Freitag, 22. März 2024, 18:00 - 19:30 iCal

The Politics of Latin in the Digital Age

Federico Petris (Groningen)

Otto-Mauer-Zentrum
Währinger Str. 2–4, 1090 Wien

Vortrag

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Moscovia Delenda est, but also Ukrajina Delenda Est! and El Partido Popolar Delenda Est!; together with Bolsonaro out of power #sic semper tyrannis are but few examples of an ongoing phenomenon that sees online political discussions featuring interventions that make use of the Latin language among a variety of other natural languages. In relation to what has been sentenced, in various iterations, as a ‘dead language’, we may ask ourselves ‘why Latin?’. A disinterested answer could dismiss the cases as example of ‘linguistic preference’; a picture of Trump with the hashtag #Fullofshitticus is not deserving of further investigation; and the fact that #Vox Populi Vox Dei trended twice on X (former Twitter) within a single week in late 2022 is just a happy coincidence. In this talk, however, I will ask what happens when we take seriously the social embeddedness of Latin, and when we move past critiques of ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’ uses of Classical languages – and of references to the classical world. In doing so, I will attempt to show that when Latin is the chosen medium in online political discourses, specific political processes are underway.

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Veranstalter

Institut für Klassische Philologie, Mittel- und Neulatein; Stadt Wien

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Kontakt

Katharina-Maria Schön
Institut für Klassische Philologie, Mittel- und Neulatein
+431427741901
klassischephilologie@univie.ac.at

Erstellt am Donnerstag, 14. März 2024, 12:23
Letzte Änderung am Mittwoch, 20. März 2024, 10:10