Heritage & Creativity

Bi/Multilingualism and the History of Language Learning and Teaching

HoLLTnet international meeting:

‘Bi/Multilingualism and the History of Language Learning and Teaching’

University of Reading, United Kingdom, 6-7 July 2018

HoLLTnet (www.hollt.net) is a Research Network of AILA (L’Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliquée). The Research Network was founded in 2015 to stimulate research
into the history of language learning and teaching within applied linguistics internationally.
Building on several successful previous colloquia (www.hollt.net/events.html), this
international conference aims to situate the history of language learning and teaching in the
wider context of multilingualism across time and space. Possible topics for contributions
include, but are not limited to:

  • Bi/Multilingual dictionaries, grammars and other language-learning materials
  • Language learning and teaching in multilingual communities
  • Scholars of classical languages as learners of modern languages, and vice versa
  • Language learning and teaching in colonial contexts
  • The role of L1 in foreign language teaching
  • Polyglottism in the history of language learning
  • The role of translation and bilingual texts in language learning
  • Non-native speaker teachers in the history of language learning

All papers should be based on historical research.

If you would like to be considered for participation in the colloquium, please send your
presentation title, your name, email address, institutional affiliation, and a 250-word abstract
to r.mairs@reading.ac.uk by 23 February 2018. Those sending proposals will be notified of
the outcome as soon as possible after that date.

Further information on conference registration for those not presenting papers will be
circulated in due course.

The event has been made possible by the generous support of the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism and Department of Classics at the University of Reading. The university campus has quick and convenient transport links to London and Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. More information on getting to campus. 

Dr Rachel Mairs, Associate Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of
Reading

Dr Richard Smith, University of Warwick, and Professor Giovanni Iamartino, University of
Milan, Joint convenors, AILA Research Network on History of Language Learning and
Teaching

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War Child

Dr Teresa Murjas from the University of Reading will introduce audiences to her project ‘War Child’.

This inspiring project examined the creation of the Evacuee Archive at the Museum of English Rural Life as a means of reflecting on wider experiences of children ‘on the move’.

Teresa will show films from the project and answer questions about her wider work which responds creatively to migrant experiences. There will also be a pop-up exhibition of items from the Evacuee Archive.

Admission is free, booking is required

Follow the hashtag

#UoRLostandFound

Black History Month: In Conversation with Alice Mpofu-Cofu (Chigumira)

We are proud to present this ‘in conversation’ style event with University of Reading Alumna Alice Mpofu-Coles as part of the University’s events to celebrate Black History Month.

Alice is a former Zimbabwean diplomat, was herself a refugee, is a former Chairwoman of the Reading Refugee Support Group and has been honoured for her work to improve perceptions of refugees through projects, talks and writing.

Suffrage and Citizenship Lecture

Suffrage is arguably the most important single event in women’s history; despite popular conception it was not a fight for freedom, it was the campaign for equal citizenship waged by men and women across the class divide and the political spectrum. The refusal of the law to allow women to take part directly in political life relegated them to often disparate lobbyists and pressure groups, leaving the decision to grant the vote at the mercy of sympathetic individuals and the political priorities of the parliamentary parties. This lecture will consider the parliamentary politics, the campaigns and divisive issues of class, marriage and militancy that fractured the suffrage movement and ultimately, we will ask the question – is this best described as first wave feminism?

Dr Jacqui Turner is a Lecturer in Modern History and Director of Outreach at the University of Reading. Her present research examines the contribution of female pioneers in politics and early female MPs. Jacqui currently works with Parliament on the Vote100 Project, BBC Radio 4 and the Smithsonian. In 2019 she will manage the Astor100 project celebrating the centenary of women sitting in the House of Commons.

Spreading good taste: Winckelmann and the objects of dissemination

Spreading good taste: Winckelmann and the objects of dissemination

University of Reading, 15 September 2017, 10:00 am – 6:45 pm

Registration is now open for ‘Spreading good taste: Winckelmann and the objects of dissemination’, a one-day academic conference to be held at the University of Reading on 15 September.

This is the second of three workshops on the general theme Under the Greek Sky: Taste & the reception of Classical art from Winckelmann to the present, to be held in England in 2017-2018, as part of a series of international events marking the tercentenary of Winckelmann’s birth (2017) and 250 years since his death (2018). Winckelmann, who is traditionally regarded as the ‘father’ of both classical archaeology and art history, is generally acknowledged as having brought about a revolution in scholarly approaches to ancient Greek and Roman culture, influenced practices of archaeological excavation and museum display, provided a key impetus to the spread of Neoclassical taste in art, architecture and decoration throughout Enlightenment Europe.  Following on from a two-day workshop in London (KCL/Warburg Institute) held in June 2017, which explored ‘imitation’ and climate theory as two key components of Winckelmann’s historiography and aesthetics, the Reading workshop will consider the portable artefacts of antiquity—coins, gems and vases— through which Winckelmann and others familiarised themselves with the ancient world, considering their use and adaptation in scholarly, connoisseurial, and both private and public display contexts.  We will also consider the dissemination of ancient styles and designs through large-scale and miniaturised casts.

For the full workshop programme see https://www.reading.ac.uk/Ure/info/Winckelmann.php.

The workshop will take place at the Museum of English Rural Life (www.reading.ac.uk/TheMERL), on the University of Reading’s London Road campus. Lunch will be provided, and the workshop will be followed from 5:00 – 7:00 pm by a drinks reception to launch the exhibition Winckelmann and the spread of neoclassical taste in the University of Reading’s Special Collections, adjacent to the Museum.  This exhibition is a collaboration between the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology and University of Reading Special Collections, and is funded with the generous support of the University of Reading Arts Committee and the Vice-Chancellor’s Endowment Fund.

REGISTRATION DETAILS: 

The workshop is free of charge but places are limited, so pre-registration is required. Please register before 1 September on the following link:

http://www.store.reading.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/faculty-of-arts-humanities-social-science/dept-of-classics/spreading-good-taste-winckelmann-and-the-objects-of-dissemination

For immediate enquiries, please contact the Ure Museum Assistant Curator, Ms Jayne Holly-Wait.  Email: ure@reading.ac.uk, telephone no. 0118 378 6990. For the full programme of international events, see http://www.winckelmann-gesellschaft.com/en/winckelmann_anniversaries_20172018/.

The moving form of film

THE MOVING FORM OF FILM:

EXPLORING INTERMEDIALITY AS A HISTORIOGRAPHIC METHOD

6-8 November 2017, University of Reading, UK

As part of the AHRC/FAPESP-funded IntermIdia Project (www.reading.ac.uk/intermidia), led by investigators from the University of Reading (UoR), UK, and the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil, this international conference seeks to invite discussion of intermediality as a historiographic method.

Conference Convenor: Prof Lúcia Nagib

UoR Investigators: Prof Lúcia Nagib (PI); Alison Butler (Co-I); Prof John Gibbs (Co-I); Dr Lisa Purse (Co-I); Dr Albert Elduque (PDRA); Dr Stefan Solomon (PDRA).

UFSCar Investigators: Dr Luciana Corrêa de Araújo (PI); Dr Flávia Cesarino Costa (Co-I); Dr Samuel Paiva (Co-I); Dr Suzana Reck Miranda (Co-I); Dr Margarida Adamatti (PDRA).

Administrator: Richard McKay.

Keynote Speakers:

– Alain Badiou – French philosopher, former Chair of Philosophy, Université de Paris VIII

– Luciana Corrêa de Araújo – Professor of Film Studies, Universidade Federal de São Carlos

– Robert Stam – University Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University

– Ismail Xavier – Professor of Film Studies, University of São Paulo

Plenary Speakers:

– Ágnes Pethő – Professor of Film Studies, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca

– Lisa Shaw – Reader in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, University of Liverpool

Opening Conference Screening and Guest Speakers:

Screening of Dong (2006, 66 minutes), documentary directed by China’s greatest filmmaker Jia Zhangke on the celebrated painter Liu Xiaodong.

Post-screening discussion with:

– Jia Zhangke (tbc)

– Cecília Mello – Lecturer in Film Studies, University of São Paulo

– Jean-Michel Frodon – Former editor of the Cahiers du Cinéma, current Professorial Fellow in Film Studies and Creative Industries at the University of St. Andrews

From its birth, the film medium has fuelled debates around its possible specificity versus its obvious connections with other arts and media. In recent days, with the advent of digital technologies that trigger and depend on media convergence, it has become indisputable that film is inherently intermedial, giving scope for reconsidering film history in light of the medium’s moving, all- encompassing form. As Alain Badiou summarises, it is impossible to think cinema outside of a general space made of its connections to the other arts. He says: ‘Cinema is the seventh art in a very particular sense. It does not add itself to the other six while remaining on the same level as them. Rather, it implies them – cinema is the “plus-one” of the arts. It operates on the other arts, using them as its starting point, in a movement that subtracts them from themselves’ (2005: 79).  This conference will build on such an understanding by investigating the ways in which intermediality, rather than obstructing, enhances film’s artistic endeavour. More pointedly, it will ask: how can intermediality help us to understand the history of cinema as a whole?

Broadly speaking, ‘intermediality’ refers to the interbreeding of artistic and technical medial forms. The uses of the term hark back to the 1960s and Higgins (1966; 1981), who applied it to an array of countercultural artistic phenomena of the time. Through the years, the concept has evolved to encompass an ‘inflation’ of definitions (Pethö 2010), which concur in the celebration of ‘hybridisation’, ‘transnationalism’, ‘multiculturalism’ and cross-fertilisations of all sorts. As for cinema, intermediality has gained prominence among other more established approaches, such as comparative, intertextual, adaptation and genre-based studies, for its wider premise that keeps the interrogation into the properties of the medium constantly on the critic’s horizon (Rajewsky 2010). This conference will look at medial interstices, intercultural encounters and creative clashes where the specificities of cinema are questioned and re-fertilised into new forms. Its ultimate aim will be to stimulate an overarching exploration of and theorising on the uses of intermediality as a historiographic method.

Becket Seminar

The Beckett International Foundation at the University of Reading is pleased to announce that the next Beckett Research Seminar will take place on Saturday, May 20th, 2017, 10am-4pm.

The event will be held in the Conference Room of Special Collections, University of Reading, the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, Reading.

As in previous years, our speakers represent a mixture of research students as well as established scholars, local and international, reflecting current research into Beckett’s work. Speakers include Professor Anthony Roche (University College Dublin), Professor Everett Frost (Emeritus, New York University), Matthew McFrederick (University of Reading), Professor Jean-Michel Gouvard (Université de Bordeaux), and Dr Emilie Morin (University of York). We hope that the programme will, as in the past, attract a wide and varied audience.

The charge for the day is £20 per participant (£10 unwaged), which includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Please note that parking facilities are available at the venue.

Tickets can be purchased on the door on the morning of the seminar, but we need to know numbers for catering so please email as below by Friday May 12th. We look forward to seeing you there.

For further information, please contact: 

Dr Anna McMullan

Email: a.e.mcmullan@reading.ac.uk

Programme

10.00-10.30: Tea / Coffee

10.30-11.00: Professor Anthony Roche (University College Dublin), ‘Beckett’s Embers and the Death of the Father’.

11.00-11.20: Discussion

11.20-11.50: Professor Everett Frost (Emeritus, New York University), ‘Darkness (In)Visible: Acoustic Scenography in Beckett’s Radio Plays and Other Drama’

11.50-12.10: Discussion

12.10-12.30: Tea / Coffee

12.30-1.00: Matthew McFrederick (University of Reading), ‘“I spoke to Sam Last Night, He says it’s OK”: Pinter and Krapp’s Last Tape’

1.00-1.20. Discussion

1.20-2.20 Lunch

2.20-2.50: Dr Emilie Morin (University of York) ‘Beckett’s Political Imagination’

2.50-3.10: Discussion

3.10-3.40: Professor Jean-Michel Gouvard (Université de Bordeaux), ‘The Jouer Beckett / Performing Beckett project’

3.40-4.00: Discussion and closing remarks.

Digital Visualisation in Education and Heritage

This one day colloquium will bring together academic and heritage sector practitioners to discuss how digital visualisation is used to present historical architecture and landscapes to the public. Topics to be discussed include:

  • Heritage practice and historical authenticity, including case studies on historical buildings, landscapes and interiors
  • Education and digital reconstruction, including visualisations for MOOCS and the science and theories of visualisation
  • The audience experience: including expectations and preferences, practical challenges and futures.
  • Lunchtime “showcase” featuring technical demonstrations of immersive VR and practitioner portfolios.

See the flyer for more information

Venue: Meadow Suite, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading, May 16th.

Doors and registration: from 9am.

First paper: 10am.

Lunch and Refreshments will be provided.

There is no attendance fee but please contact Matthew Nicholls (Reading) and Andrew Roberts (English Heritage) to reserve a place:

digitalvisualisationcolloquium@gmail.com

Film, Theatre & TV Seminar

Art, Performance and the Housing Crisis

Professor Jen Harvie (QMUL)

The conditions of the United Kingdom’s housing crisis are becoming painfully familiar. From 1980 until 2000, two million state-owned homes were sold off. Between 1997 and 2010, the number of households in England waiting for social housing rose by 81 per cent. Since 2001, the proportion of housing that is privately rented has skyrocketed by 69 per cent, while over a third of privately rented homes fail to meet the decent homes standard. In 2013/14, more than 81,000 households were homeless. The housing crisis destabilises households, schooling, work, and most dangerously networks of friends, kin and care. The housing crisis is a crisis in democracy because it is both a symptom and a cause of ever-growing social inequality.

In this presentation I examine art and performance that responds to the UK housing crisis. First, I survey a range of city-sited art works that articulate, in particular, housing precarity and the feelings it provokes. I then focus analysis on two performances: GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN’S 2013 Number 1, the Plaza; and Sh!t Theatre’s Letters to Windsor House which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016. Both shows explore the lives of pairs of female flatmates in Generation Rent. Both shows are funny, but also painfully revealing about how the headline-grabbing ‘housing crisis’ manifests in acute, traumatizing, and tragic personal pressures on friendship.

Biography

Jen Harvie is Professor of Contemporary Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London. Her research focuses on cultural politics, with emphases on neoliberalism and feminism. Her monographs include Fair Play – Art, Performance and Neoliberalism (2013) and Theatre & the City (2009). She recently co-edited The Only Way Home Is Through the Show: Performance Work of Lois Weaver (2015). She is currently co-editing a special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review on feminism and Palgrave Macmillan’s series Theatre &. In her podcast, Stage Left, she interviews performance makers about their practices and shows.