November 4, 2016

Saint Paul University

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

From the call for papers:

From the 1950s until just a few years before his death, René Girard engaged in scholarly work that advanced and deepened our understanding of mimetic theory, generating a discursive field including mimetic desire, ontological desire, mimetic rivalries, mimetic doubling, scapegoating, sacrificial systems, the sacred, and mimetic violence. As he persisted in examining writers, philosophers, sacred texts, psychological and anthropologic literature, and more recently Clausewitz, he showed the inner complexity of the stable concepts he developed. After the emergence of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion in the early 1990s, an ever- growing body of international scholars expanded on mimetic theory—showing its implications for many disciplines, as well as many aspects of human existence.

On November 4, scholars and thoughtful readers of Girard will be given an opportunity to gather at Saint Paul University to present their critical reflections on the impact that Girard has had on them and their respective fields. The stage will be set on the evening of November 3 when Prof. Sandor Goodhart, the fourth PhD that Girard supervised, will present a public lecture to honour Girard.