The conference "Cultural Encounters" is part of the project, "A foreign Language that Unites" within the Norwegian initiated South-East Europe Cooperation Program, that the three English departments of the Universities of Bergen, Sarajevo and Zagreb have put together to establish educational and research network.
The conference aims to address cultural identities in contact: in language, literature, art and opinion. The intention is to discuss the development of various (and changing) identities and their concrete and symbolyc expressions; ethnic, religious, linguistic, literary or artistic. Translation issues, the influence of translated works on their new environment, and the differences between various literary manifestations in reception, interpretation, and public opinion will also play a central role. The beginning of the third millenium could be defined as the age of globalization and internationalization: our conference would like to discuss their impact on human lives and on the structure and functioning of culture in local communities and the society at large.