The roundtable, which will seek to question the theoretical and cultural uses of Lévi-Strauss and assess his relevance to today’s theoretical and literary practices, will include the following speakers:

-Vincent Debaene (Columbia University): "Levi-Strauss and Literature: Within and Without."

-Boris Wiseman (Durham University): "Symbolism, Sensation, and Mythopoetics."

-Rosalind Morris (Columbia University): "The Mule’s Mouth."

-James Boon (Princeton University): "Levi-Strauss a Longtemps Later, and Still From Afar."

Lévi-Strauss, who founded Structuralism, is the author of several key anthropological texts, including Tristes tropiques (“World on the Wane”), The Savage Mind, and the two volumes of Structural Anthropology. Although his work is firmly rooted in anthropology, it has been so widely exploited in other fields (literary theory, history, philosophy, etc.) that it is difficult to think of a more influential body of thought in the second half of the 20th century. His work gave birth to innumerable comments and debates, in anthropology but also far beyond, shaping the intellectual field through affinities and famous controversies.