Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto
International Herder Society Conference: Herder’s Geography
September 4–7, 2025 | University of Toronto
Senior Common Room, Brennan Hall
We are delighted to announce that the bi-annual conference of the International Herder Society will take place from September 4–7, 2025, at the University of Toronto. The conference theme is Herder’s Geography.
Professor John Noyes, of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and President of the Herder Society, will welcome scholars from around the world for this important gathering. The event will bring together researchers and enthusiasts for lively discussions and to explore the question: “What does Geography mean for Herder?”
Speakers
Nigel DeSouza (Ottawa) · Louise Fischer (Leipzig) · Sarah Goeth (Aachen) · Matteo Garau (Turin) · Rainer Godel (Darmstadt) · Katherine Arens (Austin) · Johannes Schmidt (Clemson) · Catherine Girardin (Paris) · David Takamura (Dickinson) · Daniel Purdy (Penn State) · Sonia Sikka (Ottawa) · Horst Lange (Arkansas) · John Noyes (Toronto) · Marcus Bullock (Wisconsin–Milwaukee) · Carl Niekerk (Urbana–Champaign)
Conference Agenda
Thursday, September 4, 2025
13:30 – Welcoming remarks
13:45 – John Noyes (University of Toronto): Introduction: What is Geography and Why Does it Matter to Herder?
14:00 – Opening Presentation
Nigel DeSouza (University of Ottawa): Environment/Milieu/Territory: Aristotle, Herder, Merleau-Ponty
Section 1: Geography’s Field of Knowledge
15:00 – Louise Fischer (Leipzig University): Herder, Kant, and the Significance of Geography and its Teaching in German-Speaking Countries in the Long 18th Century
15:45 – Sarah Goeth (Aachen University): „Wo ist das veste Land, auf dem ich so veste stand?“ – Herders Neuvermessung des Wissens
16:30 – Matteo Garau (University of Turin): „Auf einem ebenen Boden“ – Beyond the Dichotomy between Nature and Culture: The Role of Geography in Herder’s Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit
Friday, September 5, 2025
Section 2: Geography, Epistemology, Narrative I
9:15 – Rainer Godel (Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung): Perspektive und Bewegung in der Geographie
10:00 – Katherine Arens (University of Texas, Austin): Salvation Geography in Herder’s Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind
Section 3: Geography, Epistemology, Narrative II
11:15 – Johannes Schmidt (Clemson University): Herder’s “Spatio-Poetics”
12:00 – Catherine Girardin (Paris Nanterre): Space in Herder’s Theatre
Section 4: Europe and Asia
16:00 – David Takamura (Dickinson College): The Orientalism of Provenance
16:45 – Daniel Purdy (Penn State University): Nomads in Prussia: The Arrival of Central Asian Geography
17:00 – Sonia Sikka (University of Ottawa): “A foreign Asiatic nation”: Revisiting the Place of the Jews in Herder’s Thought
18:30 – Reception
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Section 5: The Geographical Imagination
9:00 – Horst Lange (Emeritus Professor): Inwieweit bezeichnet Herders Ausdruck “nordisch“ eine erfundene Identität?
9:45 – John Noyes (University of Toronto): Herder’s Imaginative Geography
Section 6: A New Political Geography
10:45 – Marcus Bullock (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee): A Messianism of Place, a Demonism of Place
11:30 – Carl Niekerk (University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign): Herder’s Theory of Climate and the History of Europe
For questions and more information, please contact Prof. John Noyes at john.noyes@utoronto.ca.
