Past events
Selected seminars, conferences, lectures, film screenings, exhibitions, and workshops in European Languages and Cultures (2015 -).
DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS)
The DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and co-production between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.
Each series is designed on a transversal exploration of a common theme, for example Decolonising Minds and Methods (2021 to 2022).
Typically, each event consists of:
- a workshop co-produced by staff and students
- a seminar presented by a guest speaker
- a roundtable discussion led by respondents
Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed.
| Date(s) | Title | Guest speaker(s) | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 April 2021 | Performing Latin Americanism: Body, Technology, Activism | Professor Fernando Degiovanni (The Graduate Center, CUNY) | Jessica Gordon-Burroughs; Julie Gibbings |
| 6 November 2020 | Multimedia Urban Politics in Agnès Varda's Daguerréotypes | Rebecca DeRoo (Rochester Institute of Technology) |
|
| 3 February 2020 |
|
Professor Benoît Peeters (Lancaster University) | Edouard Notte; Dr Claire Boyle |
| 4 and 5 December 2019 |
|
Dr James Hawkey (University of Bristol) |
Students and staff from the Schools of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (PPLS)
|
| 4 November 2019 |
|
Professor Giuliana Pieri (Royal Holloway, University of London) |
Students and staff from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA)
|
Prior to 2019, seminars were organised along subject lines.
Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed.
| French and Francophone Studies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Title | Speaker(s) |
| 12 March 2019 | Estranging the Mother Tongue | Dr Anne-Isabelle François (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris 3) |
| 24 January 2019 | Killing Time: Death, Feminism, and the Future in Leïla Slimani's Chanson douce | Dr Sarah Arens (University of Edinburgh) |
| 22 November 2017 |
Settlement, treatment and employment of French-speaking Belgian refugees in France, the Netherlands, England and Scotland. [also part of the ‘Uncovering civilian war trauma among female Belgian refugees in Scotland during the First World War’ workshop series] |
Dr Christophe Declercq (University College London) |
| 7 November 2017 | Civil Disobedience and Democracy | Professor Sandra Laugier (Paris Sorbonne) |
| 20 March 2017 | Bernard Stiegler’s Automatic Politics | Professor Martin Crowley (University of Cambridge) |
| 8 March 2017 | 'Tot ot escrit an la cortine': Reconstructing Female Voice and Identity from the Literary Clothwork of Old French Romance | Morgan Boharski (University of Edinburgh) |
| 15 February 2017 | La campagne référendaire de 2014 vue de la France | Professor Didier Revest (Université Côte d'Azur) |
| 17 May 2016 | Narrating Trauma in French Women’s Writing of the Extreme Contemporary | Professor Barbara Havercroft (University of Toronto) |
| 24 February 2016 | Imagining Brussels: Diasporic Writing and the Transnational Urban Space | Sarah Arens (University of Edinburgh) |
| 20 January 2016 | Elles ne savent pas ce qu'elles disent, c'est toute la différence entre elles et moi: Lacan et les féministes | Professor Benedicte Coste (Université de Bourgogne) |
| German | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Title | Speaker(s) |
| 27 March 2019 | Drama in the World: A.W. Schlegel, Walter Scott, and Two Takes on Theatre History | Dr Michael Wood (University of Edinburgh) |
| 28 February 2019 | Die Waffen nieder!: Bertha von Suttner as Novelist and Peace Activist | Dr Barbara Burns (University of Glasgow) |
| 30 January 2019 | German “Provincialism”, the World and Saša Stanišić’s Vor dem Fest | Dr Frauke Matthes (University of Edinburgh) |
| 21 November 2018 | How German philosophy won the First World War: An Introduction to Viscount Haldane | Richard McLauchlan |
| 2 November 2018 | Racing Back to the Future: Rosmer/Bernstein’s Neo-Classical Tragedies | Dr Robert Gillett (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| 5 October 2018 | Cultural Learning in Interaction: Researching meaning-making processes in the foreign language classroom | Julia Feike (University of Edinburgh) |
| 23 March 2018 | Emil Nolde: Landscapes of Loss | Frances Blythe (University of Edinburgh) |
| 2 February 2018 |
The history of learning and teaching German (and other modern languages) in Britain, 1500-2000 [hosted in collaboration with Cultural Encounters/Cultural Dialogues] |
Professor Nicola McClelland (University of Nottingham) |
| 1 December 2017 |
The Disappearance of the Subject in Writing: The Essay Film Beyond Auteurism [hosted in collaboration with Film and the Other Arts] |
Dr Angelos Koutsourakis (University of Leeds) |
| 3 November 2017 | Digitally Distributing Liveness: Three case studies from the Berliner Theatertreffen (2017) | Katie Hawthorne (University of Edinburgh) |
Russian Studies
- 25th September 2019 - 'Inaugural Lectures: Liquid Russian'. Larissa Ryazanova-Clarke (Institute of Linguists).
- 30th May 2019 - 'Russia and Europe: Linguistic and Cultural Encounters'. Alexandra Smith and Angelos Theocharis (University of Edinburgh).
- 18th March 2018 - 'The Russian Play 2018: The Woman Question'. Dashkova Centre and the University of Edinburgh.
- 24th January 2018 - 'Retranslations of Literature: the Case Study of six English translations of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita'. Dr Natalia Kaloh Vid (University of Maribor).
- 22nd January 2018 - 'Translations of Robert Burns into Russian: from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century'. Dr Natalia Kaloh Vid (University of Maribor).
- 27th November 2017 - 'The Pavlovian discourse of species in Soviet literature and film in the 1930s'. Professor Henrietta Mondry (University of Canterbury).
- 17th May 2017 - 'Robert Burness - Vladimir Nabokov’s English Tutor'. Gavriel Shapiro (Cornell University).
- 1st February 2013 - 'Word and Image in Russian Contexts'. Talbot Rice Gallery.
- 24th - 25th January 2013 - 'Global Russian: Exploring New Research Perspectives'. The Princess Dashkova Centre.
- 4th November 2012 - 'Russian Film Festival 2012'. The Princess Dashkova Centre.
| Scandinavian Studies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Title | Speaker(s) |
| 30 April 2018 |
Natural Disasters as Triggers: The Danish Assault on Frisia in AD 810 |
Dan Haycraft (University of Edinburgh) |
| 23 April 2018 |
Swords from the Pagan Norse Graves of Scotland |
Dr Caroline Paterson (University of Stirling) |
|
14 February 2018 |
Prickly Puffins: Translating (pseudo-)profanities and other emotive language in Norwegian children’s literature |
Dr Guy Puzey (University of Edinburgh) |
| 7 February 2018 |
Dalastugor: Creating Images of Belonging through Diasporic Touch in Nordic Art |
Dr Sara Davies (University of Manchester) |
| 30 January 2018 |
Screening Privilege: Global Injustice and Responsibility in 21st Century Scandinavian Film and Media |
Julianne Yang (University of Oslo) |
|
23 January 2018 |
Migrants in Scandinavian literature |
Anja Tröger (University of Edinburgh) |
| 25 January 2017 | The Finnish Workplace - How Finnish Employees Are Led | Saku Tihveräinen (University of Helsinki / University of Edinburgh) |
| 7 December 2016 | The Topography of Salvation and Damnation - Heaven and Hell - in Old Norse Literature | Dr Haki Antonsson (University College London) |
| 30 November 2016 | Playing Devil's Advocate? Ruben Östlund's "Play" (2011) and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Contemporary Sweden | Kate Moffat (University of Stirling) |
| 23 November 2016 | At the Crossroads: The Eastern Baltic in Viking-Age Long-Distance Communication | Dr Marika Mägi (Tallinn University) |
| 16 November 2016 |
The Forbes Family in Swedish Service during the First Half of the Seventeenth Century |
Dr Kathrin Zickermann (University of the Highlands and Islands) |
| 9 November 2016 | Nordic Italies: Representations of Italy in Nordic Literatures between the 1830s and the 1910s | Dr Elettra Carbone (University College London) |
| 2 November 2016 | Decadence and the North: Symbolist Art in the Nordic Countries | Dr Marja Lahelma (University of Helsinki) |
| 19 October 2016 |
Analogical Place-names in Western Iceland and Eastern Lewis; Connection or Coincidence? |
Geir Eysteinsson |
Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
- 16th November 2019 - 'Jornadas de Español en Edimburgo: Español en Andalucía'. A professional development event for Spanish teachers.
- 8th October 2019 - '“Teatro político y comprometido en Argentina” by Professor Fernando Operé'. Professor Fernando Operé (University of Virginia, USA).
- 21st October 2019 - '"Nation Through Landscape: Rodrigo Rey Rosa's Use of Environmental Themes in Lo que soñó Sebastián" by Professor Stephen Henighan'. Professor Stephen Henighan (University of Guelph, Canada).
- 4th - 12th October 2019 - 'Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival 2019'.
- 1st June 2019 - '¡Viva Chile!'. ESFF's second fundraiser of 2019.
- 5th - 6th September 2019 - 'Transnational Perspectives on the Study of Spanish in Society'. The IX International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics and VII Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society.
- 13th - 14th June 2019 - 'ELE-UK 2019: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching'.
- 23rd April 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: María Ángeles Pérez López'. Professor María Ángeles Pérez López (Universidad de Salamanca).
- 5th April - 29th June 2019 - 'Conectando: Scottish Encounters with Spanish & Portuguese'. An exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Spanish Degree at the University of Edinburgh.
- 27th March 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Bárbara Fernández Melleda'. Dr Bárbara Fernández Melleda (University of Edinburgh).
- 4th March 2019 - 'Are you ready to catch the Basque wave?'. Basque taster session.
- 12th February 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Cinema of/as Garbage workshop with Luz Horne'. Instituto Camões and CCLAS in conjunction with Film Studies.
- 28th November 2018 - 'The Cunninghame Graham Lecture 2017: Carlos Zanón'.
- 28th November 2018 - 'Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (SPLAS) Christmas get together'. DELC Festive Showcase.
- 13th November 2018 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Maite Conde'. Dr Maite Conde (University of Cambridge).
- 20th November 2018 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Beatriz Caballero Rodriguez'. Dr Beatriz Caballero Rodriguez (University of Strathclyde).
- 31st October 2017 - 'The Cunninghame Graham Lecture 2017: Carlos Zanón'. Carlos Zanón (poet).
- 30th October 2017 - 'Dos renovadores de la escritura del ‘yo’: Carmen Martín Gaite y Rosa Montero'. Professor José María Pozuelo Yvancos (University of Murcia).
- 27th January 2017 - 'I Am Tango. Biography of María Nieves'. Elaine Newton-Bruzza (screening).
- 18th October 2016 - 'Diálogo entre escritores'. Paula Varsavsky and Carlos Gamerro (writers).
- 30th September 2016 - 'Tango Negro - The African roots of Tango'. (screening).
- 7th - 11th March 2016 - 'Spanish Play: 'Maribel y la extraña familia'. Various students.
- 18th - 20th March 2015 - 'Spanish play 2015 - Enseñar a un ERASMUS'. Various students.
- 23rd May 2013 - 'La defensa de los indios en dos filósofos novohispanos'. Caribbean and Latin American Research at Edinburgh (CLARE).
- 6th - 8th March 2013 - 'El Florido Pensil'. Basque group Tanttaka.
- 2013 series - 'One Region, Many Peoples'. Various events on race in Latin America.
- 30th January 2013 - 'Seminar: An Early American Diaspora'. Dr Dodds Pennock.
- 2013 - 'Spanish play 2013 - El Florido Pensil'.
- 2012 - 'Spanish play 2012 - Bajarse al moro'.
Conferences and symposia
Dates: 20 September 2019
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
In brief: A one-day workshop organised by the Association of University Professors and Heads of French (AUPHF), co-sponsored by the Society for French Studies and the French Embassy. Focusing on changing mindsets and rethinking the value of languages in a time of crisis, the event brought together stakeholders from Universities, Schools and Cultural Institutes to celebrate and share positive examples of French and Francophone teaching of language and culture. The event culminated with a roundtable discussion on advocacy, lobbying and policy making.
Dates: 13 and 14 December 2018
Venues: 7 George Square, University of Edinburgh; L’Institut français d’Ecosse
Keynote speakers: Professor Nobuko Akiyama (Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo); Professor Nobuko Anan (Kansai University); Professor Fuhito Endo (Seikei University, Tokyo)
Organisers: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce (University of Edinburgh); Dr Akihiko Shimizu (Cardiff University)
In brief: A two-day international conference in comparative literature on representations of the face in Japanese and Western European art, literature and theatre from the Early Modern period to the present. Comprising 13 papers over five sessions, and three keynote lectures, the event was supported by the DAIWA Foundation (UK), L'Institut Français Écosse and LLC.
Dates: 28 and 29 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A two-day research meeting of the Dariah-EU Working Group on Women Writers in History. Bringing together an international group of 15 researchers, the event comprised panel sessions, a film screening, workshops and working group discussions.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 15 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Dr María Alonso Alonso, Dr Charlotte Bosseaux, Dr Véronique Desnain and Dr Fiona Mackintosh
In brief: A one-day symposium on the evolution of narrative techniques towards noir aesthetics in world literatures. Combining panel sessions involving nine selected researchers, and a facilitated conversation with author Christopher Brookmyre, the event looked at texts which favour the adoption of a new consciousness towards cultural politics, as they reinforce the connection between literature and public affairs.
Related research: Language and Violence
Date: 8 March 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organisers: Professor Rob Dunbar and Dr María Alonso Alonso
In brief: A one-day symposium bringing together established and early-career researchers working on issues related to Galician Studies. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the panel sessions shed light on how Galician Studies engage with the most diverse avenues of research, with particular emphasis on new approaches within the Humanities.
Dates: 2 and 3 November 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Keynote speakers: Professor Juliet Hooker; Professor Peter Wade
Organisers: Dr Julie Cupples and Dr Charlotte Gleghorn
In brief: A two-day gathering on Afrodescendant film and media from Latin America organised as part of the AHRC-funded International Network, ‘Afro-Latin (in)visibility and the UN Decade’. Comprising a keynote address, three panel sessions and a roundtable discussion, the event included the screening of a selection of films curated by the Network steering committee and the Africa in Motion film festival.
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Date: 15 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh; Summerhall
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The third in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. This international one-day conference, in English, focused on Post-Fukushima Art and Literature in Japan and the West. Comprising five panel sessions and a roundtable discussion, it culminated with a screening of 'The World after Fukushima' and a Q&A with its director Kenichi Watanabe and scriptwriter Michaël Ferrier. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Date: 14 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The second in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. This international one-day conference, in French, focused on the Tokyo-based writer Michaël Ferrier, author of the 2012 book 'Fukushima: Récit d'un désastre'. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee, it comprised three panel sessions and a talk with Michaël Ferrier.
Dates: 11 and 12 May 2017
Venues: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh; Scottish Parliament; and Italian Cultural Institute
Format: Six panel sessions; exhibition; parliamentary debate; in-conversation event
Organisers: Cristina Savettieri and Federica Pedriali, with assistance from Eugenio Cannovale, Domenico Crea and Carolina Rossi
In brief: A two-day interdisciplinary conference exploring to what extent and how the First World War, its representations and contemporary memory can be considered as a laboratory for testing identities at large.
Generously funded by the European Commission (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions), the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of European Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, and the Italian Cultural Institute in Edinburgh.
The event included an exhibition on WWI landscapes by masters students at Edinburgh College of Art, a parliamentary debate on Nationhood and Nationalism Today, and a public, in-conversation event with writer Paolo Rumiz.
Dates: 8 to 10 September 2016
Venue: Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (Days 1 & 2); L’Institut français d’Ecosse (Day 3)
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A three-day conference bringing together 35 international experts to explore the power of women in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present in panel sessions, exhibitions, a documentary screening, public talks and discussions. The first in an ongoing series of ‘cultural encounters’ between past and present, the event unlocked disciplinary differences and opened a new field of cross-cultural and transmedial investigation between playwrights, artists, filmmakers and others.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Lectures, talks, discussions and readings
¡Hecho en México! Teaching Spanish the Mexican Way.
Connecting Memories - First Annual Symposium
Inaugural Lectures: Alexis Grohmann
Date: 10 September 2016
Venue: Institut français d’Écosse, Edinburgh
Speakers: Professor Gina Luria Walker (USA; Chair); Professor Suzan Broomhall (Australia); Professor Mary Spongberg (Australia); Dr Elena Woodacre (UK); Dr Armel Duboit-Nayt (France); Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk (UK)
In brief: Part of the Recovering Women’s Past conference, this public event discussed the representation in historiography and films of Catherine de Medici, Joan of Navarre, Marie Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots), Queen Margot, and Christina of Sweden.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Date: 10 September 2016
Venue: Institut français d’Écosse, Edinburgh
In brief: Part of the Recovering Women’s Past conference, this public event brought together four theatre practitioners to discuss their work. With the participation of Anna Birch (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland):
- Belgian playwrights and actresses Barbara Sylvain and Lula Bery talked about their play on Marie Suart and Elizabeth I, It’s so nice (2011)
-
Alexandria Patience talked about her co-authored play on seventeenth-century playwright Aphra Behn, APHRA (1997) and gender equity in theatre
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Clarissa Palmer talked about her co-authored play Olympe de Gouges, porteuse d’espoir/ A Beacon of hope (L’Harmattan, 2012).
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Date: 25 November 2015
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Speaker: Dr Alan Macniven (University of Edinburgh)
In brief: A public lecture, drinks reception and book signing to celebrate the launch of The Vikings in Islay, a systematic review of around 300 of Islay's farm and nature names, turning traditional assumptions about the history of the Scottish island on their head.
Related research: Islay Life Explorer (ÌLE)
Film screenings and festivals
Date: 27 June 2018
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: A public screening of Bertrand Tavernier's 2010 film La Princesse de Montpensier [The Princess of Montpensier] shown in collaboration with The French Institute as part of the two-day event, Cultural Encounters Between North, South, West And East. Inspired by a novel by an iconic seventeenth-century French woman writer, the film was introduced by Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk based on her research ‘Women of the past, Reception of women writers: Madame de La Fayette as a case study’.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Events series: The World After Fukushima
Date: 13 September 2017
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce
In brief: The first in a series of events on the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 and the future of nuclear energy. A screening of the 2015 documentary 'Nuclear Lands' (Kami Productions, Arte France), followed by a Q&A with director, Kenichi Watanabe, and scriptwriter, Michaël Ferrier. Generously supported by the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.
Date: 9 September 2016
Venue: 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
In brief: MARCH (2015, 40 minutes) documents March of Women, a large-scale public art event in Bridgeton, Glasgow held on the eve of International Women’s Day 2015. Through a series of interviews with a wide variety of the participating women, the film considers the gap in documenting women’s history, and points to the resounding importance of having a female generation to both honour and draw inspiration from. A screening of the film was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016. It was introduced by Professor Anna Birch, Artistic Director of March of Women, and followed by a debate moderated by Professor Gina Luria Walker (New School, New York).
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Exhibitions, workshops and performances
Date: 31 May 2018
Venue: L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: The second in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the novels of Madame de La Fayette, with a particular focus on La Princesse de Montpensier.
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
Date: 17 May 2018
Venue: L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh
Format: Workshop
Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk
In brief: The first in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the work of seventeenth-century playwright and novelist, Mme de Villedieu, with a focus on her play, Le Favori (1665) (H. Goldwyn and A. Evain (eds.), Théâtre de femmes de l’Ancien Régime, XVIIes, 2008).
Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women
BABBLE launch
Dates: 29 July to 8 October 2016
Venue: Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh
In brief: Associating with Andy Warhol and the Beat Generation, Alice Neel (1900-1984) tended to exist on the peripheries of society. Telling the story of the turbulent events that shaped Neel’s life, The Subject and Me was the first solo exhibition of her work in Scotland. It was the latest in a series of exhibitions at Talbot Rice Gallery promoting the work of leading women artists, previously including Jane and Louise Wilson, Hanne Darboven, Jenny Holzer and Rosemarie Trockel. A guided tour of the exhibition with Principal Curator, Pat Fisher, was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women
Date: 8 September 2016
Venue: Centre for Research Collections, Main University Library
In brief: An exhibition of artefacts from the University of Edinburgh's Special Collections. A guided tour of the exhibition was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.
Related research: Learning to see the power of women