The 21st international conference of the French Society for Scottish Studies will take place at Sorbonne Université (Paris) from the 17th to the 19th November 2022. The three-day conference will explore the dynamic relationship(s) between the concepts of territory/territories and memory in a transdisciplinary approach. These topics were chosen as a tribute to the works of Christian Auer and Bernard Sellin.

Territory first brings to mind geographical contours: Scottish rural, urban, or insular territories… This notion can also be understood in its political dimension (administrative, national, devolved) and in its linguistic dimension (variety or homogeneity of dialects and sociolects). It can be defined by its limits (borders or obstacles) or by what transcends it, which raises the issue of Scottish territories (be they real or metaphorical) beyond the “borders” of Scotland. In the fields of arts and literature, the notion of territory can also be examined through the prisms of representation and exploration, and can, for instance, give rise to processes of creation, or re-creation, of memorialisation and interpretation. Memory can also be conceived as a space, of an ambiguous nature, sometimes metaphorical, sometimes intangible and sometimes deeply rooted in reality. Is memory to be perceived as an opened or enclosed space? A sanctuary? Is it personal? Intimate? Or collective? Should it be preserved? Or questioned?

The dynamics between the notions of memory and territory can be examined along various lines of interpretation, such as through (auto)biographical memoirs anchored within a specific place, through national memory (and/or national amnesia) embodied within historical sites, through the remnants of territories in dialects and the traces of history in the toponymy. The association of memory and territories also incites an examination of institutional memory (museums, memorials, national monuments, and less formal spaces of memory and remembrance). Possible topics for proposals may include, but are by no means limited to: