Galicia and Portugal present in Cork

cork | miscellaneous | event notice Sunday March 19, 2006 21:04 by Xanzinho - AGAL

On Tuesday, 21st March 2006, UCC will host an international symposium on Galician and Portuguese cultural studies. This event is of relevance not just for the academic community, but also for the Galician and Portuguese residents in Cork, and by extension to the wider Portuguese-speaking community in the area.

The day will start with the screening of the documentary ‘Santa Liberdade’ at 11 am. Talks by distinguished speakers will take place from 3 pm, including Dr Xavier Alcalá and Dr Fernando Venâncio. These will be followed by a round table discussion chaired by Prof. David MacKenzie. This event is organised by the Irish Centre for Galician Studies and the Portuguese ‘Leitorado’ (Dept. of Hispanic Studies, UCC)

The full programme for the day is:

11 am Screening of the documentary ‘Santa Liberdade’, by Margarida Ledo.
In 1961 the ocean liner Santa Maria is taken by a group belonging to the “Iberian Revolutionary Liberation Front”, flying the flag of resistance to Franco and Salazar’s dictatorships. For thirteen days the vessel is renamed Santa Liberdade...

3:00 pm Dr Xavier Alcalá
‘PortuGaliza: The outermost part of Europe’
From Roman Gallaecia to Galicia and Portugal. The Euro-Region: remaking the old Gallaecia. Galicians and their language nowadays. Homage to three masters: Guerra da Cal, Carvalho Calero and Rodrigues Lapa.

3:45 pm Dr Fernando Venâncio
‘ “I see my language everywhere”: On linguistic relations between Galicia and Portugal’
Some Galicians insist on unity, Portuguese on rupture. A third concept could be useful: continuity. Language exemplifies this in a plausible way. Yet, acceptance of Galician and Portuguese as the same language (although important) is not an urgent issue. Mutual knowledge should prepare future agreements on linguistic matters.

4:30 pm Coffee break

4:45 pm Round table discussion, chaired by Professor David Mackenzie (Head, Dept. of Hispanic Studies and Director of the Irish Centre for Galician Studies)

All events are to be celebrated at Devere Hall, Áras na Mac Léinn (UCC)

The symposium will revolve around the singularities and the shared history and stories of both nations. Indeed, Galicia and Portugal are not strangers to each other, quite the opposite, one could not be understood without the other.
Galicia and Portugal presented a joint proposal to UNESCO asking for the recognition of their common “Intangible Heritage”. In other words, the civic committee behind this project has as its objective official recognition of their mutual cultural and historical heritage in order to protect it. The emphasis was put on the Galicia-North Portugal area, since this territory was, in fact, a single political unit in the times of the Medieval Galician Kingdom.
Today, these territories officially compose the “Galicia-North Portugal Euro-Region”, under the auspices of the European Union. This Euro-Region was the first of its kind to be established in the EU, and it has often been defined as “exemplary”.

The relations between Galicia and Portugal are not just something of the past, a relic to be studied. They are very much alive. The most important thing is that there should be cooperation in what someone once said might become “the California of Europe”, PortuGaliza

On the speakers:

Dr Xavier Alcalá is an eclectic intellectual. Professional engineer and lecturer in computer science at the University of Corunna, Xavier Alcalá also is one of the great names in contemporary Galician literature, with titles such as A nosa cinza (1980), Cárcere Verde (1991), Contos do Impaís (1992), Código morse (1996), Entre fronteiras (2004), Nas Catacumbas (2005). He was the founding president of the ‘Associaçom Galega da Língua’. Dr Alcalá is an expert on Portuguese culture.

Dr Fernando Venâncio is a reputed linguist and author. He is chair of Portuguese Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Dr Venâncio has published in a number of prestigious journals such as Jornal de Letras and Ler. He is a regular contributor to Portuguese famous newspaper Expresso and magazine Visão. His literary work includes Os Esquemas de Fradique (1999) and El-Rei no Porto (2001). Dr Venâncio is probably one of the most eminent Portuguese authorities on Galician issues.