2011 was a great year for Imitatio and for the global community of researchers who are building on René Girard's insights.
Some milestones: René Girard formally agreed to establish the official archive of his papers at the Bibliothèque national de France.
The New York Times, the avant-garde journal
n+1, and dozens of other publications around the world discussed Girard's work. Audiences gathered at Stanford, Yale, ICI-Berlin, Cambridge (UK), and in São Paulo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original publication of Girard's first book:
Deceit, Desire and the Novel. In Brazil, É Editora celebrated the occasion with flair by releasing a fresh multi-volume Portuguese translation of key works by Girard and scholars in mimetic theory. At Berkeley, California a conference on Girard and World Religions invited scholars of Buddhism and Islam to rethink mimetic theory. New grass-roots platforms in Japan and Australia organized themselves to accelerate scholarly collaboration. Around the world, on and off campuses, young thinkers discovered Girard's work and applied it creatively across disciplines. Established scholars continued to produce insightful work and gain recognition: in France, Jean-Pierre Dupuy won the Prix Caillois for his book
La Marque du sacré and André Orléan's reconstruction of economics in his book
L'Empire de la valeur was a huge success.
We're even more excited about 2012. As archivists proceed to catalogue Girard's papers, Imitatio will support the electronic syndication of research materials to libraries around the world. As the next generation of scholars produces groundbreaking work, Imitatio will continue to support a full slate of projects at Michigan State University Press and our publishing partners around the world in order to gain the widest audiences for new work in mimetic theory. The Raven Foundation is reaching new people by making connections between mimetic theory and broadly fascinating subjects like the American Civil War. Partners like É Editora in Brazil and ARM in France are planning events to to deepen the reception of Girard's insights and bring them into fruitful discussion with the ideas of key thinkers like Emmanuel Levinas. The COV&R conference in Tokyo will consolidate the critical mass of researchers at work today in Japan and provide an essential opportunity to think through the meaning of catastrophe.
Please join us in helping to make 2012 as productive as possible by sharing your plans with us.
Imitatio's calendar of upcoming events provides a single place for everyone interested in mimetic theory to keep in touch.
Let us know what you have planned!
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