The International Herder Society is holding its Biannual Conference September 4-7, 2025 in Toronto, Canada.
International Herder Society Biannual Conference Toronto, Canada 4–7 September, 2025
Herder´s Geography / Herders Geografie
Thursday 4 September, 2025
Welcome
| 13:30 | Welcoming remarks |
| 14:00 | John Noyes (University of Toronto): Introduction: What is Geography and Why does it Matter to Herder? |
14:15 Opening Presentation:
Nigel DeSouza (University of Ottawa): Environment/Milieu/Territory: Aristotle, Herder, Merleau-Ponty
Section 1: Geography’s Field of Knowledge
| 15:00 | Lousie 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 | Manuel Disegni & Matteo Garau (University of Turin): Beyond the Nature/Culture Dichotomy. The Role of Geography in Herder’s Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind |
19:30 Mitgliederversammlung der IHS
Friday 5 September 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 |
10:45 Coffee Break
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 |
12:45 Lunch at the Gallery Grill
14:00 Tour of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
Section 4: A New Political Geography
| 16:00 | Marcus Bullock (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee): A Messianism of Place, a Demonism of Place |
| 16:45 | Carl Niekerk (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign): Herder’s Theory of Climate and the History of Europe |
18:30 Reception
Saturday 6 September
Excursion to Niagara Falls
18:00 “Die Gegenwart ist schwanger von der Zukunft.”
Open Discussion in Commemoration of 50 years International Herder Society
Sunday 7 September
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 |
10:30 Coffee Break
Section 6: Europe and Asia
| 10:45 | David Takamura (Dickinson College): Out of India: The Orientalism of Provenance |
| 11:30 | Daniel Purdy (Penn State University): Nomads in Prussia: The Arrival of Central Asian Geography |
| 12:15 | Sonia Sikka (University of Ottawa): “A foreign Asiatic nation”: Revisiting the place of the Jews in Herder’s thought |