systematik der Geisteswissenschaft en ( 1927 ) wissen, von 

einem nicht weiter ausgewiesenen Mann namens J. Schiel, der auch als wichtigster 

Übersetzer von John Stuart Mill in Vergessenheit geraten ist. Dieser wie Georg 

Büchner und Richard Wagner im Jahr 1813 geborene Jacob Schiel hat 1849, einer 

Empfehlung seines Lehrers Justus Liebig folgend, Mills Logik ( ab 1843 ) und 

dabei den Begriff der moral sciences mit Geisteswissenschaft en übersetzt und 

damit, unter dem Einfl uß von Hegels Geistphilosophie, ein von der moralischen 

Praxis seines Ursprungs abgelöstes Paradigma geschaff en, das von den späteren 

Kulturpatrioten für typisch deutsch erklärt wurde. Aber dieser terminologische 

Vorreiter eines deutschen Sonderwegs hat nicht nur, eher zufällig, den Weg in die 

Höhen des Idealismus gewiesen. Von Haus aus Naturwissenschaft ler und Dozent 

der Chemie und Geologie an der Universität Heidelberg, war er so sehr ein an Mills 

Wissenschaft sideal geschulter Pragmatiker, daß er seine Erforschung der Welt in den 

fernen Westen Amerikas getragen und, unter falscher Flagge als Chirurg, 1853-54 an 

der Gunnison-Expedition teilgenommen hat, die im Auft rag der amerikanischen 

Regierung die beste Strecke für eine Eisenbahnlinie zum Pacifi c erkunden sollte. Weil 

er 1859, als er schon wieder seine Lehrtätigkeit in Heidelberg aufgenommen hatt e, 

über seine Erkundungsreise ein Buch veröff entlicht hat ( Reise durch die Felsengebirge 

und die Humboldtgebirge nach dem Stillen Ocean, Schaffh ausen : Brodtmann’sche 

Buchhandlung 1859 ), das in den u sa so ernstgenommen wurde, daß noch genau 

hundert Jahre später eine amerikanische Ausgabe folgte ( Journey Th rough the Rocky 

Mountains and the Humboldt Mountains to the Pacifi c Ocean. Translated from the 

German and Edited by Tomas N. Bonner, Norman : University of Oklahoma Press 

1959 ), will ich diesen biographischen Schnitt punkt der geisteswissenschaft lichen 

Vertikale und der naturwissenschaft lichen Horizontale auf ihre mögliche 

Wechselwirkung untersuchen. 

Email hcseeba@berkeley.edu 


Panel 8 

Date July 28 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Rose Seifert ( Universität zu Köln, Germany ) 

Exile Revisited : Carlos Cerda’s Morir en Berlin 

Carlos Cerda was a Chilean writer who, aft er the coup d’état of 1973, went into exile 

in the gdr. Aft er his return to Chile in 1985, Cerda published the bulk of his literary 

work. My presentation will focus on Morir en Berlin, a novel writt en in 1993, at a 

time when the Berlin wall had already fallen and Chile was making the transition 

to a modern democracy. In this novel, Cerda revisits the experience of exile and 

the conditions under which Chileans lived in the gdr and interacted with Eastern 

German citizens. While historical retrospection may have been a decisive factor in 

writing the novel, the text itself emphasizes the immediacy and irreversibility of the 

historical and political contexts that shaped the lives of the Chilean immigrants. In 

my reading of Morir en Berlin, I am mostly concerned with Cerda’s representation 

of the status Chileans held as refugees from a country where the reality ( and the 

ideals ) of a ‘real existing socialism’ had been crushed. Traditionally, the notion of 

‘liberty’ is essential to the concept of exile. In Cerda’s text, however, the experience 

of exile acquires a more complex dimension : Upon their arrival in Eastern Germany, 

Chileans encountered a Socialist state, which, just like the regime they had left 

behind, practiced political repression. At the same time, as immigrants, Chileans 

were granted more rights than the citizens of the country that had welcomed and 

accommodated them. 

Email rseifert@uni-koeln.de 


Panel 75 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Andreas Siekmann ( Freier Künstler, Berlin ) 



For Abstract, please refer to Alice Creischer 

Email AndreasSiekmann1@aol.com 


Panel 39 

Date July 29 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Roberison Silveira, Antonio Vitt e ( Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil ) 

El papel del concepto de paisaje en la construcción de un saber científi co 

innovador en Alexander von Humboldt 

La ciencia humboldtiana es objeto de numerosas controversias : en primer lugar, 

se cuestiona la afi rmación de que sus actividades constituyen, realmente, un 

conocimiento científi co innovador ; en segundo lugar, son imprecisas las defi niciones 

y explicaciones acerca de la estructura de esta supuesta ciencia. La respuesta e 

incluso la colocación de estas controversias están vinculadas a la comprensión del 

papel desempeñado por el concepto de paisaje y, más concretamente, a la función 

ontológica, involucrando el empleo de este concepto en Humboldt. El paisaje, en su 

trabajo, presenta un conjunto de contribuciones artísticas, científi cas y fi losófi cas y, 

por tal medida agregadora, proporciona al campo de la ciencia una singular manera 

de proceder. Por un lado, estas infl uencias revelan un carácter idealista, vinculado a 

la recuperación de la vista, el papel activo del sujeto en la construcción de la escena 

contemplada, particularmente por el valor central del arte heredado de la romántica 

Naturphilosophie. Por otra parte, indican una perspectiva realista, especialmente 

en la Geografía de las Plantas y en el Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del Nuevo 

Continente, revelando en el campo de visión un signo a ser develado, comprendido 

como marca del mundo, la colocación de la particularidad que permite reagrupar y 

dividir regiones y dar carácter sistemático a su ciencia. El artículo pretende, de este 

modo, mostrar cómo en la síntesis de infl uencias idealistas y realistas, artísticas y 

científi cas —especialmente por intelectual cerrar con cientistas y fi lósofos de la 

naturaleza a comienzos del Siglo xix—, podrá Alexander von Humboldt construir 

un conocimiento científi co innovador. 

Email silveira_r@yahoo.com.br 


Panel 96 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Gesa Singer ( Aristoteles University of Th essaloniki, Abteilung für Deutsche Sprache 

und Philologie, Greece ) 

Freundschaft als Entdeckungsziel : biographische und literarische Aspekte des 

Reisens bei Georg Forster, Alexander und Wilhelm von Humboldt 

In diesem Beitrag beschäft ige ich mich mit einem Aspekt des Reisens von starker 

Antriebskraft , der sich aus den Schrift en von Georg Forster, Alexander und Wilhelm 

von Humboldt herauslesen läßt : der Freundschaft als Entdeckungsziel. Aus dem 

Beziehungsgefüge ihres zeitgenössischen Umfeldes zeichne ich die Konturen 

humanistischer sowie empfi ndsamer Freundschaft svorstellungen nach und zeige 

anhand der Gegenüberstellung einiger biographischer sowie literarischer Beispiele, in 

welchen unterschiedlichen gesellschaft lichen und emotionalen Formen das Th ema 

‘Freundschaft ’ das Reisen, das Erleben und die Arbeit dieser Forscher und Entdecker 

geprägt hat. 

Email gsinger@del.auth.gr 


Panel 1 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 115

Leigh Ann Smith-Gary ( University of Chicago, Department of Germanic Studies, 

Illinois, u sa ) 

Fantastic Geographies. Alexander von Humboldt’s Poetics of the Border 

In Alexander von Humboldt’s description of his Orinoco expedition, a series 

of border crossings is accompanied by the increasingly frequent appearance of 

fantastic phenomena. Th e trip that was to create a ‘physical geography’ of previously 

uncharted territories can thus be described as both a continuation of the Classic/ 

classifi catory discourse, which elevates a potentially hegemonic scientifi c gaze 

( to speak with Foucault ), and a confrontation with a ‘geography of monstrosity’ 

( to cite V. Y. Mudimbe ). Humboldt never affi rms the appearance of the fantastic 

without qualifi cations. In fact, instances of fantasy function within Humboldt’s text 

as orientation devices, an investigative capacity through which essential natural 

relationships are perceived. Fantasy also appears, however, as an intrusive element, 

in excess of the ‘objective’ particular and a threat to the integrity of the scientifi c 

perspective. Th is essay considers three moments in Humboldt’s travel journals 

which, as knowledge of the physical world is expanded beyond its current borders, 

consciously foreground the ambiguous role fantasy plays within the scientifi c 

project. It argues that the appearance of the ‘fantastic’, situated at the physical and 

epistemological limits described by the text, functions both as poetological element, 

an opportunity within the text for refl ection on textual production as such, and as 

constitutive of Humboldt’s conception of the scientifi c project itself. In both cases, it 

increases the self-refl ective potential of the project in which he is engaged, working to 

frustrate the claim that either—textual production or scientifi c exploration—might 

be ( merely ) hegemonic enterprises. 

Email lasg@uchicago.edu 


Panel 91 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Emilio Soler ( University of Alicante, Spain ) 

Diego Ramírez de Arellano y su expedición a los estrechos de Magallanes y San 

Vicente, 1618-1619 

A comienzos del siglo xvii, la corte española tiene conocimiento de que barcos 

holandeses han abierto una nueva ruta entre el Atlántico y el Pacífi co, al sur del 

estrecho de Magallanes. El monarca hispano Felipe iii organiza una expedición de 

dos navíos que, saliendo de Lisboa, por aquel entonces Pontugal y España formaban 

la misma nación, tiene la misión de verifi car si las noticias publciadas por Le Maire y 

Schouten son ciertas. El mando de las dos carabelas lo detentan dos marinos expertos, 

los hermanos Nodal, viajando con ellos, en calidad de piloto principal y cosmógrafo 

el valenciano Diego Ramírez de Arellano, que más tarde sería elevado al cargo de 

Piloto Mayor de la Casa de Contratación de Sevilla. Una vez comprobado que el 

viaje de Le Maire y Schouten era cierto y que la nueva ruta era una realidad, los dos 

navíos españoles recorren el estrecho de Magallanes de occidente a oriente y regresan 

a España. Los hermanos Nodal publican un libro donde narran sus experiencias 

y Diego Ramírez de Arellano escribe un manuscrito que permanece inédito hasta 

la actualidad. El manuscrito de Diego Ramírez contiene importantes diferencias 

sobre lo manifestado por los dos hermanos y, sobre todo, narra los múltiples errores 

cometidos por ellos, especialmente en el reconocimiento de las costas patagónicas. 

Además, viene una extensa relación de los accidentes geográfi cos bautizados por 

Diego en la expedición, muchos de los cuales mantienen aquellos nombres : cabo 

de San Diego, cabo Setabense, islas de Diego Ramírez… Aunque otros no lo hayan 

conservado : Estrecho de Le Maire por el que él bautizó como de San Vicente o Tierra 

del Fuego por Isla de Xátiva ( su ciudad natal en el Reino de Valencia ). 

Email emilio.soler@ua.es 


Panel 12 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Virginia Agape Spyratou ( University of Athens, German Literature, Greece ) 

Grenzüberschreitende Weiblichkeit : Susan Sontag’s In America 

Ihren Traum, ein Buch über Amerika als Einwanderungsland zu schreiben, 

verwirklicht Susan Sontag ( 1933-2004 ) durch ihren Roman In Amerika ( 2000 ), der 

nach seiner Autorin eins ihrer besten Buecher ist. Dabei hat die Reise viele Ebenen : 

Die Literaturproduktion und -rezeption als eine Reise des Schrift stellers und des 

Lesers ; die eigentlichen Reisen der Autorin zwischen Europa und Amerika ; die 

Zeitreise mithilfe dieser historischen Fiktion über eine polnische Schauspielerin, die 

1876 Amerika als Immigrantin kennen lernt ; die persönliche Reise der Heldin in 

sich selbst ( nach Cixous ist das Weggehen die Voraussetzung des Zurückkommens ). 

Im Rahmen der feministischen Literaturwissenschaft , der Gender- und Cultural- 

Studies werden wir die Verbindung von Reise und Weiblichkeit zur Schau stellen 

und uns Klarheit darüber verschaff en, wie die Reise als Erlebnis von einer Frau 

sprachlich strukturiert wird, und wie die Sprache der Heldin vom Erlebnis der Reise 

gebrandmarkt wird. Im Zentrum des amerikanischen Mythos, nach Amerika zu 

fahren um jemand anders zu werden, steht nämlich Marina Zalezowska, die zentrale 

Figur des Romans, als ein Idol, ein Archetypus der weiblichen Selbstverwirklichung. 

Indem im Roman der alte Topos der Welt als Bühne benutzt wird, erschafft sich die 

idealistische Frauenfi gur als Schauspielerin jeden Tag neu, was eigentlich der Sinn 

der Neuen Welt für die Europäer im 19. Jahrhundert war. Die Überschreitung der 

Landesgrenzen verwickelt sich in die innere Grenzüberschreitung der Heldin in 

einem Kontext, in dem die Begriff e Heimat und Fremde, Integration und Andersheit 

eine besondere Bedeutung erhalten, und die Frau zu einer Metapher für alles 

Außergewöhnliche wird. 

Email vspyratou@in.gr 


Panel 28 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Vera Stegmann ( Lehigh University, Department of Modern Languages, Bethlehem, 

Pennsylvania, u sa ) 

Exile and Return : Anna Seghers in Mexico and the gdr 

Anna Seghers is one of the greatest female German-language authors in the twentieth 

century. Unlike many German writers who emigrated to the United States during 

World War ii, Anna Seghers spent most of her exile years ( 1941-1947 ) in Mexico. 

Mexico saw the fi rst German-language publication of her most famous novel, Das 

siebte Kreuz. During her stay in Mexico, an American translation, Th e Seventh Cross 

( 1942 ), appeared, became a bestseller and was turned into a Hollywood fi lm by Fred 

Zinnemann. In my paper I will discuss the infl uence of the Mexican exile on Anna 

Seghers’s postwar literary production. Mexican topics are rare in her fi ction in the 

1940s, when she lived in Mexico. Transit, Die Toten bleiben jung, and Der Ausfl ug der 

toten Mädchen form a few isolated exceptions. Aft er her return to East Germany, Latin 

American or Caribbean themes abound in her writing. I will look at the narratives 

Crisanta ( 1950 ), Das wirkliche Blau : Eine Geschichte aus Mexiko ( Benito’s Blue, 1967 ), 

and a few Caribbean stories to answer some of the following questions : How did 

the Mexican years shape Seghers’s literary style in German ? How did they aff ect her 

vision for a new German society aft er the war ? Did her Mexican exile subtly change 

her stance toward her own Jewish identity ? Did she employ Mexican metaphors to 

mask her critique of a communist East German society that in the end betrayed many 

of its original ideals ? 

Email vss2@lehigh.edu 


Panel 45 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Nora Strejilevich ( San Diego State University, California, u sa ) 

Exile as a Way of Life 

In my presentation I want to focus on how exile becomes a way of being from which 

there is oft en no “return.” Exile has many meanings, one of them is banishment 

( forced exile systematically practiced, among other places, in the Argentina of the 

‘70s ). Aft er becoming a desaparecida in 1977, I survived and turned into an exile—this 

is why I am interested in this topic from a personal perspective. 

I have already published a story about disappearance and exile—combining my 

personal memories with testimony— in my Letras de Oro awarded novel A Single 

Numberless Death ( U of Virginia Press, 2002 ). I am now writing another book ( from 

which I will select paragraphs ) based on my own life, but centered on traveling during 

exile. Traveling, in this case, oft en appears as the other side of despair, of existential 

nausea, of meaninglessness. From the perspective of those who have lost their country 

of citizenship, traveling has to do with loss, with the impossibility of belonging, with 

the utopia of creating new roots. At the same time, traveling ( as Walter Benjamin 

already new ) is an “international cultural action” that allows for the overcoming of 

the old passions rooted in customary surroundings. Peregrination gives us access 

to a variety of artistic, social, and political situations that color our experience 

of modernity, allowing us to explore our times within a global framework that 

overcomes the idea of belonging defi ned by territory and shared culture and language. 

In short, my paper is a voyage through the geography of the nomadic condition. 

Email strejil@yahoo.com 


Panel 99 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Christian Suckow ( Alexander-von-Humboldt-Forschungsstelle, Berlin ) 

Ein vergessenes Konvolut — Alexander von Humboldts Journal der Sibirischen 

Reise von 1829 

Bekannt und aufwendig publiziert sind A. v. Humboldts Tagebücher von seiner 

großen amerikanischen Reise, sein nur handschrift lich überliefertes Tagebuch von 

der russisch-sibirischen Reise, 25 Jahre nach der amerikanischen entstanden, blieb 

nahezu unbekannt. Wohlarchiviert auf Schloss Tegel, gilt es bei der Handvoll Kenner, 

die es für wissenschaft liche Zwecke gelegentlich eingesehen haben, als sperrig, 

unübersichtlich — eine Anhäufung fragmentarischer Notizen, dürrer Messprotokolle. 

Sieht man genauer hin, wird eine Revision dieses Urteils nicht ausbleiben können. 

Eine solche genauere Sicht setzt einige Kenntnis der Zusammenhänge und 

spezifi schen Gegenstände jener russisch-sibirischen Reise voraus, dann aber erweist 

sich das Tagebuch für den an Beobachtungen, Forschungen, Erkenntnissen und 

nicht zuletzt lebendigen Erlebnissen Interessierten als ergiebige Quelle. Zugleich 

imponiert es als so spontan wie rationell angelegtes Vademecum des Autors, aus 

dem er in den folgenden drei Jahrzehnten seines Lebens immer von neuem schöpft e, 

wenn es die Arbeit am Werk — von “Asie centrale” bis hin zum “Kosmos” — und 

der Austausch mit den wissenschaft lichen Zeitgenossen, namentlich den russischen, 

verlangte. Dem heute zu Humboldts Russlandbeziehungen Forschenden erschließen 

sich einschlägige Zusammenhänge nicht selten erst aus den humboldtschen 

Tagebuchnotizen. Die Funktion des Reisejournals für jene wissenschaft s- und 

publikationsgeschichtlichen Zusammenhänge nachzuweisen, stellte sich als Aufgabe. 

Email friedrich.sw@web.de 


Panel 61 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 115

Encarnación Tabares Plasencia ( Universität Leipzig, Institut für Angewandte 

Linguistik und Translatologie, Germany ) 



For abstract please refer to José Juan Batista Rodríguez 

Email tabares@rz.uni-leipzig.de 


Panel 71 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Rosa Maria Talavera ( Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Literatura, 


Berlin : la otra mirada 

En 1875, Ignacio Martínez, quien sería un ave rara en otros países, inició su viaje por 

tres continentes y dejó constancia de su recorrido en un libro que publicó en París en 

1884. De una población serrana de Tamaulipas, estado al Norte de la capital mexicana, 

salió por estrechos y sinuosos caminos en un carruaje tirado por caballos. Su periplo 

duraría nueve meses. Antes de partir, trazó en un diario el itinerario que lo llevaría a 

recorrer ciudades europeas, entre ellas Berlín, sobre la que escribió : “Berlín, capital de 

un imperio que acaba de sojuzgar a Francia, no corresponde en nada a la idea que se 

tiene derecho a formarse de ella. Es cierto que posee anchas y rectas calles, edifi cios 

en su mayor parte de tres, cuatro y cinco, pisos, cuarenta templos, cuarenta plazas y 

quinientas calles : pero éstas están mal embaldosadas, sus aceras con angostas y de 

escasa limpieza.” Esta otra mirada nos permite regresar al siglo x i x y a través de un 

viajero mexicano, encontrar el asombro de lo no conocido. Ya los inquietos europeos 

habían escrito importantes testimonios sobre tierras americanas, baste recordar 

al célebre Alexander von Humboldt…pero, ¿qué han dicho los nuestros sobre el 

continente europeo ? 

Email rosam_talavera@yahoo.com 


Panel 52 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Chenxi Tang ( University of California, Berkeley, Department of Germany, u sa ) 

Ethnography and Natural Law in Eighteenth-Century Travel Literature 

Th is paper investigates the connection between travel literature and the discourse 

of natural law in the eighteenth century. Th e emergence of the modern naturallaw 

theory as formulated by Hobbes and Pufendorf created the need for collecting 

empirical evidences for its hypothesis of natural and civil state. Th is need was satisfi ed 

by travel literature. In the eighteenth century, the natural-law discourse and travel 

literature entered a symbiotic relationship, with the former at once drawing on and 

shaping the latt er. In its att empt to substantiating natural-law theory, however, travel 

literature discovered cultural diff erence, thereby heralding a fi eld of knowledge that 

was to be known as ethnography. Th e ethnographic notion of culture and the naturallaw 

vision of world order went hand in hand, with travel literature serving as the 

linkage between them. 

Email ctang@berkeley.edu 


Panel 59 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Margarita Tapia Arizmendi ( Universidad Autonoma del Estado de México, Toluca, 

Mexico ) 

México/Europa/México. Memorias de España 1937. Elena Garro 

El poema “No pasarán” de Octavio Paz fue el causante del viaje a España, mismo que 

había dado pie a la invitación al II Congreso de Intelectuales Antifasistas en Madrid. 

Se formaron dos grupos para ir a España : el de los invitados : Carlos Pellicer, Octavio 

Paz y José Mancisidor, y el de los espontáneos : Silvestre Revueltas, Juan de la Cabada, 

Fernando Gambo, Chávez Morado y María Luisa Vera ( Garro, 1992 :8 ). A Octavio 

Paz lo acompañaba su joven esposa, Elena Garro, ella es quien cuenta los momentos 

divertidos y las vicisitudes de este viaje, los horrores de la Guerra Civil Española, el 

miedo, el hambre y las necesidades que pasaron. Con la ironía que la caracteriza y 

haciendo gala del sobrenombre que recibió desde la infancia el de particular revoltosa, 

narra sus travesuras ingeniosas, las cosas que gratamente la sorprendieron al viajar 

vía : Nueva York, París, Madrid y los traslados a Valencia en donde experimentaron 

lo que es el frente de batalla. Asimismo, el encuentro con poetas españoles, entre 

ellos : Miguel Hernández, Antonio Machado, Rafael Alberti, León Felipe. Y al fi n, su 

anhelado regreso a México, en tercera clase, en el barco alemán Orinoco. 

Email magorico_05@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 30 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Maria Rosa Toppino ( Independent Researcher, Abbadia Lariana, Italy ) 

Características y similitudes de los viajes inmigratorios de los Siglos x v iii y 

x x desde el Mediterráneo hacia el Atlántico Sur. Inmigración femenina de 

retorno en el Siglo x xi 

Inauguración de las rutas marítimas inmigratorias con mano de obra destinada 

a los despoblados territorios de América del Sur. Los confl ictos resultantes de 

la inmigración hacia las costas del Atlántico Sur y en particular a la cuenca del 

Plata ( el mar dulce ). Desacuerdos y rivalidades entre las potencias europeas por el 

derecho al acceso a los diferentes puertos del Sur de América. Motivaciones de viajes 

caracterizados por la inmigración femenina entre América Latina y Europa de ayer y 

de hoy. Características de los viajes de la corriente inmigratoria hacia Italia. Factores 

que han determinado las oleadas de inmigración “de regreso”. Viajes y recorridos 

en la transformaciòn social del nuevo Milenio. Viajes hacia destinos desconocidos. 

Cambios sociales y construcciòn de una nueva identidad. 

Email martop@libero.it 


Panel 43 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 113

Amilcar Torrão Filho ( puc , History, São Paulo, Brazil ) 

Teorías en Diáspora. Imágenes conceptuales de la ciudad luso-brasileña en los 

viajeros británicos ( siglos x v iii-xix ) 

La ocupación de América ha producido una enorme variedad de relatos de viajes 

y crónicas de colonos, aventureros y religiosos, desde el siglo x v. En el caso de la 

América portuguesa, a fi nales del siglo xviii el número de extranjeros deseosos 

de visitar las tierras portuguesas ultramarinas aumenta, así como el género de la 

literatura de viajes se torna cada vez más popular. A fi nes del siglo xviii, el interés 

científi co por la América portuguesa aumenta por parte de los países europeos ; 

asistimos a una nueva “descubierta” de los territorios portugueses de América y la 

descripción de tierras hasta entonces desconocidas. Rio de Janeiro pasa a ser parada 

obligada de los navegadores que se dirigen hacia Australia. Aunque la naturaleza 

sea el primer motor del interés, los viajeros descubren también las ciudades lusobrasileñas, 

espacio donde se produce una relación de alteridad más compleja que en 

las selvas tropicales. Las imágenes especulares de los libros de viaje se refl ejan en toda 

la historiografía brasileña, tanto en el contenido cuanto en el método. Responsables 

por muchas de las ideas de desorden de la sociedad colonial e imperial, responsable 

por los vicios y problemas de la República. Esa ponencia buscará recuperar la 

importancia de esa literatura de viajes de autores británicos en la formación de esas 

imágenes conceptuales de la ciudad luso-brasileña en Europa, de caos, desorden 

urbanístico y también social, incorporados muchas veces por la historiografía. 

Email amilcartorrao@uol.com.br 


Panel 47 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Javier Torre Aguado ( University of Denver, Languages and Literatures, Colorado, 

u sa ) 

Narrative Techniques in Post-Totalitarian Iberian Travel Narrative 

Aft er the death of dictator Francisco Franco in Spain there was no more need for 

subtle ( or explicit ) criticism of his regime under the guise of neorealist travelogues 

through the countryside. With the arrival of a blooming democratic system, artistic 

discourse also took a new turn producing a wave of travel accounts that put into 

practice a more varied set of narrative techniques, borrowing from other literary 

sources such as new journalism and the Latin American boom. Such is the case of 

the three travel books under analysis in this presentation : La tribu ( 1980 ) by Manuel 

Leguineche, Relatos de Babia ( 1981 ) by Luis Mateo Díez, and Amor América ( 1998 ) 

by Maruja Torres. All three travel books share a new approach to the representation 

of reality, stepping away from strict realism and borrowing from fi ctional techniques 

such as stream of consciousness and multiperspectivism. 

Email jtorre@du.edu 


Panel 15 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Cécile Tourneur ( Université Paris VIII-Saint Denis, Cinema, France ) 

Th e Question of the Specifi city of Jonas Mekas’ European Look in his Films 

Jonas Mekas, an American fi lmmaker from Lithuania, fl ed from his native country 

because of Nazism in 1944, and emigrated to the United States in 1949, which marked 

the end of his long journey through Europe at war. He started to fi lm the displaced 

persons as soon as he arrived in North America, and especially the Lithuanian 

community, with a 16mm Bolex camera. In his Diary Films, he is ceaselessly looking 

for Lithuania through his new country—which he would call home only aft er several 

decades spent on the American soil—by recurrent visual motifs and sounds, shaped 

by his European look. My proposal will consist of an analysis of these motifs, in 

particular through three Diary Films : Diaries, Notes and Sketches ( Also known as 

Walden ) ( 1969 ), Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania ( 1972 ), and Lost, Lost, Lost, 

( 1976 ), in which Mekas claims his persistent European identity in an American 

daily life. Th e apparition of Lithuania through the topography of New York City, his 

att ention and att achment to nature—recalling the essential elements of his youth in 

Lithuania—compose the main visual motifs. Th e dominant sound is his voice, added 

subsequently in his Diary Films, his strong Lithuanian accent still audible in the 

spoken English language, and also traditional music and singing. Th is enumeration of 

the visual motifs and sounds and their analysis would permit us to raise an important 

point : the specifi city of the European look, from its affi liation to a particular 

cinematographic form. 

Email ceciletourneur@gmail.com 


Panel 65 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Sven Trakulhun ( Universitärer Forschungsschwerpunkt Asien und Europa, 

Universität Zürich, Switzerland ) 

Reisetheorie, Ethnographie und Geschichtsschreibung. Gött inger 

Universalismus im 18. Jahrhundert 

Die Universität Gött ingen wurde im 18. Jahrhundert zu einen Zentrum aufgeklärter 

Gelehrsamkeit in Deutschland, insbesondere der Philosophie, der Geschichts- und 

Staatswissenschaft en. Ziel war es dabei, im Anschluss an englische Vorbilder 

( doch auf methodisch sehr eigenständige Art ) den Versuch zu unternehmen, die 

schon im 18. Jahrhundert fühlbaren Globalisierungstendenzen in eine zeitgemäße 

Geschichtsschreibung einzubringen. Unter dem Eindruck der nunmehr weltweiten 

Ausbreitung europäischer Mächte verstanden Historiker wie etwa August 

Ludwig Schlözer, J. Chr. Gatt erer und A. H. L. Heeren die Weltgeschichte als 

einen fortdauernden Integrationsprozess, in dem die ( durch den europäischen 

Kolonialismus angestoßene ) Verfl echtung globaler Beziehungen ursprünglich 

mehr oder weniger isolierte Völker und Staaten nunmehr in einen gemeinsamen 

Zusammenhang gestellt wurden. In der Gött inger Universal-Historie fanden 

Reisetheorie, Ethnographie ( eine begriffl iche Neuprägung Gött inger Provenienz ) 

und Geschichtsschreibung zusammen. Das Paper will diese geistigen Entwicklungen 

in ihren nationalen und europäischen Kontexten verorten. 

Email trakulhun@access.uzh.ch 


Panel 64 

Date July 30 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/111

Jamie H. Trnka ( University of Scranton, World Languages and Cultures, 

Pennsylvania, u sa ) 

A Rhetoric of Walking Around : Pablo Neruda, F.C. Delius, and a New 

Genealogy of Antifascism 

One of the fi rst texts to approach Latin American-German relationships from 

the perspective of historical movements of people, capital, and commodities, F.C. 

Delius’s Adenauerplatz draws att ention to dynamic cultural and political allegiances 

of émigrés and exiles and the relationship of Germany to Latin American military 

and economic confl icts. Protagonist Felipe Gerlach Hernández, an ethnic German 

Chilean in West German exile since the Pinochet coup, re-traces his emigrant 

grandparents’ transatlantic path. Th rough sustained allusions to Pablo Neruda, 

Delius places aesthetic and theoretical debates about literature and politics in the 

context of popular political negotiations of the Th ird World Movement in West 

Germany. His recourse to a Latin American internationalist avant-garde poet has 

two key implications : First, it foregrounds literary-political debates surrounding 

early twentieth-century fascism internationally in relation to the resumption of those 

debates in the 1970s. Second, it challenges the priority of economic explanations 

of fascism relative to other modes of memory, history, and anti-fascist resistance. I 

demonstrate that Delius poses pivotal questions about the articulation of German 

and Chilean politics ; migration, nationalism, and fascism ; and the reciprocal role 

of Germany and Chile in imagining conditions and consequences of fascism and 

resistance. I interrogate such questions as : When, how, and why do transnational 

subjects such as Gerlach Hernández displace internationalist subjects of solidarity 

and change in German literature ? How does the emergence of transnational subjects 

prior to 1989 challenge existing accounts of transnational mobility as a post-Cold 

War phenomenon associated with the accelerated proliferation of global media and 

intensifi cation of economic exchange ? 

Email trnkaj2@scranton.edu 


Panel 55 

Date July 30 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/208

Urs Urban ( Université Marc Bloch, Langues Vivantes, Strasbourg, France ) 

Städtische Kulturen auf der Reise. Die literarische Konstruktion von Mexiko- 

Stadt zwischen Alter und Neuer Welt, gestern und heute 

Wenn Edward Said kulturwissenschaft lichen Th eorien eine Tendenz zum Reisen 

att estiert, so gilt das auch für die Th eorie vom Städtebau. Die Vorstellung von der 

idealen Stadt und ihrer konkreten Umsetzung geht auch mit auf die Reise in die 

Neue Welt : Die Kolonisierung hat es nicht nur auf das fremde Territorium, sondern 

immer auch auf dessen Bebauung abgesehen. Das Prinzip dieser Neuordnung indes 

zielt gerade nicht auf die bauliche Konkretisierung der in der alten Welt erdachten 

utopischen Gesellschaft sentwürfe, sondern im Gegenteil auf die räumliche 

Wiederherstellung der von der neuen Zeit bedrohten Ordnung der Tradition und also 

auf die Rekonstruktion des Alten im scheinbar leeren Raum der neuen Welt. Dabei 

darf nicht übersehen werden, dass der Städtebau keine Erfi ndung der Eroberer war : 

Was aus europäischer Sicht als ein Mangel an städtebaulichem Kalkül anmutet, ist 

schlicht eine andere Ordnung des urbanen Raumes — wenn Humboldt sich über die 

“schlechte Straßenführung” in Havanna beklagt, so antwortet ihm Carpentier mit 

dem Hinweis darauf, dass sich “hinter dieser schlechten Straßenführung” eine für 

den europäischen Blick unsichtbare kulturelle Logik verbirgt. Diese andere kulturelle 

Logik des Städtebaus aber konterkariert — man ist versucht zu sagen : konterkartiert 

— die gewaltsam von den Europäern instituierte Ordnung des städtischen Raumes 

bis heute. Mexiko-Stadt verspricht repräsentativ für den zeitgenössischen Diskurs 

über urbane Kulturen und für die im städtischen Raum statt habende Begegnung 

von ‘alter’ und ‘neuer’ Welt zu sein. In meinem Vortrag will ich einen Blick auf jene 

Diskurse richten, die die Stadt zu ihrem Th ema machen und auf diese Weise an ihrer 

‘Produktion’ beteiligt sind. 

Email UrsUrban@web.de 


Tourism 

Panel 78 

Date July 31 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 116

Nicole Vaget ( Mount Holyoke College, French, South Hadley, Massachusett s, usa ) 

Sojourn in colonial Cap-Haitien in the 18th century 

I would like to present a document that I found in the Manuscript’s Room in the 

Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It is a collection of lett ers writt en by a young French 

offi cer, Chevalier de Tourville, who was stationed on a Caribbean island in the late 

18th century. France and England were fi erce enemies at the time, and the Royal 

French Navy was waiting on the island of Saint Domingue ( now Haiti ) for a chance 

to fi ght the English and help American colonies free themselves from British rule. 

Th is liberation took place in 1781 at the batt le of York Town, with a decisive victory of 

the American forces led by Washington and the French forces of Rochambeau and La 

Fayett e. Th e chevalier de Tourville, took part in this adventure, describing in lett ers to 

his father, the socio-economic reality of life in a slave colony, he had the opportunity 

to observe for 6 years. He writes of the cruelty of daily life in the military and gives 

us an insight into the colonial world as seen in the streets of Cap-Haïtien. Within the 

obvious categories of white, mulatt o, and black, there were sub-categories indicating 

the strong hierarchy established between “grands ” and “petits blancs”, “free slaves” 

and “gens de couleurs”. In my presentation I will concentrate on the lett ers writt en 

from Cap-Haitien and reconstruct the social hierarchy of the town as seen by this 

early traveller. 

Email nvaget@mtholyoke.edu 


Panel 22 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Toni Veneri ( Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Italianistica, 

Linguistica, Comunicazione e Spett acolo, Italy ) 

Venice Sailing to the New World : Between Totalization and Fragmentation 

Ramusio’s Navigationi et viaggi is the fi rst organic collection of travel literature 

compiled in Venice with the ambitious aim of renewing Ptolemy’s work by inserting 

the new geographical set-up, installed by the travels of Columbus and Magellan, into 

his cosmographic model. Th e organisation of the material, however, does neither 

adopt chronological criteria, nor those of physical geography, but follows instead 

the dynamic constitution on the new courses of areas of human occupation. Th e 

spaces distribute themselves around a series of “mediterranean” seas, meaning that 

the American continent is split up in diff erent political and commercial basins. On 

the opposite of the totalizing vision produced by Ramusio there seems to be the 

dissected perspective characterizing the “isolari”, catalogues of “pieces of space”, 

“insularized” and idealized by maps, plates, and fragmented commentaries. In printed 

form, they function as inventory of Venetian maritime posessions, but they also apply 

the same appropriation procedure to lands recently discovered. If this interpretation 

of the New World as a distention of islands is the temporary solution to the diffi cult 

montage of an expanding world, or if it rather is an operation somehow compatible 

with Ramusio’s sea-centered vision of geography, his ideological support to the 

Venetian superiority, is to be analyzed. While the “isolari” crumble the space on the 

big scale surrounding it with sea, Ramusio seems to resolve his descriptive problem 

on a global scale by affi rming mirror-invertedly that “there is no Ocean surrouding 

the whole earth, but all seas are surrounded by land.” 

Email toniveneri@hotmail.com 


Panel 12 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Marcel Vejmelka ( Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany ) 

Anatol Rosenfeld : Exile and Travels of a Brazilian Intellectual 

Anatol Rosenfeld was born in 1912 in Berlin, where he was preparing a Ph.D. thesis on 

German literature at Friedrich-Wilhelms-University ( today Humboldt University ), 

when in 1936 he had to fl ee from the National-Socialist regime, arriving in Brazil 

with tourist visa in 1937. In order to survive, the illegal refugee had to work as laborer 

in coff ee plantations and as a traveling salesman in the hinterland—a traveling 

condition which conferred him an intimate knowledge of the country that was to 

become his second home, both personally and intellectually. A recent publication— 

Anatol ‘on the road’ ( 2006 )—presents literary sketches, diary entries and fi rst 

travelogues for Brazilian newspapers dating from these years. Th e early texts of the 

exilee and traveler can be read as a prefi guration of who, from the mid-1950s, was to 

become one of Brazil’s most infl uential theater and literary critics. A central focus 

shall be directed to the link between the successive forced movements in Rosenfeld’s 

life and the intellectual fl exibility he expressed in his pioneering essays on the 

cultural dynamics between Germany and Brazil as well as on the possibilities and 

impossibilities of literature and thought in the face of modernity’s darkest sides. 

Email Marcel.Vejmelka@graduiertenzentrum.uni-giessen.de 


Panel 97 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 116

Daniel A. Verdú Schumann ( Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain ) 

Aprendiendo a aprehender. El concepto humboldtiano del paisaje y la imagen 

europea del Nuevo Mundo 

Desde el mismo instante en que Europa tuvo conocimiento de la existencia de 

América, la imagen que de ella se forjaron los habitantes del Viejo Continente 

estuvo antes conformada por su propia Weltanschauung que por la alteridad del 

Nuevo Mundo. De ello hay abundantes ejemplos en los textos e imágenes sobre el 

tema que los europeos dejaron como huella del desigual encuentro entre ambos 

mundos. El concepto de pasiaje fi siognómico que desarrolló Alexander von Humboldt 

parecía a priori perfecto para, por primera vez, captar con todo detalle la variedad y 

especifi cidad de la naturaleza americana. Sin embargo, como la propia experiencia de 

Humboldt con los ilustradores de sus obras pone de manifi esto, cambiar los esquemas 

mentales y por ende visuales de los artistas europeos –y por tanto del conjunto de la 

población- era algo que no podía lograrse aplicando simplemente nuevas fórmulas 

cognitivas o modifi cando algunas técnicas de representación. Los esquemas 

heredados pesaban demasiado, también en el propio Humboldt, para obtener una 

imagen “fi dedigna” de un espacio y un territorio tan intrínsecamente distintos a los 

que habían dado lugar a dichos esquemas. La presente comunicación contextualiza 

brevemente el proyecto del paisaje desarrollado por Humboldt a partir de sus propias 

palabras, y muestra las difi cultades con las que se encontró en su puesta en práctica ; 

para terminar concluyendo que su “fracaso” no era, en última instancia, sino el fruto 

lógico de la distancia —geográfi ca y temporal— que separaba las ideas del sabio 

alemán del cambiante Arte de su tiempo. 

Email daniel.verdu@uc3m.es 


Panel 96 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Manuel José Villalba ( University of California, Davis, Dept. of Spanish and 

Portuguese, u sa ) 

El existencialismo en Campo de sangre de Max Aub 

Max Aub escribió su novela Campo de sangre durante su primer exilio en Francia 

y durante su exilio defi nitivo en México. En esta novela, Aub narra la batalla de 

Teruel y los bombardeos sobre Barcelona durante la Guerra Civil española. La 

conexión de Aub con el existencialismo ya fue señalada por Ignacio Soldevila 

Durante. Según afi rma este autor en su obra La obra narrativa de Max Aub ( 1929- 

1969 ) : “El hombre del Laberinto se plantea en un momento u otro de sus existencia 

las cuestiones fundamentales acerca de sí mismo, de su inserción en el tiempo, de 

su pasado, su presente y su porvenir” ( 202 ). Investigaré los motivos narrativos y los 

elementos ideológicos de Campo de sangre que tienen una conexión directa con el 

existencialismo. Así mismo, en mi conclusión interpretaré esta conexión a la luz de 

la experiencia traumática que Max Aub sufrió durante la guerra y su deslocalización 

posterior como exiliado en México a partir de las teorías que Th eodor W. Adorno 

vertió en su Dialéctica negativa. La ruptura de las identidades provocada por el 

trauma, así como la deslocalización de su exilio americano propició el movimiento 

crítico en el sujeto Max Aub. Este nuevo sujeto, crítico y traumado a un tiempo, se 

cuestionó permanentemente las paradojas de su existencia a partir de diferentes 

puntos de vista irreconciliables puestos en boca de sus personajes. 

Email mjvillalba@ucdavis.edu 


Panel 50 

Date July 29 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/208

Luciana Villas Bôas ( Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Literature 

Comparada, Brazil ) 

Th e Ethnography of Religious Dissent. Michel de Montaigne´s Journal du Voyage 

en Italie and New World Essays 

As the prime instrument for identifying confessional diff erences in the course of the 

Reformation, liturgy became the subject matt er of both ethnographic imagination 

and control. In this paper I examine how the implementation of religious reforms 

and the creation of new liturgies, by redefi ning the relation between acts and beliefs, 

bodies and names, the physical and the sacramental, ushered in a new ethnographic 

sensibility that cast the customs of exotic others and those nearby in the same 

light. I develop this argument by focusing on Montaigne´s de-familiarizing, playful 

descriptions of ritual ceremonies in his essays dedicated to the inhabitants of the New 

World and the passages of his Travel Diary dedicated to fellow Christians. 

Email l.villasboas@uol.com.br 


Panel 59 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Leticia Esther Villaseñor Roca ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México 

City ) 

Wilhelm von Humboldt y su Diario de un viaje a España, 1779-1800 : Una mirada 

sobre la representación social de la mujer española 

El propósito de esta comunicación es exponer un breve acercamiento sobre la 

representación que el autor construye en torno a la imagen que le provoca el 

encuentro con la mujer española. Su diario es una forma de testimonio documental 

no fi ccional que contiene un montaje de fragmentos en el cual se aprecia un discurso 

que registra referencias sobre mujeres, agentes sociales éstas que no son el sujeto 

que habla. Más bien se trata de un fenómeno discursivo que instituye una identidad 

adjudicada por un otro. Esta representación social de la mujer vista por Wilhelm von 

Humboldt se circunscribe en el aspecto signifi cante que le otorga al cuerpo femenino 

en cuanto a sus atributos físicos y al código de su vestimenta. 

Email l_villas@yahoo.com.mx 


Panel 66 

Date July 30 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Agnese Visconti ( University of Pavia, Political Sciences Faculty, Italy ) 

Th e Journeys of Lombard Mathematician and Naturalist Ermenegildo Pini 

( 1739-1825 ) : Connections and Interlinks Between American and European 

Mountain Environment 

Th e paper is aimed at promoting thoughts and refl ections on the scientifi c journeys 

( geographic, orographic, mineralogic and geologic ) completed in the last decades 

of the 18th century through Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy by the milanese 

barnabit father Ermenegildo Pini. Th e source for the paper will come from material 

partly published and partly held at the National Archive in Milan, at the Barnabit 

Archive and at the Braidense Library. Th anks to these journeys, fi nanced and wanted 

by the Habsburg power, he had the opportunity of gaining notoriety amongst the 

scholars of the European scientifi c community and amongst them Goethe, Kant, 

Saussure, Dolomieu. Particular att ention will be paid to the interconnections created 

by Pini between the mountains of South America, studied through the books, and the 

mountains of Europe, which were observed in situ, and the consequent hypotheses of 

the vegetation distribution. 

Email agnesevisconti1@aliceposta.it 


Panel 4 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Antonio Vitt e ( Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil ) 

El papel del concepto de paisaje en la construcción de un saber científi co 

innovador en Alexander von Humboldt 

For abstract, please refer to Roberison Silveira 

Email antonio.vitt e@pq.cnpq.br 


Panel 96 

Date July 31 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Christian von Borries ( Freier Dirigent, Berlin ) 

Koloniale Praktiken im Zusammenhang mit dem Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv 

Der Beitrag geht über den Zusammenhang der Aufnahmen aus dem 

Phonogrammarchiv des ethnologischen Museums mit der kolonialen Geste. Sie 

wird deutlich durch die Profession der Aufnehmenden, Missionare, Militäratt aches 

etc., die durch die Missionierung untergehenden Kulturen und die Suche nach 

den eigenen Ursprüngen. Ausserdem geht es im Fall der Aufnahmen deutscher 

Kriegsgefangener des ersten Weltkriegs um ein akustisches Vermessen ( und 

damit Kontrollieren ) der Unterlegenen. Auch wird diese Geste sichtbar durch die 

verwendete Technik : der schwarze Aufnahmetrichter des Phonographen, mit dem 

nur eine Stimme ganz dicht und maximal zwei Minuten aufgenommen werden 

kann, wo doch die Musik eventuell getanzt wird, mit vielen Teilnehmern. Auf 

zeitgenössischen Fotos steht die Bestürzung der Aufgenommenen ins Gesicht 

geschrieben. 

Email cvb@masseundmacht.com 


Panel 44 

Date July 29 

Time 15 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Jutt a Weber ( Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Handschrift enabteilung, Berlin ) 

Eine Reise um die Welt : Die Korrespondenzpartner Alexander von Humboldts 

und ihre Nachlässe 

For abstract, please refer to Toni Bernhart 

Email jutt a.weber@sbb.spk-berlin.de 


Panel 21 

Date July 28 

Time 16 :45 

Location l 115

Jobst Welge ( Freie Universität Berlin, Peter Szondi-Institut für Allgemeine und 


Rubem Braga and Brazilian-Italian Relations during World War ii 

Rubem Braga ( 1913-1990 ) is known as one of the most accomplished practitioners of 

the specifi cally Brazilian genre of the crônica, the familiar essay. Less well-known 

is the fact that in his capacity as reporter Braga also used this genre as a kind of 

travel literature. Of particular interest is a collection of texts originally writt en for 

the Diário Carioca, then published under the title Com a feb na Itália ( 1945 ). As 

an unoffi cial reporter Braga had accompanied the Brazilian troops that fought on 

the Allied site in Italy against the Germans during the last two years of the war 

( Força Expedicionária Brasileira ). While Braga has only limited access to the specifi c 

technical-military operations of the war, his texts may also be read as a refl ection 

on “inter-cultural communication” between Brazilians and Italians. Braga’s view on 

European totalitarianism is also infl uenced by his perspective on the quasi-dictatorial 

conditions in Brazil itself. My analysis of Braga’s text will emphasize the specifi c 

“epiphanic” eff ects resulting from the use of the crônica-genre as travel literature, as 

well as the submerged discourse on Italian-Brazilian relations. 

Email welge@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 15 

Date July 28 

Time 13 :15 

Location k l 29/208

Sven Werkmeister ( Universidad Nacional De Colombia, Bogotà, Columbia ) 

Die Disziplinierung des Reisens. Zum Genre der wissenschaft lichen 

Reiseanleitung 

Reisen wird in den Kulturwissenschaft en meist als Erfahrung der kulturellen 

und persönlichen Grenzüberschreitung, der Erfahrung des Anderen und Neuen 

beschrieben. Die Herausforderung des Reisenden durch das Unbekannte, Fremde 

eröff net die Möglichkeit einer grundsätzlichen Infragestellung der eigenen 

kulturellen Identität und ihrer Regeln und Gesetze. 

Die Kulturgeschichte des Reisens zeugt aber — oder vielleicht besser : deswegen — 

auch vom gegenteiligen Eff ekt, von Versuchen der Regulierung und Disziplinierung 

des Reisenden und des Reisens. Das Genre der Apodemiken und Reiseanleitungen, 

die seit dem 16. Jahrhundert europäischen Reisenden, die Techniken und Verfahren 

eines sicheren und wissenschaft lich zuverlässigen Reisens vermitt elten, bildet in 

diesem Kontext ein interessantes Untersuchungsfeld. Sie zielen gerade auf ein 

Vermeiden und Verhindern unkontrollierter, tendenziell eigenkulturelle Normen und 

Gesetze in Frage stellender Fremderfahrungen während der Reise. Dem zentralen 

Motiv des Schutzes des Reisenden vor möglichen Risiken und Gefahren, das schon 

die Apodemiken vom 16. bis ins 18. Jahrhundert verhandelten, tritt im 19. Jahrhundert 

in den explizit wissenschaft lichen Reiseanleitungen ein weiteres Element hinzu. Das 

Reisen wird nun primär unter dem Aspekt der Datensammlung diskutiert. Mit dem 

Fokus auf die wissenschaft liche Verwertbarkeit des auf Reisen erworbenen Wissens 

verschieben sich auch die Regeln des Reisens. Nicht mehr der Reisende selbst steht 

im Zentrum der Anleitungen. Nicht die Gefahr für Leib und Leben, sondern die 

Bedrohung der reibungslosen Datenerhebung werden diskutiert. Der Beitrag versucht, 

am Beispiel der Reiseanleitungen Hinweise zu einer Geschichte der Disziplinierung 

des Reisens zu geben. Reisen — so ist zu zeigen — stand und steht immer auch im 

Kontext spezifi scher, historisch wandelbarer Techniken der Macht. 

Email svenwerk@me.com 


Panel 4 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Daniel Williams ( Universität Heidelberg, Anglistisches Seminar, Germany ) 

Trodden by no Human Foot : Animals, Property, and the Environment in Cape 

Travel Narratives to 1830 

An ethnographic commonplace concerning native peoples in the age of expansion 

was that they lacked institutions of property as prescribed by European civil codes. 

Yet although objects of tentative possession ( lands, animals, plants ) were seen as 

worthier of scientifi c interest for traveling naturalists, their narratives participated 

in a political program by att esting to the apparent vacancy of the land—its status as 

no one’s land. In this paper, I compare observations about property arrangements, 

acquisition, and ownership in several Cape travel narratives, and set these accounts 

against contemporaneous debates in the European legal tradition. I examine diff erent 

conceptions of terra nullius in the work of Grotius, Locke, and Vatt el, as well as in the 

Kant’s Rechtslehre, and then proceed to European naturalists on their travels both 

before and contemporary with Humboldt—Burchell, Barrow, Th unberg, Sparrman, 

and Lichtenstein. I consider the ambivalence that arcs around the concept of terra 

nullius in these travel narratives ( strikingly absent from the philosophical accounts ) : 

land is considered both vacant and populated, unowned and yet everywhere marked 

with indices of title. I suggest that property was observed as a phenomenological 

category anchored in concrete socio-economic practices and incarnated through 

appropriative acts—rather than prescribed legal institutions. Impermanent 

sett lements and uncultivated lands thus became a stronger justifi cation for native 

displacement than later legal doctrines like terra nullius. By highlighting what has 

been called the nascent environmentalism of native peoples, travel narratives both 

outline and destabilize this discourse, off ering us new perspectives on the legal 

history of colonialism. 

Email Daniel.Williams@as.uni-heidelberg.de 


Panel 34 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Burkhardt Wolf ( Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ) 

Der Kapitän als transatlantische Figur 

Das Schiff ist, wie Michel Foucault sagt, die Heterotopie schlechthin. Damit es sich 

inmitt en des Elementarraums oder, wie man später sagen sollte, “glatt en Raums” der 

Ozeane überhaupt halten, damit es sich vor den Elementargewalten bewähren und 

die Sphäre des “Ungekerbten” durchkreuzen oder gar beherrschen kann, muss es zu 

einer robusten, schlagkräft igen und steuerbaren Einheit von Menschen und Dingen 

formiert werden. Diesen Zusammenhalt personifi ziert der Schiff sführer zumindest in 

der Gestalt, die ihm seit den transatlantischen Seefahrten des späten 15. Jahrhunderts 

gegeben wurde. In der Figur des Kapitäns verdichten sich seither Konzepte und 

Phantasmen von weltlicher Obrigkeit und geistlicher Leitung, von militärischer 

Disziplin, technischer Steuerung und administrativer Präzision, von kaufmännischer 

Skrupellosigkeit, richterlicher Entscheidungsbefugnis und sozialem Charisma. 

Der Vortrag soll das vermeintlich ‘naturnotwendige’ Institut der Schiff sgewalt 

genealogisch untersuchen und die Figur des Kapitäns zuletzt als Schöpfung des 

überseeischen Reiseverkehrs porträtieren. 

Email burwolf@gmx.de 


Panel 74 

Date July 30 

Time 16 :45 

Location k l 29/111

Volker Woltersdorff ( Freie Universität Berlin, Sonderforschungsbereich 447 : 

Kulturen des Performativen ) 

Go West ! Journeys and Migrations to Centres of Queer Life in the United States 

In their song Go West ! the pop group Village People intermingles in a very campy 

way the us-American myth of the pioneering spirit of the colonisation of the West 

with queer hopes projected upon the Californian bay area and the so called gay 

ghett oes that have emerged since the late sixties and that have led to extended 

expeditions by queer travellers and migrants, not only from all over North America 

but also particularly from Western Europe and, to a minor degree, from Eastern 

Europe. European Gay men, among them no one less than Michel Foucault, explored 

and praised the sexual culture of San Francisco’s bath houses and dungeons, though 

picking up a very unintended travel companion, the human immunodefi ciency virus. 

But also other queer Europeans, such as lesbians, leather men and women, transexuals, 

intersexed and genderqueers, have discovered the appeal of the fl ourishing 

metropolitan queer scenes of the United States. Indeed the erotic fascination by 

the wonders of the us-American centres of queer life, mainly the bay area and New 

York, has been so intense that Robert Tobin ironically identifi ed it as a form of queer 

occidentalism. Th e paper aims at analysing how these transatlantic journeys were 

motivated and what eff ect they had on the voyagers. Moreover it considers how these 

travels were represented and what kind of cultural transfer they have allowed for. 

Email volker.woltersdorff @fu-berlin.de 


Panel 48 

Date July 29 

Date 16 :45 

Location l 113

Luz Elena Zamudio ( Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México City ) 

La imagen del viajero Alejandro de Humboldt a través de la lente curiosa de 

Alfonso Reyes 

El mexicano Alfonso Reyes se distinguió como periodista, literato, investigador, 

traductor, crítico literario, cuentista y poeta. Fungió como diplomático en Francia, 

Argentina y Brasil. Participó en la fundación del Ateneo de la Juventud ( 1910 ) y en la 

creación del actual Colegio de México. Impulsó a escritores, críticos e investigadores 

de la literatura. Uno de los personajes que despertó profundamente su interés fue 

Johann W. Goethe, quien fue a su vez admirador de Alejandro Humboldt ; “a través de 

las narraciones de sus viajes Goethe viajaba con él y Reyes con los dos. 

Email luzelenazamudio@yahoo.com 


Panel 31 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 115

Adrian Gustavo Zarrilli ( Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Programa de 

Investigación La Argentina rural del Siglo xx, Bernal, Argentina ) 

Historia, ambiente y economía en la Argentina. La perspectiva de los viajeros 

sobre los procesos de deforestación del Nordeste ( 1890-1950 ) 

Los viajeros modernos son un producto del capitalismo, su mirada se funde y contagia 

con la percepción de una economía y cultura dominantes. De este modo la mirada 

de los viajeros será desde arriba, espacial, ideológica, social y económica. Argentina, 

desde tiempos coloniales, estuvo visitada por geógrafos, naturalistas, aventureros 

que arribaban para constatar las leyendas y realidades que en torno a ella surgían. En 

tiempos de la organización nacional el objetivo de organizar nuevas rutas comerciales 

y generar mercados ávidos de los nuevos productos industriales, abrió las puertas a 

un tipo de relato de viaje más organizado en torno a lo económico. El objetivo del 

estudio será el análisis en la especialización de los recursos primarios en el Gran 

Chaco Argentino a través del análisis de los exploradores, naturalistas y viajeros que 

pasaron por los territorios del Gran Chaco, sus registros sobre estos paisajes y de su 

transformación espacial y socioeconómica, sus confl ictos y el deterioro progresivo 

de los mismos en esta región del país. En este sentido la percepción del territorio 

como paisaje expresará una visión y una construcción de la naturaleza. Se defi ne así 

uno de los ejes centrales de este trabajo, la relación del discurso científi co-técnico, 

las violentas transformaciones territoriales que comienzan a percibirse en toda 

su amplitud a mediados del Siglo xix y la ideología del territorio y del paisaje. El 

propósito central, será entonces el estudio de la explotación capitalista especializada 

en los recursos forestales, su transformación, confl ictos, racionalidad productiva, el 

papel del Estado, el deterioro del ambiente transformado y sus consecuencias sociopolíticas, 

a través de la mirada de los viajeros 

Email azarrilli@unq.edu.ar 


Panel 29 

Date July 29 

Time 9 :00 

Location k l 29/111

Ulrike Zeuch ( Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbütt el, Germany ) 

Alexander von Humboldt’s ( 1769-1859 ) Expeditions to Latin America ( 1799- 

1804 ) as a Contribution to Cultural Translation ? 

Alexander von Humboldt travelled through South America between 1799 and 1805 

together with Aimé Bonpland, botanist from France. Humboldt wants to learn from 

the indios ; for a proper understanding, he looks upon openness, love, and empathy 

as essential. He observes the lifestyle of the indios and their behaviour with respect, 

and he diff erenciates between every single ethnic entity. He tries to do the same 

concerning the Creoles, the mestizos, mulatt os and other sections of the population, 

although he is mainly interested in the indios. When curiosity as a scientist 

overwhelmes him though, Humboldt forgets about being respectful and and careful. 

Email zeuch@hab.de 


Panel 87 

Date July 31 

Time 13 :15 

Location l 116

Gregory Zieren ( Austin Peay State University, History, Clarksville, Tennessee, u sa ) 

Lessons for the German Farmer from North America : the life and travels of 

agronomist Heinrich Semler, 1841-1888. 

Heinrich Semler’s travels between the 1860s and 1888 took him from Hessen to 

Great Britain, Italy, North and South America, Australia, Asia and fi nally Africa. He 

undertook his earliest trips in the service of trading fi rms in Hamburg, Genoa and 

London before trying his hand as a farmer in the 1870s in Oregon and California. 

During the last decade of his life he lived in San Francisco and devoted his time to 

writing about agriculture in a series of books and articles published in Germany. 

Th e son of a farmer, he sought to inform his readers on methods to improve 

the sustainability and profi tability of German agriculture based mainly on his 

observations of American farm practices. In 1884 he began a series of infl uential 

articles that appeared in Die Kolonialzeitung. Drawing parallels between agriculture 

in arid regions of California and German East Africa he sought to instruct potential 

sett lers on how to turn the new colony into a thriving sett lement. His writings 

achieved such renown that the German East Africa Society appointed him managing 

director and sent him to their headquarters in Zanzibar in 1888. He died of a fever 

within weeks of arriving but left as a legacy the production of sisal fi ber imported 

from California and a four-volume study entitled Tropical Agriculture ( Die tropische 

Agrikultur ). 

Email ziereng@apsu.edu 


Tourism 

Panel 58 

Date July 30 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 113

Berthold Zilly ( Freie Universität Berlin, Lateinamerika-Institut ) 

Die Zivilisation, von ihren Rändern betrachtet und mit ihren eigenen 

Maßstäben gemessen. Ambivalenzen in Viajes por Europa, Áfr ica y América 

1845-47, von D. F. Sarmiento ( 1849 ) 

Autoren von Reiseberichten stammten früher meist aus Kulturen, die sich am oberen 

Ende der Zivilisationsskala sahen, und sie schrieben über Weltgegenden, die in dieser 

Hinsicht als niederrangig galten. Der in Chile ansässige Argentinier Sarmiento 

( 1811-88 ), Autor des romanhaft en Essays Civilización y barbarie ( 1845 ) war einer 

der ersten, die aus umgekehrter Perspektive schrieben. Beim Lesen seiner Texte 

stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern seine Begegnung mit dem Sehnsuchtsland ( süd ) 

amerikanischer Gebildeter, mit Frankreich und dessen junger Kolonie Algerien, 

seine Zivilisations- und Fortschritt sgläubigkeit modifi zierte und bereits vorhandene 

Ambivalenzen und Widersprüche vertieft e. Während der Reise schrieb er in drei 

Textsorten : 1. den Reisebericht, der zwischen Entdeckerfreude, Selbstdarstellung und 

Belehrung oszilliert ; 2. Sachberichte über das europäische Schulwesen, mit denen 

die chilenische Regierung ihn beauft ragt hatt e ; 3. tagebuchartige Aufzeichnungen. 

Dass der Autor für seinen Reisebericht die Brieff orm wählte, ist gewiss kein Zufall, 

kommt diese doch seiner subjektiven, assoziativen und appellativen Denkart 

und Rhetorik entgegen. In seine Begeisterung für alles Französische und in sein 

kulturelles Minderwertigkeitgefühl mischt sich Entt äuschung über zivilisatorische 

Defi zite im Mutt erland der Zivilisation und bisweilen auch ein quasi patriotischer 

Stolz auf Aspekte der rückständigen Wirklichkeit Südamerikas. Ambivalent ist 

auch seine Haltung zur arabischen Kultur und zum Kolonialismus ; die Bejahung 

der französischen Herrschaft geht mit Bewunderung für die eigentlich verachteten 

Einheimischen und ihren Freiheitsdrang einher. Die den Franzosen in Algerien 

zugestandene zivilisatorische Mission reklamiert Sarmiento auch für die städtischen 

Eliten Argentiniens im Hinblick auf die Pampa : Kolonisierung des eigenen Landes. 

Seine Europabegeisterung wird weiter relativiert, als er die u sa kennen lernt, die er 

großenteils mit den Augen Tocquevilles betrachtet. 

Email zilly@zedat.fu-berlin.de 


Panel 32 

Date July 29 

Time 10 :45 

Location l 116

Maria Zinfert ( Freie Universität Berlin, Peter Szondi-Institut für Allgemeine und 


Rite de Marge : Victor Segalens Nordamerika-Passage 

Die Nordamerika-Passage des französischen Autors Victor Segalen ( 1878-1919 ) lässt 

sich lesen als rite de marge. Im Herbst 1902 war Segalen als Arzt der Marine erstmals 

auf große Reise gegangen. Seine Route : Le Havre – New York – San Francisco – 

Tahiti. Die Durchquerung des nordamerikanischen Kontinents, geplant als zwei 

Schiff spassagen verbindende Eisenbahnfahrt von Ost nach West, sollte lediglich eine 

von drei Etappen sein. Doch geriet dieser mitt lere Teil des Weges zum Dreh- und 

Angelpunkt im Leben Segalens. Kurz nach seiner Landung in New York mit einem 

potentiell todbringenden Erreger infi ziert, wurde Segalen unmitt elbar nach Ankunft 

in San Francisco in ein Krankenhaus verbracht, wo er sogleich einen katholischen 

Geistlichen rufen ließ und die Sterbesakramente empfi ng. Als letzte Transferstation 

auf dem Weg in die Südsee vorgesehen, wurde der Aufenthalt in San Francisco zur 

Spanne signifi kanter Wandlungen. Ihren Anfang genommen haben diese in New 

York. Dort entstand in der Nacht auf den 21. Oktober 1902 die erste literarische 

Skizze Segalens, La Tablature, — deren Niederschrift markierte den Beginn seiner 

Krankheit : “Le début de ma fi èvre a été marqué d’un curieux fait : à New York, une 

nuit, je me suis réveillé, et, de 2h à 3h du matin j’ai écrit une sorte de petit poème en 

prose […] et qui, […] sous un pseudonyme, ira parfaitement au Mercure.” In den Blick 

genommen werden soll, in welcher Weise Segalens Erlebnisse in der Neuen Welt sein 

Schreiben nicht nur initiierten, sondern zugleich auch schon dessen Ausrichtung 

vorgaben. 

Email maria@zinfert.com 


Panel 3 

Date July 28 

Time 9 :00 

Location l 113

Mary Zundo ( University of Illinois, Art History, Urbana-Champaign, u sa ) 

Latitudes of Vision : Humboldt, Western Emigration, and American Art of the 

Frontier 

Th is paper examines the role of Alexander von Humboldt’s geographic and scientifi c 

theories on nineteenth-century American western expansionism, map production, 

and pictures of emigration across the western frontier landscape. Th ousands 

of emigrants swept westward by mid-century, spurred by western “boosters” 

like William Gilpin, who used Humboldt’s theories regarding the latitudes of 

great civilizations to promote the westward imperative of American empire. 

Correspondingly, a number of nineteenth-century American artists came to view 

the picture plane as a cartographic surface upon which to construct their images 

of westward travel. A number of painters, who struggled to adapt existing aesthetic 

formulae to their pictures of uncharted frontier spaces, were also largely informed 

by an era of intense scientifi c exploration, the ideologies of Manifest Destiny—the 

“divinely ordained” Euro-American conquest of the continent—and a “Golden Age” 

in American cartography that effl oresced in response to the most rapid westward 

expansion in United States history. Th is paper argues that such rhetoric, in turn, 

fashioned the lens through which these American artists understood—visually and 

conceptually—the journey as a linear itinerary from east to west along Humboldt’s 

isothermal latitudes surrounding the 40th parallel. Th ese panoramic pictorial 

narratives depicted the journey from right-to-left and east-to-west, a compositional 

tendency that runs counter to that in European art. From widely disseminated 

pictorial works in print to monumental paintings, this paper examines Humboldt’s 

infl uence on American art and the culture of westering that informed it. 

Email maryzundo@aol.com 


Panel 91 

Date July 31 

Time 15 :00 

Location l 115

Alexander von Humboldt 2009 

Travels between Europe and the Americas 

International and Interdisciplinary Conference 

at Freie Universität Berlin, July 27-31, 2009 

Co-organized by Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt State University 

[LOGOS!] 

Conference organizers: 

Lilianet Brintrup (HSU) 

Oliver Lubrich (FU) 

Conference Team: 

Cornelia Colsman (FU) - Offi ce Management 

Philipp Drews (FU) - Website 

Zachary Haiktin (HSU) - Acceptance Lett ers 

Christine Knoop (FU) - Academic Assistance 

Bernhard Metz (FU) - Artworks/Design 

Sybill De Vito-Egerland (FU) - Event Support 

Students: 

Julia Dett ke (FU) 

Vukan Mihailovic de Deo (FU) 

Reinhard Möller (FU) 

Th omas Nehrlich (FU) 

Nina Peter (FU) 

Katharina Schmeller (FU) 

Olga von Schubert (FU) 

CTW, Berlin: 

Marleen Herzlieb 

Birgitt a Wiese 

Th omas Wiese 

Th anks to: 

Rollin Richmond, President, HSU 

Robert Snyder, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Aff airs, HSU 

Kenneth Ayoob, Interim Dean, College of Arts, 

Humanities and Social Sciences, HSU 

Dieter Lenzen, President, FU 

Peter-André Alt, Former Dean of Humanities, FU 

Gert Matt enklott , Professor of Comparative Literature, FU 

Matt hias Dannenberg, Head of Administration of the Faculty of Humanities, FU 

Carsten Wett e, Public Relations, FU 

Sponsored by: 

DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 

Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz 

Ethnologisches Museum Berlin 

S. Fischer Verlag 

Der Tagesspiegel 

[LOGOS!]

Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías - Fachbereich Philosophie und ...

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