The Second Symposium on Catalonia in Australia
The Second Symposium on Catalonia in Australia was held on 27th of July 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. This event celebrated the growth and resurgence of Catalan culture and studies in Australia over the past few years, as witnessed in the recent human chain which occurred in Catalonia and also took place in Melbourne. Several themes about Catalonia were discussed by experts in Catalan and European language studies.
The First Symposium on Catalonia in Australia was originally coordinated by author Robert Archer at La Trobe University in September 1996 and united researchers and research students from Catalonia and Australia. Robert Archer is a Cervantes Professor of Spanish at King’s College London. His contribution to Catalan studies pertains to the poetry of Ausiàs March.
The Second Symposium on Catalonia in Australia included researchers in Catalan and European language studies including Patrick Campion, Alfredo Martínez Expósito, Stewart King, Peter Gerrard and John Hajek. Some notable presentations were by Australia website creator and internet polyglot Patrick Campion, who presented on Tirant lo Blanch and socio-linguistic variation with his presentation València, la nació d’on yo só natural: Tirant lo Blanch and cultural identity in fifteenth century Catalunya and Valencia and Stewart King with a discussion about intertextuality and identity in Najat el Hachmi’s L’últim patriarca. Also of note was John Hajek’s Language maintenance, shift and revitalization in Alghero/Alguer, Italy’s Catalan-speaking enclave, which looked at the little-discussed topic of the Alguerese Catalan. The symposium is also known as the Segon simposi sobre Catalunya a Austràlia and Segundo simposio sobre Cataluña en Australia. The Symposium came at a time of increased interest in Catalan due to the political action occurring in Spain. The recent human chain which occurred in Catalonia also took place in Melbourne, the location of the Symposium. The Symposium received international attention from the Institut Ramon Llull and various news channels.
For more see the following articles:
Institut Ramon Llull, “El Segon Simposi de Catalunya s’ha celebrat a Austràlia amb un gran éxito d’assistència” – http://www.llull.cat/catala/actualitat/actualitat_noticies_detall.cfm?id=30077&url=-segon-simposi-catalunya-s%E2%80%99ha-celebrat-australia-amb-gran-exit-d%E2%80%99assistencia.html
El Punt Avui, “Dues universitats d’Austràlia organitzen un seminari sobre Catalunya” – http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/3-politica/17-politica/663145-dues-universitats-daustralia-organitzen-un-seminari-sobre-catalunya.html?tmpl=component&print=1&page=
CasalCatalà – http://www.ccvictoria.cat/arxius%20temporals/Second%20Symposium%20on%20Catalonia%20in%20Australia%20-%20program.pdf
Catalan Assembly – http://catalanassembly.org/2013/09/05/via-catalana-a-melbourne/
Internet links
Catalan Culture
- Departament de Cultura, by the Generalitat de Catalunya
http://cultura.gencat.net/index.htm - Information on Catalan history, language and symbols (in English), by the Generalitat de Catalunya
http://www10.gencat.net/gencat/AppJava/en/catalunya/index.jsp
Catalan Studies
- Anglo-Catalan Society
http://www.anglo-catalan.org/ - Associació d’Escriptors en llengua catalana
http://www.escriptors.com/ - Institució de les Lletres Catalanes
- Institut d’Estudis Catalans
http://www2.iecat.net/gc/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=148&languageId=1&contentId=-1 - Institut Ramon Llull
http://www.llull.com/llull/ - http://www2.iecat.net/gc/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=148&languageId=1
- Journal of Catalan Studies
http://www.uoc.edu/jocs/7/index.html - North American Catalan Society
http://www.nacs-catalanstudies.org
Learning Catalan
- AulaCat (Catalan language course on-line via the Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya)
http://www.upc.es/slt/aulacat/angles/ - Leaning Catalan on the web
http://catalunya-lliure.com/curs/catala.html - Intercat
http://www.intercat.gencat.es/ - SALC – Servei d’Autoformació en Llengua Catalana
http://www.upf.es/gl/salc/index.htm - Learn Catalan
http://www.cookwood.com/personal/learncatalan.html - Catalan Grammar (in English)
http://www.sola-sole.com/gramat.htm - Catalan Grammar (in Spanish)
http://www.sola-sole.com/gramesp.htm - Catalan-English vocabulary
http://www.sola-sole.com/vocabul.htm - On-line Catalan-English dictionary
http://www.catalandictionary.org/
Catalan media services
- Ara (the main Catalan daily newspaper)
http://ara.cat - Alguer Internacional
http://www.partal.com/alguer/internacional.htm - Avui (newspaper)
http://www.avui.com/avui/diari/docs/index4.htm - Catalunya Ràdio
http://www.catradio.com/pcatradio/crHome.jsp - Diari de Balaers
http://www.diaridebalears.com/ - Radiotelevisió valenciana
http://www.rtvv.es/ - Televisió de Catalunya en xarxa (Online)
http://www.avui.com/avui/diari/docs/index4.htm - Vilaweb
http://vilaweb.com/
Government
- Ajuntament de Barcelona
http://www.bcn.es/ - Andorra
http://www.andorra.ad/ - Generalitat de Catalunya
http://www.gencat.cat/ - Generalitat Valenciana
http://www.gva.es/jsp/portalgv.jsp - Govern de les Illes Balears
http://www.caib.es/root/index.ct.jsp
Other sites of interest
- FC Barcelona “Barça”
http://www.fcbarcelona.es/ - Fundació Congrés de Cultura Catalana
http://www.fundccc.org/ - Mary Martin’s Catalan home page
http://catalunya-lliure.com/index.html - Ómnium Cultural
http://www.paisoscatalans.org/
Polyglot International 