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Cultural Contact, Innovation and Tradition

Innovation has different facets: material, cultural, spatial, economic, and political. Of course, innovation may draw on a history reaching back to the beginnings of humankind. At the same time, innovation does not happen automatically and should not be understood as a law of nature. Societies that are strongly influenced by their cultural traditions delay some innovation processes or even reject them if they challenge their traditional way of life. Elsewhere, innovations lead to friction, social divisions, and upheavals. In contrast, innovation processes help to usher in explorations of the human mind. New perceptions of life can simultaneously be constructed. Furthermore, innovations are conducive to discovering new approaches in addressing technical and societal challenges. This raises questions: Which discourses accompany innovation processes? Which innovations are universally welcomed, and which are met with rejection? Do patterns emerge in the implementation of innovations, the knowledge of which might determine success or failure? Has the way innovations are addressed changed in the course of the centuries? Do cultural differences and similarities exist? Or, in other words, which challenges do we face in the 21st century – and how can we deal with them in an innovative way: communicate them, manage them, solve them?  

interface –Journal of European Languages and Literatures is inviting original unpublished papers written in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, or Italian for interface Issue 20, to be published in March 2023. 

We particularly welcome contributions from established researchers, postdoctoral and early-career scholars, and postgraduate students in a wide range of disciplines including (among others) Politics, History of Science, History of Ideas, Ethics, History of Arts, Film Studies, Musicology, Literary Studies, Sociology, Linguistics, Philosophy of Language, Classics, Cultural Studies, and Cultural History. 

Topics may include (but are not limited to): 

• the transfer of innovative ideas and concepts between education systems
• cultural resistance and innovation in immigrant communities
• tradition and innovation in philosophical systems as a result of cultural contact
• religious movements and innovation caused by cultural contact
• the development of distinct branches of scholarship under new cultural conditions
• the depiction, and its impact upon other cultures, of tradition and innovation: in literature, in film, in the fine arts, and in music
• resetting the agenda: the discourse of policy changes
• ethics and self-reflection in the sciences
• cultural and personal identity between tradition and innovation
• ecocriticism: conservation or change?
• explorations: mapping the routes of innovation