Birkbeck - Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics

On 21 June, Dr Irene González-López gave a guest lecture entitled “The Cinema of Tanaka Kinuyo: (De)constructing the Figure of the ‘Female Director’ in Japan" at the Asia Africa Institute, University of Hamburg. The lecture introduced the life and career of the emblematic star and pioneer female director Tanaka Kinuyo and examined the ways in which her controversial decision to start directing films at the age of 43 was received and discussed in the industry throughout the years.

👏Full room and a great Q&A discussion! Congrats, Irene!

Just a reminder that this Friday (6-9pm), Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele will be giving the Michel Blanc lecture in MAL B36, Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street. Please register if you haven't done so already: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=36998

On June 12th, Dr Lisa McEntee-Atalianis was invited to address the UN forum on Building Common Understanding Through Multilingualism as one of five scientific experts with expertise on multilingualism within the UN system. Lisa addressed the issue of 'resource management' (financial and human) in supporting and prioritising multilingualism within multinational organisations.

Congratulations, Lisa!

Dr. Carmen Fracchia has recently published "Juan de Pareja, The Calling of Saint Matthew," in Smarthistory, June 1, 2023, accessed June 14, 2023, https://smart history.org/juan-de-pareja-the-calling-of-st-matthew/.

This publication coincides with the current exhibition Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic Painter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York (27 March-16 July 2023) for which Dr Fracchia was an adviser. Congrats, Carmen!

On June 14th, Dr Irene González-López will present the paper “Rethinking the label of “Female Director”: discourses in and around the cinema industry of contemporary Japan" together with A. Armendáriz-Hernández at the international conference Doing Women’s Film and Television History VI: Changing Streams and Channels (University of Sussex).

The paper draws from their recently published chapter ‘“Female Director”: Discourses and Practices in Contemporary Japan’, included in D. Desser (ed) A Companion to Japanese Cinema (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022)

Marjorie Lorch, Professor of Neurolinguistics at Birkbeck, University of London is presenting a paper titled “Revisiting Dr James Rush’s (1786-1869) ideas about language and the brain” at Cheiron: The international society for the history of behavioral & social sciences meeting on June 17, 2023 in New York City.

The first article of the Special Issue of London Review of Education on 'Belonging and home-making in the internationalised campus​', co-edited by Prof Bojana Petrić, Dr Cristina Ros i Sole and Prof Prue Holmes, has been published online. More articles to come out soon!

Special Issue: Belonging and home-making in the internationalised campus A London Review of Education special issue.

Prof Bojana Petric gave a talk at Leeds University's Centre for Language Education Research on 'Development of source use and citing in MA student writing: A longitudinal approach'

CLER Conversation: Development of source use and citing in MA student writing: A longitudinal approach | Centre for Language Education Research Bojana Petrić from Birkbeck, University of London presents CLER Conversation: Development of source use and citing in MA student writing: A longitudinal approach on 9th June at 4pm to 5.30pm in the Hillary Place Coach House Seminar Room.

Dr Michael Tsang was recently featured in 'Comparatively Speaking', a blog for early-career researchers by the British Comparative Literature Association. He shared his research and observations on the field of comparative literature:

Michael Tsang - British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA)

Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele has been recently interviewed by Faith Hill, a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, for her piece about communication and identity in multilingual romantic relationships.

How to Fall in Love When You Don’t Speak the Same Language Multilingual relationships are a crash course in putting yourself out there.

Last month, Dr Kinga Kozminska gave a free public lecture 'What may speaking English mean in the globalized world' as part of Birkbeck's Big Ideas programme. Thanks to all who came! If you've missed it, you can still get a taster of the themes discussed in the talk here:

Big Ideas: What may speaking English mean in the globalised world? This podcast discussion introduces us the the research of Kinga Kozminska ahead of her Big Ideas lecture in May 2023.Join us at the St. Pancras & Somers Town...

Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele gave the plenary at the 34th International Conference on Foreign/Second Language Acquisition at Szczyrk, Poland!

Also in the picture: plenary speaker Professor Sarah Mercer, PhD student Iman Ahmed Kamal, and visiting postdoc Dr Maria Sanz Ferrer.

Prof. Carmen Fracchia’s book, 'Black but Human', which went on paperback in February 2023 with Oxford University Press Academic, is now back in stock with SECOND PRINTING! Congratulations!! 🎊🥳🎉

Its first printing 'sold out in the UK very quickly'.

Get a copy here:

'Black but Human' 'Black but Human' is the first study to focus on the visual representations of African slaves and ex-slaves in Spain during the Hapsburg dynasty.

This is a reminder about today’s lecture, co-hosted by the Centre for French, Francophone and Comparative Studies and the Eighteenth-Century Research Group at Birkbeck. All are very welcome!!

Prof Judith Still: ‘Crèvecoeur’s Land of the Free: Questioning the Foundations of American Hospitality from a French Perspective’
Wednesday 24 May 2023, 6pm–8.30pm Room 124, 43 Gordon Square

This lecture investigates some of the ‘fabulous’ knots in the repeated representation of America as a hospitable land via the writings of the Franco-American J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, which are composed both in the ‘colonial period’ and after the establishment of the United States. Crèvecoeur is best known for his Letters from an American Farmer (1782), a foundational text for American identity, although analysis of his later writings in French enables an even more interesting picture to emerge. I argue that Crèvecoeur is important in unpicking the contradictions related to enslavement and to Americans’ relationship to animals and the environment; however, here I shall focus particularly on his complex and conflicted representations of the indigenous peoples of America. These both reflect and challenge the commonplaces of his day with respect to hospitable sauvages. Hospitality raises the thorny questions of (the definitions of) property and freedom. Crèvecœur’s constant refrain is that the dispossessed of the Old World migrate to the New – there to be welcomed hospitably, work as free landowners, be adopted as citizens, and, by mixing with other Americans, take on a new (hospitable) identity in the melting pot. His works, at moments, approach the genre of the prospectus encouraging immigration. However, he (an adopted Oneida) is painfully aware that neither the image of the New World as empty, nor the somewhat different myth that native peoples are properly paid for their land and that it is legally, and so justly, acquired, is true. Other stories or fragments haunt his narratives. The population of indigenous peoples in the USA was reduced by more than 90% by 1820. The Declaration of Independence (with its strange ontology picked up by Derrida) is 1776; however, it is 1924 before Congress accords a mixed blessing and recognizes Native American people as citizens of the United States...

The lecture will be followed by questions, and a drinks reception.

Judith Still BA MSC PhD FBA is emeritus Professor of French and Critical Theory at the University of Nottingham and Vice-President (Humanities) of the British Academy. She is the author of Justice and Difference in the Works of Rousseau (1993), Feminine Economies (1997), Derrida and Hospitality (2010), Enlightenment Hospitality (2011), Derrida and Other Animals: the Boundaries of the Human (2015). She is the editor of Men's Bodies (2003), co-editor with M. Worton of Intertextuality (1990) and Textuality and Sexuality (1993); with D. Knight of Women and Representation (1995) and Theory-tinged Criticism (2009); with S. Ribeiro de Oliveira of Brazilian Feminisms (1999); with Atack et al of Women, Genre and Circumstance (2012); with S. Jordan, Disorderly Eating in Contemporary Women’s Writing (2020). She is working on the Franco-American farmer-philosopher St John de Crèvecoeur (see 10-Minute Talks: Crèvecœur: what is an American? | The British Academy).

Venez nombreux! Please book your place via the link:

Upcoming – Centre for French, Francophone and Comparative Studies Location: Room 124, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPDDate and time: 24 May 2023, 6pm to 8.30pmThis event is jointly hosted by the Centre for French, Francophone and Comparative Studies, and the Eighteenth-Century research Group.

Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele presented a plenary speech at the conference to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Q1 journal Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching in Kalisz, Poland.

Professor Marjorie Lorch has recently collaborated internationally with Head Archivist Kathy Young (Loyola Chicago) to create a FREE digital exhibition on Professor Vincent V. Herr, S.J. (1901-1970) and his papers at the university.

This exhibition celebrates the research of Professor Vincent V. Herr, S.J. (1901-1970) at Loyola University Chicago in the mid-20th century. He made innovative contributions to experimental, clinical, and social psychology and impactful efforts to increase understanding of the role of psychology in religious communities. Herr's original research merits reconsideration.

To access the exhibition, go to:

Home · Innovations in Language, Emotion, and Empathy Research: Celebrating the work of Vincent V. Herr, S.J. (1901-1970) · Loyola University Chicago Libraries Digital Exhibits This exhibition celebrates the research of Professor Vincent V. Herr, S.J. (1901-1970) at Loyola University Chicago in the mid-20th century. He made innovative contributions to experimental, clinical, and social psychology and impactful efforts to increase understanding of the role of psychology i...

You are invited to this year's Michel Blanc lecture, which will be delivered by Prof Jean-Marc Deweale in MACL B36, Birkbeck Main Building, Malet Street at 6pm on June 23rd.

Topic: The Emergence of Emotion Research in Applied Linguistics

To register, please follow this link:https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=36998

On May 24th, Prof Judith Still will give a public lecture titled Crèvecoeur's Land of the Free: Questioning the Foundations of American Hospitality from a French Perspective.

24 May 2023 6-8.30pm
Rm 124, 43 Gordon Square, London

Register here:

brakc.bbk.ac.uk

Last week, Dr Irene González-López gave a lecture for Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Casa Asia, entitled "Género y Cine Japonés: Construyendo la figura de la "directora de cine."

CILAVS invites applications from Birkbeck PhD students to assist with the cost of some specific travel, ideally having a connection with Portuguese, Spanish and/or Latin American studies, for either presenting research at a conference or undertaking a research trip. Awards will be made in the region of £130 and the Committee will request a short account from travel bursar at a CILAVS workshop in the Academic Year (2023-24).

Apply for a CILAVS postgraduate travel grant now! – CILAVS CILAVS invites applications from Birkbeck PhD students to assist with the cost of some specific travel, ideally having a connection with Portuguese, Spanish and/or Latin American studies, for either presenting research at a conference or undertaking a research trip. Awards will be made in the region...

On Friday, Dr Damian Catani's supervisee, Pauline Harris, was awarded her PhD - 'From Urgent Understanding to Raw Writing: The Synergy of Journalism and Fiction in the Novels of Sorj Chalandon', with only minor corrections. Congratulations, Pauline! 🥳

Prof Bojana Petric has recently given a talk on 'Textual borrowing and its discontents' at London's University of the Arts.

You might be interested in Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele's new open access paper:

Botes, E., Dewaele, J.-M., Greiff, S. & Götz, T. (2023). Can personality predict foreign language classroom emotions? The devil’s in the detail. Studies in Second Language Acquisition:

Can personality predict foreign language classroom emotions? The devil’s in the detail | Studies in Second Language Acquisition | Cambridge Core Can personality predict foreign language classroom emotions? The devil’s in the detail

Dr Michael Tsang has been recently interviewed and quoted by BBC journalist
Kelly Ng on how to make sense of Japanese novelist Murakami Haruki's popularity:

https://bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65259722

Murakami released a new novel in Japan on 13 April.

This month, Dr Irene González-López presented her paper "How to sell a remake: The ‘Gate of Flesh’ media franchise" at the International Conference of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies held in Denver, Colorado.

Our PhD student, Rob Playfair, has recently given a talk titled 'Time to deconstruct needs analysis?' at the BALEAP 2023 conference held at University of Warwick, 19-21 April 2023. Congrats, Rob!
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/warwickfoundationstudies/baleapconference2023/

At 5pm BST on April 25, Dr Irene González-López will give a webinar on the gender politics involved in the label of "female director" in Japanese cinema while discussing the case of Tanaka Kinuyo. The event is in Spanish and free, but registration is required: https://www.casaasia.es/actividad/webinar-genero-y-cine-japones-construyendo-la-figura-de-la-directora-de-cine/

Further info:

Join us to learn more about women directors in Japan, their working conditions and their history, with a special focus on the fascinating figure of actor and director Tanaka Kinuyo.

This guest lecture is part of MA in Estudios Globales de Asia Oriental by the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), in collaboration with Casa Asia, and Research Group GREGAL (UAB).

Webinar "Género y cine japonés: construyendo la figura de la directora de cine" La creciente presencia de directoras japonesas en festivales internacionales de cine contribuye a cambiar cómo se percibe Japón, su cine y sus mujeres en el resto del mundo. Pero la etiqueta de “directora de cine” (女性監督) sigue asociándose a veces a estereotipos de género. Esta ponenc...

Registration is now OPEN for the new conference 'Illustration Studies: New Approaches, New Directions', co-organised by Dr Ann Lewis & Prof Christina Ionescu (Mount Allison).

Date: 19-21 April 2023, 9.30am-6pm
Location: Senate House & Birkbeck School of Arts
To register: https://ilcs.sas.ac.uk/events/illustration-studies-new-approaches-new-directions

More about the conference:

Illustration Studies has, in recent years, emerged as a new and vibrant discipline with its own journals, book series, conferences, websites, and research networks. The renewed interest and dynamic research in this field of study follows a period of long neglect by scholars, resulting from the uncertain cross-medial status of illustration and its position between disciplines. Indeed, the frontiers of this discipline remain nebulous and its terminology, key issues, and critical methods are in need of re-evaluation. By its very nature, illustration opens up a number of fundamental questions regarding the relation between text and image, the illustrated book and visual culture, artistry and reproduction.

This three-day international and interdisciplinary conference will address these questions in a range of periods (from the early modern to the contemporary), across cultures (amongst others, England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and Sweden), embracing practical, theoretical, and historical approaches. The conference’s keynote speakers are Luisa Calè (Birkbeck) on ‘“Single Leaf Tales”: William Blake Unbound, Disbound, Archived’ and Julia Thomas (Cardiff) on ‘Big Illustration Studies’. The conference will also include a workshop lead by Jaleen Grove (‘The Illustration Game Revisited’) and an artist’s talk by Chris Wormell (‘New Directions for Old Approaches: Wood Engraving in a Digital Age’).

Illustration Studies: New Approaches, New Directions Illustration Studies has, in recent years, emerged as a new and vibrant discipline with its own journals, book series, conferences, websites, and research networks. The renewed interest and dynamic research in this field of study follows a period of long neglect by scholars, resulting from the uncer...

Dr Lisa McEntee-Atalianis was recently invited to present at a Pre-International Studies Association Convention workshop at McGill University, Montreal, on the topic of the ‘Global Politics of Language’. Lisa discussed her research on language policy and practice at the United Nations amongst a group of International Relations scholars.