45th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture
THE BODY IN SLOVENE LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE
Ljubljana, 22 June / 29 June - 10 July, 2009
This year's Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture coincides with an important anniversary. It will be the 45th such seminar, which bears witness to the rich tradition, experience and high quality of this Slovene Studies summer event. However, it is only half the age of its host institution, the University of Ljubljana, which this year celebrates its 90th anniversary, and of which the Faculty of Arts was a founding member.
The Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture is for students, researchers, translators, journalists and others abroad whose work brings them into contact with Slovene. Due to the specific interests of this public, the seminar differs from other foreign language summer schools in that it not only consolidates participants' language knowledge, but also, through a carefully considered programme of courses, lectures, workshops, exercises, afternoon or evening events and educational outings, widens their cultural capabilities. Each year the seminar involves more than 20 eminent lecturers from different disciplines and around 15 language lecturers with extensive teaching experience and academic knowledge. And each year the participants, through their interest and curiosity, bring to the offered activities their personal commitment and help create the whole atmosphere of the event. Active study vacations in the Slovene capital thus become a relaxed but creative experience, as well as an opportunity to get to know others with similar interests.
The overall theme of this year's seminar is The Body in Slovene Language, Literature and Culture. We shall contemplate the imagery of the body as it appears in literary works and our relation to the body, which ranges from erotic seduction to the perverse, the grotesque and the comic. Body image is most closely linked to modes of dress and thus to the dichotomy covered/naked, to eating habits and to physical aesthetic ideals; by touching upon these themes we shall be addressing issues which have hitherto remained in the background of literary research. The body enters language through different forms of reference, phraseology and non-verbal communication; it is linked to a range of other (non-)verbal art forms, such as film, theatre, dance, painting and sculpture. Although the body is primarily something distinctly personal and intimate, and thus intricately linked with the identity of the individual, it also constantly enters into the domain of the social. For this reason our reflections will touch upon the wider social understanding of the body and the physical, for Western culture is characteristically based on appearance. In particular, the body has become the object of the fashion, cosmetics and food industries, which promote prescriptive physical norms. On the other hand, the body remains an expressive medium, whether through its artistic transformation or its engagement in political protest.
In addition to linguists and literary historians, we shall also invite lecturers from the fields of theatre, dance and film theory, art historians, cultural anthropologists, philosophers and others, trying in this way to cast light on our main theme: the body, oscillating between the personal and the social, and how it appears in Slovene language, literature and culture.
Assistant Professor Dr. Mateja Pezdirc Bartol
President of the 45th Seminar
The organiser
The seminar is organised by the Centre for Slovene as a Second/Foreign Language at the Department of Slovene Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Kongresni trg 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana.
The participants
The seminar participants are foreign Slovene Studies and Slavic Studies specialists, writers, EU and other translators, experts in comparative linguistics and literature, and others who research or teach Slovene, translate, or include Slovene in any other way in their life and work: teachers, researchers and students of Slovene and Slavic Studies at universities and research institutes abroad and in ethnic Slovene areas, etc. They attend the seminar with the desire to deepen and enrich their knowledge, to learn about the latest findings and to have genuine contact with the Slovene language, literature and culture.
The venue
The morning programme takes place entirely at the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana, while the afternoon and evening programme is organised at different locations in Ljubljana.
The lecturers and lectors
The lecturers, lectors and other teaching staff at the seminar are established experts and researchers from the Department of Slovene Studies, the Department of Slavic Studies, other departments of the Faculty of Arts, other Faculties of the University of Ljubljana, or other Slovene universities and leading research and national institutions.
THE PROGRAMME
Three-week seminar (22 June – 10 July, 2009)
Beginners are invited to take part in a preliminary week immediately preceding the 2-week seminar. In this period the emphasis is on intensive practical classes in small groups with experienced teachers and on phonetics classes in the language laboratory. During this week there are also some afternoon/evening activities, e.g. an afternoon excursion, the showing of a Slovene film, visits to museums or a creative workshop.
Two-week seminar (29 June – 10 July, 2009)
The two-week seminar features a busy morning programme of practical classes, lectures, round table discussions or creative workshops, special courses, phonetics classes and conversation classes, and is accompanied by a rich afternoon and evening programme.
Practical classes
These classes comprise about 15 hours a week, with a total of 30 hours in the 2-week seminar and 60 hours in the 3-week seminar. Classes are organised in 4 beginners’ groups, 6 intermediate and 3 advanced groups. According to their interests, participants can choose among linguistic, literary-historical and general groups. Individual participants are assigned to an appropriate group on the basis of a language test completed before arrival at the seminar, and oral testing carried out at the beginning of the 2-week/3-week seminar.
Lectures
Lectures (approximately 20 hours), which are meant primarily for those at a more advanced level, present and discuss the latest ideas about Slovene linguistic, literary and cultural creative work. At the 45th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture they will focus on the overall theme of The Body in Slovene Language, Literature and Culture. As always, the results will appear in the seminar proceedings.
Special courses
Elective courses of 5 hours each take an in depth look at current issues relating to the Slovene standard language and literature, translation, Slovene culture and Slovene as a second/foreign language. Classes take the form of workshops. The lecturers’ contributions are published in the seminar proceedings. Participants in the intermediate and advanced groups must attend one of the courses. Alternatively, they may attend a series of afternoon lectures, known as the “parade of youth”, that offers an insight into the research and other activities of the youngest generation of Slovene specialists and researchers.
Phonetics classes
These classes are divided into two parts: (a) beginners classes are obligatory and start with an introductory presentation of the Slovene spoken language and its special phonetic features, using examples from texts. This is followed by practical exercises to improve pronunciation and listening skills necessary for more efficient learning and use of the language. The exercises are adjusted to the participants’ level of knowledge and to their mother tongue; (b) intermediate classes are optional and primarily intended for those who would like to improve their spoken Slovene. The work is organised in small groups and adapted to the individual.
Conversation classes
These classes are aimed at improving communication skills, extending vocabulary, internalising communication patterns and eliminating errors. They will deal with themes taken primarily from everyday life, with an emphasis on practical communication and on extending acquaintance with Slovenia and its culture. The conversation classes are obligatory for beginner and lower intermediate groups.
Individual conversation
During the seminar the participants will have an opportunity to engage in two hours of free conversation (i.e. no fee) with students from the Ljubljana Department of Slovene Studies. Such individual conversation provides genuine contact with native speakers and has been very well received by seminar participants in previous years.
The accompanying programme
The seminar also offers a rich afternoon-evening programme, which includes themed guided tours of Ljubljana, the showing of a Slovene film, a theatre performance, visits to museums, galleries and libraries, musical and literary evenings, etc. This additional programme includes a whole-day study excursion, which will take place this year on Saturday, 4 July 2009.
The library
The library of the Departments of Slovene/Slavic Studies keeps an open door for seminar participants. Throughout the duration of the seminar they can borrow books and turn for advice to the friendly librarians. The library also prepares an exhibition every year, presenting recent professional literature, the best works of Slovene literature, and translations into foreign languages. The participants will visit the exhibition during their practical classes.
Internet access
Participants have access to the Internet on all floors of the Faculty of Arts and also at the Ivan Cankar hostel (Dijaški dom Ivana Cankarja).
Accommodation
Accommodation is organised at the Ivan Cankar hostel, Poljanska cesta 26. The hostel is situated in pleasant surroundings below Ljubljana Castle, 10 minutes’ walk from the city centre. It is a 20 minute walk from the hostel to the Faculty of Arts through the old part of the town. Accommodation is in twin or single rooms (at additional charge), with bathrooms on every floor. A self-service breakfast is provided. More information is available on the website http://www.dic.si.
Arrivals/departures
Participants of the 3-week seminar should arrive at the hostel on Sunday, 21 June 2009; the programme begins on Monday at 9am, 22 June 2009 at the Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana.
Participants of the 2-week seminar should arrive at the hostel on Sunday, 28 June 2009; the programme begins according to the timetable on Monday at 8.15am, 29 June 2009 at the Faculty of Arts.
The departure date is Saturday, 11 July 2009.
Grants
The Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture is a central event through which the Republic of Slovenia promotes Slovene language, literature and culture throughout the world, by granting financial support on the basis of international contracts and co-operation programmes for ethnic Slovene organisations and researchers who are professionally engaged in Slovene, and for students at foreign universities who study Slovene. In allocating these grants, priority is given to Slovene specialists, university teachers, research and teaching assistants, postgraduate students and students of higher classes.
Participants can request daily expenses of 9 Euros, but due to limited resources requests can only be made by those from countries with low purchasing power.
In addition to these scholarships available abroad, some are also granted by the seminar committee (either for the professional and accompanying programmes, together with bed-and-breakfast accommodation, or for the professional and accompanying programmes only). Applications will be accepted up to 31 March 2009 at the seminar address. The seminar committee will decide on the scholarships in April. The number of scholarships varies each year, depending on the available funds.
Certificates and credit points (ECTS)
Participants at the Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture receive a certificate of attendance if they take regular part in the obligatory section of the programme. The certificate states the group and the course attended. On request, an additional certificate can be issued, stating the exact number of hours of attendance.
The seminar will be credited under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Students who regularly attend courses as well as afternoon lectures or conversation classes and who pass the exam at the end of the seminar will receive for the three-week seminar 4 credit points (4 ECTS) and for the two-week seminar course 3 points (3 ECTS).
Medical insurance
All participants are recommended to obtain a certificate of medical insurance in their own countries, otherwise they must pay the expenses of medical care and medication themselves.
Payment (for participants who pay the fee and costs of accommodation themselves)
The registration fee includes language classes, elective courses, conversation classes, phonetics exercises, one-to-one conversation, lectures, textbooks, the seminar proceedings, the accompanying programme and event organisation. Participants paying for themselves can book accommodation in the Ivan Cankar hostel.
After we have received your application form, we will send you the invoice by regular post or e-mail. You can pay the invoice at any bank or post office or at the cash desk of the Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana, from Monday to Friday between 11.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Wednesdays also between 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m.
Please send your payment receipt no later than 15 June 2009. You can send it to our e-mail address, fax + 386 (0)1 241 86 44 or to our postal address. Please bring along a copy of the receipt when you join the seminar in order to help clarify possible misunderstandings.
Application
Those receiving grants are requested to complete by 10 May 2009 the registration form on our web site at www.centerslo.net/seminar (45th SSJLK) or to send it to us by regular post. We also request that by the same date you complete the language test and send it to us at [email protected] or by regular post.
The registration form for participants of the 45th Seminar of Slovene Language, Literature and Culture paying the seminar fee and accommodation costs themselves should be sent by 31 May 2009. You can apply via the Internet at www.centerslo.net/seminar (45th SSJLK) or using the application form from this booklet.
Important dates
- Submission of applications for the grants
of the Seminar Committee 31 March 2009
- Notification of selection of the Seminar
Committee grants 25 April 2009
- Submission of registration forms and language
tests for grant recipients 10 May 2009
- Registration by those paying for themselves 31 May 2009
- Notification of placement in two-week
or three-week groups 1 June 2009
- Payment by those paying for themselves 15 June 2009
- Arrival at the seminar 21/28 June 2009
- Departure from the seminar 11 July 2009
Contact
E-mail address: [email protected]
