Institut de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire en Arts, Lettres et Langues (English)

Presentation of the Institute             


The Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Arts, Letters and Languages (IRPALL – Institut de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire en Arts, Lettres et Langues), founded in 1998 as a Multi-domain Training Programme (PPF - Programme Pluri-Formations), was recognized as a Federal Structure (FED 4098, structure fédérative) in 2003. The origins of the Institute stem from the desire shared by researchers belonging to teams working in the fields of Letters, Languages and Arts at the University of Toulouse – Jean Jaurès to strengthen synergies and to activate interfaces which had already existed for many years in these areas. At the behest of the University’s Scientific Council and its Vice-President, the decision was taken to create a new research facility to be known as the IRPALL in which all the ‘cross-disciplinary’ domains in the Arts, Letters and Languages (ALL) sectors (visual arts, cinema, civilization, cultural studies, history, the history of ideas, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, rhetoric, poetics, and theatre) would be represented.

Since its inception in 2003, and bridging the renewal of its contract in 2007, 2011 and 2016, the IRPALL has set up, developed, and overseen research programmes consistent with its founding principles under the leadership of its three successive directors, Jean-Louis Breteau, François-Charles Gaudard, and Michel Lehmann.By promoting interchange between the Arts, Letters and Languages, the IRPALL plays a key role in interdisciplinary research, in which not only lecturers and researchers, but also doctoral students are invited to take part. The present contract has paid particular attention to the balance between these three domains by enhancing the role of the Arts. This dynamic Institute allows researchers whose activities do not fit in with their team’s own programmes to work together on specific interdisciplinary programmes. It also allows the research teams themselves to benefit in return from scientific output which transcends the usual boundaries or which arises from the use of other methodological approaches.The research programmes offered by the IRPALL are systematically endorsed by the Institute’s Council, and grouped together in different sub-programmes, hence reinforcing their epistemological and methodological coherence. Consequently, the Institute also provides the opportunity to engage in reflection as to the practices and methods characterizing multidisciplinary research in the fields of Arts, Letters and Languages. This has resulted in the emergence of a seminar dedicated to this theme that will continue during the period of the following contract.Each year, the IRPALL organizes activities including workshops, seminars, day-long study sessions, symposia, major conferences, and promotes the development of research tools and new publications. Its federative dynamic predisposes the Institute to encourage interuniversity research partnerships involving specific innovative programmes at both local and international level (Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Spain, etc.). The Institute also participates in partnerships with cultural institutions such as that with the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, a remarkable collaborative venture in the world of lyric theatres which is entering its tenth year of existence.The IRPALL feels it has responded to the expectations of the academic institution under whose authority it is placed by playing a pivotal role in research, and by helping to federate and promote the efforts of those colleagues working in the area of the Arts, Letters and Languages.The Institute’s experience and achievements have encouraged it to propose a scientific project for the five-year period from 2021 to 2025 which is innovative, renewed, attractive, and open to further institutional collaboration.