Dr. phil. Julia Blandfort

University activity

2009-2014 Research assistant at the chair of Prof Dr Isabella von Treskow

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Studies

2002-2009
Degree in Romance Studies with a qualification in economics (Romance Studies/Business Administration)
University of Mannheim

2006-2007
Studies at the École de Management de Strasbourg (France)
Degree: Diplôme "French and European Management" (mention bien)

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Doctorate

2013

"Il était une fois les bohémiens..." - The narratives of the Roma of France. Diaspora - Memory - Oraliture
Supervised by Prof Dr Isabella von Treskow

Award:
"Prix Germaine de Staël"
(awarded by the French Embassy in Germany and the French Romance Studies Association)

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Abstract

The literary analysis of the works of Roma authors still represents a research desideratum within Romance studies today. While so-called "gypsy images" have already been extensively analysed in European literature, there have been only a few studies on the self-representation of Roma in literature.

This study closes this research gap by comprehensively analysing the motifs of narrative works by French Roma authors, i.e. writers who define themselves as Roma and reflect on being Roma in literature.

The study is based on three central theoretical concepts:

Diaspora
The socio-cultural backgrounds of Roma communities are analysed on the basis of current diaspora research. The work shows that literary works by Roma authors are characterised by historical experiences of dispersion, border demarcation and orientation towards origin. At the same time, literature contributes to the development of a political diaspora discourse and the formation of a diasporic Roma collective.

Memory formation
The communication of collective symbol systems and historical experiences plays a central role in the constitution of a community. The work assumes that literary representations of identity-forming characteristics contribute to the establishment of so-called "memory figures" (Assmann, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis, 1992).

Orality and writing
Another focus is on the transition from traditional oral knowledge storage to written forms of expression. The study shows that oral narrative styles also remain visible in written literature and are used specifically to convey collective experiences and cultural norms.

By combining oral narrative traditions with the written form, the works of French Roma authors succeed in combining integration into the majority society with the preservation of cultural origins.

Conference organisation

XXVII Forum Young Romance Studies 2011
Minority(ies): Foreign? Different? Equal?
15.-18 June 2011, University of Regensburg
Organised together with Simona Fabellini, Magdalena Silvia Mancas and Evelyn Wiesinger

International Colloquium
Borderline Experiences: Roma Literatures in Romania
3.-4 September 2010, University of Regensburg
Organised together with Marina Ortrud M. Hertrampf

Conference / Workshop
Language and Culture of the Roma
12.-16 May 2010
Organisation in cooperation with Prof. Mozes F. Heinschink

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Lectures

"Moving Stories - The Oral Tradition of a Transnational People"
International Conference The Mediterranean Other - The Other Mediterranean. Subaltern Perspectives, Interpretations and Representations of the Mediterranean
28. March 2014, Centre for Mediterranean Studies, Bochum

"Writing Karama - A Literary Francophone Perspective on the Arab Spring"
Young Academics Workshop Invitation to Discourse. Normative Concepts in Transformation in the Arab Spring and Beyond
23. November 2013, Free University Berlin

"Remnants of Auschwitz - Romani Literature and the Aesthetics of Holocaust"
International Conference Antiziganism - What's in a Word?
25. October 2013, Hugo Valentine Centre, Uppsala

"Arab Traces: Erasure. Persistence. Recognising. Exile (2004) by Tony Gatlif"
XXVIII. Forum Young Romance Studies: Traces. Searching (in) the Romania
20. April 2012, Karl-Franzens-University Graz

"Rétrospective d'un peuple errant: Enfances tsiganes oppressées par l'Holocauste"
Conference Quand les enfants écrivent les génocides: théories - textes - témoignages
21. January 2012, Hamburg

"In the mirror of the diaspora? The cinema of Tony Gatlif"
Transversal section Multilingualism in the cinema of the 21st century
XXXII German Romance Studies Conference
27. September 2011, Humboldt University of Berlin

"Senza voce? Paula Schöpf's poetry in the field of tension between speaking and silence"
Forum Young Romance Studies 2011
17. June 2011, University of Regensburg

"The double border: Zingarina and the path to freedom"
International Colloquium Border Experiences: Roma Literatures in the Romania
4. September 2010, University of Regensburg

"Je suis né ou ne suis pas né... - Tradition et migration dans la chronique de Juha"
Colloque international Kateb Yacine le migrant (1929-1989)
28. April 2010, Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand

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Panel discussion

"Roma literature: the challenge of writing in permanent exile"
International symposium
What does Gypsy mean here? Image and self-image of Europe's largest minority
12. November 2011, Berlin
(Allianz Cultural Foundation & Federal Agency for Civic Education)

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Teacher training

Atelier "Literary representation of space in Il faut sauver Saïd by Brigitte Smadja"
Teacher training (together with Dominique Dias)
26. November 2010

Courses

Summer term 2014

• Exercise: Preparation for the State Examination (Italian Literature)

Summer term 2013

• Exercise: Preparation for the State Examination (Italian Literature)

Winter term 2012/13

• Exercise: Introduction to Italian Literary Studies
• Exercise: Introduction to French Literary Studies

Summer term 2012

• Proseminar : Maupassant's novellas: Eroticism, Shivers, Irony and Tragedy

Winter term 2011/12

• Exercise: Introduction to French Literary Studies

Summer term 2011

• Proseminar : Of nomads, elephant sellers and the thirst for freedom - minority literatures in Italy

Winter term 2010/11

• Exercise: Introduction to French Literary Studies

Summer term 2010

• Proseminar : "Il était une fois les bohémiens..." - Roma in France

Winter term 2009/10

• Exercise: Introduction to French Literary Studies

Summer term 2009

• Proseminar: Intercultural communication using the example of Germany and France

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Further teaching formats

Film series: Tony Gatlif
Accompanying film series as part of the proseminar
"Il était eine fois les bohémiens..." - Roma in France

Current Call for Papers

• German: The Arab Spring from a Francophone Perspective. Literary interventions as a transcultural discourse?
• French: Le printemps arabe à travers une perspective francophone. Interventions littéraire comme un discours transculturel?

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Monograph

• The literature of the Roma of France
  Mimesis Romance Literatures of the World; 60, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015

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Editorships

• Blandfort, Julia / Magdalena Silvia Mancas / Evelyn Wiesinger (eds.): Minderheit(en): Foreign? Different? Equal? Contributions to the XXVII Forum Junge Romanistik (15-18 June 2011, Regensburg), Frankfurt a.M. et al: Lang, 2013
• Blandfort, Julia / Marina Ortrud M. Hertrampf (eds.): Grenzerfahrungen: Roma Literatures in the Romania, Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 2011

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Articles and essays

• Blandfort, Julia: "Rétrospective d'un peuple errant: le regard de l'enfant sur l'Holocauste dans deux romances de Sandra Jayat", in: von Treskow, Isabella / Segler-Meßner, Silke (eds.): Enfance, jeunesse et génocide: théories - textes - témoignages, Frankfurt a.M. u.a.: Lang, 2014, pp. 301-314
• Blandfort, Julia: "Remnants of Auschwitz - Romani Narratives and the Aesthetics of Holocaust", in: The Holocaust in History and Memory vol. 6, 2013, pp. 107-116
• Blandfort, Julia: "Arab Traces: Erasure. Persisting. (Re)recognising. Exile (2004) by Tony Gatlif", in: Csibi, Andreea et al. (eds.): Traces.search (in) the Romania. Contributions to the XXVIII. Forum Junge Romanistik (18-21 April 2012), Frankfurt a.M. et al: Lang, in preparation
• Blandfort, Julia / Doaa Saad Hasanien: Video recordings and text editing "Arab Encounters" as part of the multimedia learning project for Arabic learners, Center for Language and Communication, University of Regensburg, 2013
• Blandfort, Julia: "Senza voce? Paula Schöpf's poetry in the field of tension between speaking and silence", in: Blandfort, Julia / Mancas, Magdalena Silvia / Wiesinger, Evelyn (eds.): Minderheit(en): Foreign? Different? Equal?, Frankfurt a.M. et al: Lang, 2013, pp. 189-204
• Blandfort, Julia / Magdalena Silvia Mancas / Evelyn Wiesinger: "Minderheit(en): Foreign? Different? Equal? Introduction", in: Blandfort et al. (eds.), 2013, pp. 9-34
• Blandfort, Julia / Cécile Kovacshazy: "Dialogue des cultures: Réflexions sur l'identité romance à travers les romans de Sandra Jayat", in: Études tsiganes 46, 2012, pp. 205-215
• Blandfort, Julia: "Mehr als ein Zigeunermärchen - Die Literatur der Sinti und Roma", Goethe Institut, 2012
• Blandfort, Julia: "Liberté: Die Prose der Roma Frankreichs", in: Blandfort, Julia / Hertrampf, Marina Ortrud M. (eds.): Grenzerfahrungen: Roma Literatures in the Romania, Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 2011, pp. 121-144
• Blandfort, Julia: "The double border. Sandra Jayat's La longue route d'une zingarina as a space of diasporic identity", in: Blandfort / Hertrampf (eds.), 2011, pp. 217-244
• Blandfort, Julia / Marina Ortrud M. Hertrampf: "Introduction: Border Experiences: Roma Literatures in the Romania', in Blandfort / Hertrampf (eds.), 2011, pp. 15-28
• Blandfort, Julia: "Sprache(n) als Spiegel der Diaspora - Das Kino Tony Gatlifs", in: Blum, Andreas / Erdmann, Eva (eds.): Mehrsprachigkeit im Kino. Forms of linguistic diversity in current films and reports from film production, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, in preparation

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Conference report

• Blandfort, Julia / Marina Ortrud M. Hertrampf: "Conference report: 'Grenzerfahrungen: Roma-Literatures in the Romania'", in: Tsiganologische Mitteilungen 11, 15.12.2010, pp. 3-6

Bibliography

• German-language Roma literature
• Selected secondary literature

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Further links

Online reference works

• RomBase - database with a comprehensive overview of the history, culture and language of the Roma of Europe.
• RomLex - online dictionary that translates various Romani dialects into numerous European languages.

Organisations and magazines

• Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma - Information on the history of persecution, culture and publications.
• Études Tsiganes - Biannual journal on current Roma research in Europe.
• Gypsy Lore Society - Organisation for ethnological and linguistics research; publications in the journal Romani Studies.
• Rom e.V. Köln - Civil rights association with archive, documentation centre and information on the history, culture and language of the Roma.