COV&R Paris

The 2023 COV&R conference will be held in France from June 14 to 17 at the Catholic Institute of Paris (Institut Catholique de Paris—ICP) where we will be graciously hosted by Camille Riquier, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Institute. Founded in 1875, the Catholic Institute of Paris is the inheritor of the medieval liberal arts colleges and lies in the tradition of the Sorbonne, the oldest academic institution in France. Rene Girard received an honorary doctorate from the Institute. We are very grateful to have received this invitation from Dean Riquier after the war in Ukraine necessitated that we no longer meet as originally planned in Romania.

The l’association Recherches mimétiques, under the able leadership of Benoît Chantre, is partnering with COV&R on details of the conference. The planning team includes Benoit Chantre, Paul Dumouchel, Niki Wandinger, Wolfgang Palaver, and Mari Blaj.

The theme of the conference is the future of mimetic theory as a way of celebrating Girard’s life and work: looking at what he brought into the world and how others today are being guided and inspired by his work and carrying it forward. It wants to be a way of looking both forward and backward, at how the future of the theory is rooted in its past, René’s seminal work, and taking a measure of the new dangers the world faces.

Housing has been arranged at cheaper Catholic guest houses . Reservations and payments for these very economical accommodations will need to be made by between January and May, depending on the accommodation chosen.

By early January, the call for papers will be posted to the COV&R website with additional information to follow on the conference website. ()

 COV&R Member and ARM Honorary Member 155 €.

 COV&R Student Member 75 €

 Non-member 190 €

 Non-member Student 90 €

 COV&R Member and ARM Honorary Member 190 €

 COV&R Student Member 90 €

 Non-member 225 €

 Non-member Student 105 €

 Lunch is avalable at the ICP (18 €/ day , 14 to 17 June) 54 €

 Welcome cocktail, Wednesday, 14 June : free, reservation required

 Concert Girard Quatuor, Thursday, 15 June : 20 € , payment on the spot

 Diner at Le Procope, Firday, 16 June : 80 € per person, reservation required, payment on the spot

COV&R has pre-booked rooms in congregations. Comfort is simple.

Prices range from 61 € to 144 € per night. Rooms are single or double

Reservation is for all 5 nights only (13 June to 18 June).

According to the congregations, the rooms must be reserved before a deadline, indicated on the website

> information and reservation (link to another eventbrite site)

As far as hotels are concerned, we can advise you on the areas around the ICP (see below)

The theme of the conference is the future of mimetic theory as a way of celebrating Girard’s life and work: looking at what he brought into the world and how others today are being guided and inspired by his work and carrying it forward. It wants to be a way of looking both forward and backward, at how the future of the theory is rooted in its past, René Girard’s seminal work, and taking a measure of the new dangers the world faces.

The theme of the conference is the future of mimetic theory as a way of celebrating Girard’s life and work: looking at what he brought into the world and how others today are being guided and inspired by his work and carrying it forward. It wants to be a way of looking both forward and backward, at how the future of the theory is rooted in its past, René Girard’s seminal work, and taking a measure of the new dangers the world faces.

Therefore, we invite papers that can elucidate the contribution of René Girard to academia, especially those that show how Mimetic Theory will be important in the future. As the aim of the Colloquium is to explore, criticize, and develop the mimetic model of the relationship between violence and religion in the genesis and maintenance of culture and as the Colloquium is concerned with questions of both research and application, we welcome papers related to all aspects of mimetic theory.

Proposals should contain your name, affiliation, the title of the paper, and an abstract of the planned paper of about 200 words, and they should be sent to [email protected] before April 15. Please also state the technology needs you would have.

If you are a graduate student and your proposal has been accepted, there is the possibility of applying for the Raymund Schwager, S.J., Memorial Essay Contest

To honor the memory of Raymund Schwager, SJ (+ 2004), the Colloquium on Violence and Religion is offering an award of $ 1,500 shared by up to three persons for the three best papers given by graduate students at the COV&R meeting.

Students presenting papers at the conference are invited to apply for the Raymund Schwager Memorial Award by sending an e-mail to that effect and the full text of their paper (in English, maximum length: 10 pages) in an attachment to [email protected]. In addition to the prize money, the winners’ registration fee will be waived. Due date for submission is May 1, 2023.

Winners will be announced in the conference program. Prize-winning essays should reflect an engagement with mimetic theory; they will be presented in a plenary session and be considered for publication in Contagion. The winner(s) are selected by a three-person panel consisting of one of the conference organizers, the editor of Contagion, and the President of the Colloquium.

Furthermore, if your paper has been accepted and you fulfill the following criteria, you may apply for a COV&R Travel Grant

COV&R issues grant for student travel costs. (information on the CO&R website)

COV&R offers travel grants under the following conditions:

 Possible recipients are graduate students or practitioners of mimetic theory (e.g., NGO/non-profit staff; journalists, government employees). Preference is given to graduate students but practitioners of mimetic theory are also encouraged to apply.

 Possible recipients have an accepted proposal and offer a presentation at the conference.

 Attendees are eligible one time only for a travel grant. Priority will be given to applicants who have not received a grant previously.

 Travel grants are for travel expenses only (the mode of transportation). A recipient can receive a maximum of up to $ 1,000 U.S.; if actual travel costs are less, they will be given the exact amount and the remainder will be kept for further applicants.

 Grants are given on a first come, first served basis, as long as the available amount lasts.

To apply for a travel grant, write to the Executive Secretary of the Colloquium at [email protected] and explain your need and eligibility for the grant (include the confirmation of the acceptance of your paper). He will be in touch with the conference organizers, the treasurer, and with you, so that grants will be awarded according to the Colloquium's specifications.

Grants will be awarded at the conference.

The registration fee will be waived for travel grant recipients.

Please take note: The Raymund Schwager Memorial Award and the Travel Grants are not linked with each other. It is possible to receive both, it is also possible to receive only one of them. The application process is different, as stated above.

Keynote speaker : Thomas Pavel

Thomas Pavel is an American scholar of French literature. He was a professor of comparative literature at Princeton University and then at Chicago University. He was a visiting professor at the Collège de France in 2005-2006, where he gave a course on the theme: "How to listen to literature". He is the author of numerous works, including: Fictional Worlds (1986), L’ Art de l’éloignement: Essai sur l’imagination classique (“Art as distance, essay on the neo-classical imagination”, 1996); The Spell of Language: Post-structuralism and speculation (1988, revised edition, 2001); La Pensée du roman (“The Thinking Novel”, 2003).

Guest speakers :

James Alison, Theologian (Imitatio)

Mark Rogin Anspach, Anthropologist (Imitatio)

Marinela Blaj, Anthropologist (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University)

Elisabetta Brighi, Senior lecturer in international relations at the (University of Westminster)

Barbara Carnevalli, Philosopher (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) (EHESS)

Benoit Chantre, Editor and essayist, biographer of René Girard, President of the ARM (Imitatio)

Chantal Delsol, Philosopher, Member of the Institut de France (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences)

Vincent Delecroix, Writer and philosopher (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes)

Paul Dumouchel, Philosopher

Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Philosopher (Stanford University)

Sandor Goodhart, Professor of English and Jewish Studies (Purdue University)

P. Simon De Keukalaere, Theologian

Trevor Cribben Merrill, Writer (Imitatio)

Christine Orsini, Philosopher

Jean-Michel Oughourlian, Psychiatrist and Essayist

Wolfgang Palaver, Philosopher and theologian (Innsbrück University)

Martha Reineke, Philosopher (University of Northern Iowa)

Camille Riquier, Philosopher, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Paris

Lucien Scubla (sous réserve), Anthropologist and philosopher

Jérôme Thélot, Essayist and translator, professor of French literature ( University of Lyon)

Andreas Wilmes, Philosopher, Editor of the Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence (Pázmány Péter Catholic University)

Frédéric Worms, Philosopher, Director of Ecole Normale Supérieure.

We offer lunch on site in the garden of the ICP, because in that period of the year service is slow in Parisian restaurants...

Cold starter, sandwich and dessert.

We will meet for a drink at Forum 104 a few steps from the Catholic Institute of Paris.

In the heart of Paris, Forum 104 is a place of meetings and dialogue for anyone who wishes to discover, explore, deepen the spiritual dimension of their existence and see how to live it, in their daily life. It is in this place that René Girard had his student room.

The Girard Quartet offers us a concert in the chapel of the Catholic Institute of Paris, Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes church, in the garden of the Carmelites.

The Girard Quartet consists of four brothers and sisters: Grégoire Girard 1st violin, Agathe Girard second violin, Hugues Girard alto and Lucie Girard cello. Born into a family of nine children from Avignon, they are the grandnephews of Academician René Girard.

Formed within a large family, the Quatuor Girard was born of a common passion revealed by the very early practice of chamber music in the family. Guests of prestigious halls and festivals in France - Auditorium of the Musée d'Orsay, Théâtre du Châtelet, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Musical evenings and Matinees in Arles, the Deauville festival, the Grange de Meslay... - the quartet is also in demand abroad, particularly in Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Morocco, Russia, Japan, China, etc.

We invite you to celebrate the end of the COV&R Paris conference in the famous restaurant Le Procope.

We have booked two private rooms. The menu is 80 euros. Reservation is required on Eventbrite. Payment will be made on site in Paris.

Since 1686, Procope has been delighting Parisians. This café-restaurant on the left bank is the oldest in the capital. An emblematic place. Entering this former café – now a restaurant – we dive into three centuries of French literary and political history.

Paris, 17th century. In recent years, a new drink has been panicking Europeans. Coming from Egypt, coffee was introduced to the Old Continent by Venetian merchants. Coffee will soon conquer Paris. In 1669, it was Sultan Mehmed IV's ambassador who gave the king a taste of this tonic drink, with the intention that it would then be exported to Parisian salons. Quickly, she is a hit. In 1686, the first café in Paris opened a stone's throw from the Pont-Neuf (6th).

During its existence, it has hosted the artistic Tout-Paris and the country's greatest public figures. A meeting place for the great intellectuals of the 18th century, a favorite café for members of the neighboring Comédie-Française, the Procope was above all the birthplace of the Encyclopédie by Diderot and d'Alembert: it was in this café in the 6th arrondissement that the idea of ​​creating this huge book bringing together knowledge!

These two great figures of the Age of Enlightenment were not the only ones to have made Procope their headquarters: Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire and even Beaumarchais were also regulars. It is even said that Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, wrote a chapter of the American Constitution there!

During the Revolution, other personalities from the history of France would meet in this small café decorated with large chandeliers on the ceiling and dark mahogany furniture: the revolutionaries. Renamed Zoppi, after its new owner, the café will be one of the favorite meeting places of the Cordeliers club which brings together Danton, Marat and Camille Desmoulins. As the influence of the club grew, the café became one of the great revolutionary centers of Paris.

Even today, you can find a quote from Camille Desmoulins on one of the walls: "This café is not adorned like the others with mirrors, gilding and busts, but it is adorned with the memory of Great Men who frequented it and whose works would cover the walls if they were stored there. »

Rooms are single or double

Reservation is for all 5 nights only (13 June to 18 June). According to the congregations, the rooms must be reserved before a deadline, indicated on the website

Paris offers many hotels and rentals. We advise you to book in hotels near the ICP in the districts of "Rive gauche", the left bank of the Seine.

The V th, VI th and VII th districts are among the most chic and beautiful; they are quiet but quite expensive. You can also choose the XIVth and XVth, not far from the ICP, which are quiet and family districts, a little cheaper.

Among the hotels in the area, we can mention Studio Odéon (3 rue de l'Echaudé Paris 6), Pierre Nicole (39 rue Pierre Nicole Paris 5), Studia Hotel (51, bd Saint Germain Paris 5), Pacific Hotel (11 rue Fonday 75015), Villa des Princes (19, rue Monsieur le Prince Paris 6), Hotel Stanislas (5 rue du Montparnasse Paris 14). This list is by no means exhaustive.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Institut Catholique de Paris, 74 Rue de Vaugirard, Paris, France