"Representation", a key word that has always accompanied the cultural production of humanity and its reception for so long a time, remains extremely in the spotlight given its transversal character and its capacity for renewal. This term generally denotes the relationship that the human being establishes with reality. It therefore involves a mediator between himself or herself and the real world by resorting to a kind of mediation. The latter could be a language, a cultural product, a symbol, a creation or a convention, etc. Literature and the arts can be considered as tools of mediation; still, they cannot be exclusively limited to this mediating function since they are supposed to comprise and form art works and masterpieces. They are sometimes called upon to play a role independent of their initial reference or source of inspiration. Yet, the interpretation of this relationship between works of art and the reality they represent or are supposed to represent could possibly depend on reception. Therefore, the thinking subject who receives an artistic representation is never neutral in their perception.

Hence, the question of the relationship between the work and the im/possibility of representation already arises. Should we understand by representation a certain analogy, correspondence, resemblance, similarity, and even identity mirroring the very essence of the work?

In his book La Crise de la Représentation [The Crisis of Representation], Daniel Bougnoux, a French philosopher, asserts that “to represent implies the extraction of a scheme from a territory and its transposition into another world - of which the materials, the medium or the element are generally more diaphanous or easier to handle - called a map."

It is this transposition and its result that need to be questioned. Through engaging present reality and considering the evolution of concepts and technology, a question arises: why should representation rely, today, solely on classical and traditional forms (painting, writing, ect.) when we could profit from the advances of the digital age we are living in?

Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that the impact of the digital is not absent. This fact is taken into account and increasingly influences representation in different areas. Whether we choose the traditional method or we involve new technologies in this process, "the act of representing oneself is not a free act", as Pierre Guenancia asserts. According to him, “we do not represent something merely for the pleasure of bringing a fragment of the world to life in imagination, and so it does not have an "aesthetic" character but a "practical" one because it amends and adjusts the consciousness which relates to a thing and which constitutes, therefore, an actualization and a greater activity of self-consciousness and of knowing the others and the world.”[1]

It is interesting to emphasize that the tools made available to us by technological development could also be worrisome. The evocation of the cave in the statement made by Pierre Guenancia deserves our full attention: "In all domains, we would be separated from the things in themselves or even from being by screens which conceal reality from us, and at the same time they present us with images, representations, artifacts of all kinds, as in the famous allegory of the cave."

Having said that, do the contributions of the digital age facilitate or complicate the operation of representation? How do the changes under their impact disclose themselves in the various fields of interest to us?

We know, for instance, that the integration of the concept of representation in the sciences of education in general, and in didactics more particularly, has contributed to transcending traditional methods and opening up new pedagogical practices.

André Petitjean dissociates Representation from representations: "This allows me to define the Representation as the socio-cognitive - and discursive - activity, and through which each individual categorizes and interprets the objects of the world and the representations like the products of “ordinary” thinking as it is shaped in the beliefs, speeches and behaviors of individuals.”[2] In addition to their being processes or products, representations are both "obstacles and cornerstones; they must be identified, objectified, and worked on by the teaching practices.”[3]

Therefore, in this respect, it will be a question of presenting devices for locating and objectifying representations within a language class, as well as of exposing tools capable of analyzing teaching / learning practices in relation to this concept. It is legitimate in this context to question the impact of new technologies and digitization, especially after the experience of distance teaching/learning imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic (2020-2021).

In other areas, the same questions apply. The representation in literary works has known and continues to undergo innumerable changes in both form and content. The digital book has, according to some observers, a direct impact on the aesthetics of the creative text. The aesthetic dimension is called into question. Yet, what we call "aesthetic" is itself problematic. Jean-Pierre Cometti points to this aspect: "The word ‘aesthetic’ implies a set of practices, interests or fairly extensive designs or conceptions, where the boundaries across domains are vague and unstable. From a strictly critical or theoretical point of view, literary studies, history, social sciences, linguistics, philosophy, and even natural sciences can claim interests in this field, with the ambition to provide some insights that no one has the right to underestimate a priori.”[4]

It is worth saying that language is not fixed and its evolution raises the question of representation in its relations with semantic precision. Moreover, beyond a single language, it is also quite essential to question translation and its role in the transfer of representations in the era of globalization.

When it comes to representation, the range of areas that challenge us is expanding quite quickly. However, in order to better understand our purpose, we plan to focus the 2022 international colloquium on the changes introduced by the impact of digitization on representation.

Contributions are invited on, but not restricted to, the following topics:

- Literature: representation between final product, process and digital influence ;

- Didactics: what new practices?

- The digital book: uses and transformations;

- Reception as representation: in class, in front of a show and in public space;

- Cinema, theater, painting and the new challenges of representation;

- Representation and social networks;

- ICT: digitalization and its impact on reception;

- Translation and transfer of representations;

- Education and the construction of representations.

[1] Guenancia Pierre, Le regard de la pensée. Philosophie de la représentation, Paris, PUF, 2015.

[2] Petitjean André, « La transposition didactique en français » In: Pratiques : linguistique, littérature, didactique, n°97-98, 1998. pp. 7-34.

[3] Halté Jean-François, La didactique du français, Paris, PUF, Collection « Que sais-je ?», 1992.

[4] Cometti Jean-Pierre, Art, représentation, expression, PUF, 2002

Contributions presented at the colloquium will last around minutes. Proposals for presentations should take into account the following guidelines:

• Working languages: Arabic, French and English

• Word file including the author’s name, affiliation, full contact details, title of the presenation, 5 keywords, an abstract of about 500 words and a brief bio-bibliographic notes on the author.

• Along with researchers and academics, doctoral students are also strongly encouraged to submit proposals either in the form of presentations or posters.

• Publication procedures will start in April 2021 and notifications will be sent accordingly.

• Proposals are to be submitted to the following addresses:

s.dlimi@um5r.ac.ma ; abdellah.baida@ens.um5.ac.ma ; baidabdel@yahoo.fr

05/08/2021: Start of proposal submission

30/11/2021: Submission deadline

15/12/2021: Notification of review results

30-31/03/2022: Colloquium dates

• Adil AZHAR

• Abdellah AZOUR

• Abdellah BAÏDA

• Samira DLIMI

• Sana BOURBI

• Malika EDDAKHCH

• Abdelhamid EL JEMLI

• Abdesselam FERRATI

• Azz-Eddine HAMDAN

• Jihad KARRAMI

• Lahcen MADI

• Abdellah SALMI

• Siham YAKRIB

• Naima ZOUITI

• Sanae BOURBI

Colloquium Coordinators: Abdellah Baïda & Samira Dlimi

Scientific Committee

o Rachida AZDOUZ (Université de Montréal, Canada)

o Abdellah BAÏDA (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Juliana Bertucci BARBOSA (Université fédérale de Triângulo Mineiro, Brésil)

o Valdir Heitor BARZOTTO (Université de São Paulo, Brésil)

o Mohamed CHIGUER (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Samira DLIMI (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Malika EDDAKHCH (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Abdelkhaleq JAYED (Université Ibn Zohr, Agadir)

o Abdelhamid EL JEMLI (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Touriya FILI-TULLON (Université Lyon 2)

o Bérénice HAMIDI-KIM (Université Lyon 2)

o Antoine KATTAR (Université Picardie Jules Vernes)

o Abdelouahed MABROUR (Université Chouaib Doukkali, Eljadida)

o Lahcen MADI (ENS – Université Mohammed V – Rabat)

o Evangélia MOUSSOURI (Université Aristote de Thessalonique-Grèce)

o Christine PETIT LAMBERT (Haute École de la Province de Namur -HEPN- Belgique)

o Mustapha TRABELSI (FLSH – Université de Sfax, Tunisie)

o Marc QUAGHEBEUR (Président de l’Association AAEF)