“Where Are We Now?
The Location of Modern Languages and Cultures”: draft conference programme
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee and registration
11.15 –11.30 Welcome by Karen O'Brien, Vice-Chancellor and Warden and David Cowling, Head of the School of Modern Language and Cultures, Durham University.
11.30-13.00 Plenary Roundtable ‘The Modern Languages Department of the Future’: Janice Carruthers, Emma Cayley, Charles Burdett, Charles Forsdick, Neil Kenny.
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.30 Breakout session 1: Panels and roundtables
Title: Decolonisation and its Challenges
Chair/s: Axel Perez Trujillo
Speakers:
1. Joanna Allan, Northumbria University: Poetry as public
diplomacy in an anti-colonial struggle
2. Orane Onyekpe Touzet, Durham University, Title: TBC
3. Axel Pérez Trujillo, Durham University: Messianic Rupture in
Enrique Dussel's Politics of Liberation
4: Alexandra Cook, Durham University, Title: TBC.
15.30-16.00 Tea break
16.00-17.30 Breakout session 2: Panels and roundtables
Title: Trans, Non-binary, and Gender Non-conforming (Language)
Pedagogies in Higher Education I (Toolkits and Practical Guides)
(hybrid panel)
Chair/s: Luca Malici
Speakers:
1. Lucía Muñoz Martín, University of Burgos, Spain: Inclusion of
Gender-Neutral Language in Higher Education Modern Languages
Teaching: A practical Guide
2. Kiki Kosnick, Augustana College, US: French for All Genders:
Everyday Activism in and through the L2 Classroom
3. Hugo Lázaro Ruiz, University of Edinburgh: Non-Binary
Language Use in Spanish as a Foreign Language
4. Sabrina Link, Università degli Studi di Urbino, Italy: The Use of
Gender-Neutral Noun References in Authentic Text Materials and
its Relevance for Language Teaching.
17.45-18.00 Pause
18.00-19.30 Mieke Bal: Film and Lecture (Chair Jonathan Long)
19.30- Free evening
We are grateful for the following conference sponsors:
Title: Memory and Education in the Digital Age (hybrid panel)
Chair/s: Salvo Campisi
Speakers:
1. Salvatore Campisi, Durham University: Human memory in
learning environments reshaped by new technologies
2. B. Guidarelli, Newcastle University & C. Peligra, Padua
University: Beyond the Newcastle Calls project: Exploring memory
within language teaching in the Digital Age.
Title: Making the case for student ambassadors: sustainability
and best practice in Languages outreach across the UK
Chair/s: Marcela Cazzoli
Speakers:
1. Vicky Wright, UCML: Routes into Languages
2. Andrew Grenfell, Newcastle University: TBC
3. Janice Carruthers, Queens University Belfast: TBC
4. Ed Welch, University of Aberdeen: TBC.
5. Routes Cymru, TBC
This session will present case studies from England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales, highlighting the role of the student
language ambassador and mentor and considering some of the
practical implications of setting up such schemes. Presentations
will be followed by a panel discussion on the impact of these
schemes and their future sustainability.
Day 1: Wednesday 19 April
Title: A Transnational Curriculum for Modern Languages
Chair/s: Marcela Cazzoli
Speakers:
1. Marcela A. Cazzoli, Durham University: The problematic role of
native speaker knowledge and identity in the languages
curriculum.
2. Valentina Abbatelli, University of Warwick: Translational
approaches to the Italian language class.
3. Alexandra Lourenço Dias, King’s College London: The journey of
words – a transnational approach to curriculum design in
Portuguese.
Title: Strategic directions in language teaching & learning:
developing a narrative arc from schools to HE to lifelong learning.
Chair/s: Mark Critchley, AULC
Speakers:
1. Andrea Pfeil, Goethe Institut
2. Steve Fawkes, Association for Language Learning (ALL)
3. Laura Lewis & Gina Wrobel, Durham University
4. Professor Rene Koglbauer, Newcastle University.
Title: Durham-BFI Partnership: Researching and Programming BFI
film festivals (hybrid panel)
Chair/s: Santiago Fouz Hernández
Speakers:
1. Joss Morfitt, PhD Candidate, Durham University, currently on a
BFI placement: Researching the BFI Flare Festival.
2. Zorian Clayton, Programmer BFI Flare, Programming the BFI
Flare Festival.
3. Sarah Lutton, Adviser to the London Film Festival.
Followed by discussion.
Title: Theorizing Space in Spanish Cinema
Chair/s: Rosi Song
Speakers:
1. N. Michelle Murray, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University:
Barrio/Neighbourhood: Space Without Place.
2. Sarah Thomas, Associate Professor, Brown University: Intimate
Spaces, Public Debates: Emerging Female Filmmakers in
Contemporary Spain.
3. Eva Woods Peiró, Professor, Vassar College: Fascist Colonialist
Enclosures and the Spanish Cinema .
Title: Questions of Temporality in the Transnational Study of
Languages and Cultures, sponsored by ILCS
Chair/s: Charles Burdett, ILCS
Speakers:
1. Catherine Davies, ILCS: Transnational Spanish Studies
2. Charles Forsdick, Liverpool University: Transnational French
Studies.
3. Rory O’Bryen, Cambridge University: Transnational Spanish
Studies
4. Hilary Owen, Manchester and Oxford University: Transnational
Portuguese Studies
5. Loredana Polezzi, Stony Brook: Transnational Italian Studies
6. Ben Schofield, Bristol University: Transnational German Studies.
Title: Creative-Critical in Modern Languages and Cultures (hybrid
panel)
Chair/s: Abir Hamdar
Speakers:
1. Elise Hugueny- Leger, St Andrews University: Embedding
Creative-Critical Writing in Modern Languages: Making the
Familiar Unfamiliar
2. Lars Iyer, Newcastle University: The Gnostic Imaginary
3. Mandana M-Ghoyonloo, Durham University: Rebuilding the
Homeland in the Second Language: A Paper on the Impact of the
Mutual impacts of the Critical and Creative
4. Walther Maradiegue, Freie Universitat Berlin: Critical Editions:
Negotiating Authorship and Translation in Quechua Kañaris
Literature.
“Where Are We Now? The Location of Modern Languages and Cultures”: draft conference programme
9.00-9.30 Day registration
9.30-11.00 Breakout session 3: Panels and roundtables
Title: Trans, Non-binary, and Gender Non-conforming (Language)
Pedagogies in Higher Education II (Texts and Beyond) Hybrid
panel
Chair/s: Luca Malici
Speakers:
1. Anje Müller Gjesdal, Østfold University College, Norway,
Camilla Erichsen Skalle, University of Bergen, Norway, Liv Eide,
University of Bergen, Norway, Valentina Maul, Amalie Skram
Upper Secondary School, Norway: Representations of Gender in
Foreign Language Textbooks for Secondary School in Norway
2. Nathalie Stummer, University of St Andrews, UK: Gender-
Sensitivity in German as a Foreign Language – Current Findings
from Learning Resources
3. Michela Baldo (University of Birmingham: “Feminist and queer
pedagogies in the British academic translation classroom”
4. Laura Copier, Utrecht University, Netherlands: Focusing on the
Visual: Teaching Trans Media Representations.
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30 – 13.00 Plenary Lecture: Alison Phipps: ‘Decolonizing Multilingualism: Land, Languaging, and Longing’, with guest Tawona Sitholé
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.30 Breakout session 4: Panels and roundtables
Title: Developing Transferable Skills and Employability with
Translation and Creative Writing
Chair/s: Anna Johnson
Speakers:
Translation: Examples from French (Karine Zbinden, Sheffield
University), German (Giles Harrington, Sheffield University),
Russian (Irina Sadovina, Sheffield University) and Spanish (Diana 2. Sacramento Roselló Martínez, Durham University/University of
Mesa Torres, Sheffield University).
Creative writing: Workshop (Alexandre Burin, Dominique Carlini- classical learning in ephemeral festivities in Seventeenth-century
Versini, Géraldine Crahay, Cynthia Tavars, Durham University).
15.30 – 16.00 Tea break
16.00 – 17.30 Breakout session 5: Panels and roundtables
Title: The location of Translation and Interpreting in Modern
Languages
Chair/s: Emanuelle Santos, Birmingham University
Speakers:
1. Michela Baldo, University of Birmingham: Title TBC
2. Xiaohui Yuan, University of Birmingham: Title TBC
3. Yazid Haroun, University of Birmingham: Title TBC
17.30-17.45 Pause
17.45 – 18.30 Plenary: Siraj Ahmed: ‘Political Modernities, Cultural Genocides, Comparative Studies’ (Chair Rosi Song)
18.30-19.30 Free time/pause
19.30- Conference dinner, Hatfield College
We are grateful for the following conference sponsors:
Title: The Present and Future of Russian Studies
Chair/s: Vika Ivleva
Speakers:
1. Jason Merrill, Michigan State University, Middlebury College
Summer School, Evgeny Dengub, University of Southern
California: Middlebury College Summer School Recent Enrolment
Trends in the United States, Speculation on Future Numbers, and
Study Abroad
2. Connor Doak, Bristol University: Sexuality Studies in the
Russian Context.
Title: Performance, Ephemera and the Re-evaluation of the
Archive
Chair/s: Yarí Pérez Marín & Sacra Roselló Martínez
Speakers:
1.Yarí Pérez Marín, Durham University: Print culture and
manuscript practices in XIX century Registros de esclavos
Copenhagen: Performing the archive in Spanish Comedia.
3. Vanessa Alvarez Portugal, University of Lincoln: Allegories and
Mexico City.
Title: Crisis in Translation: Crime Novels and Politics in the
Classroom
Chair/s: Rosi Song
Speakers:
1. María Fernanda Lander, Skimore College: The Poetics of
Violence in Raquel Rivas's Fiction H.
2. Rosi Song, Durham University: Understanding Crisis through a
Narrative Genre: The Case of Raquel Rivas Rojas's Work
3. Fiona J. Mackintosh, The University of Edinburgh: From
Specific to Universal: Muerte en el Guaire and Inventario para
después de la guerra
4. Raquel Rivas Rojas (panel respondent).
Day 2: Thursday 20 April
Title: Locating Modern Languages in higher education
institutions: potential for collaboration and joined pedagogical
research
Chair/s: Oranna Speicher, Nottingham and Sascha Stollhans,
Leeds
Details: This workshop has a dual purpose. We will first report
findings from a survey of languages departments and language
centre/IWLP staff. The survey has explored the level of
collaboration between staff in institution-wide language centres
and language departments with a particular focus on pedagogy
and scholarship. In the second part of the workshop, participants
will discuss opportunities and challenges, and work to identify
suggestions for removing the challenges and suggest new
avenues for collaboration and joined (pedagogical) research.
Title: Teaching Russian in the Twenty-First Century: Materials
and Practices (requested for 20 April)
Chair/s: Vika Ivleva
Speakers:
1. Daniel Green, Durham University, Designing Teaching
Materials to Reflect the Diversity of the 21st-Century Classroom
and the Russophone World
2. Steven Clancy, Harvard University, Visualizing Russian: The
Quantitative Turn Towards Teaching Languages
3. Anna Shibarova, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München,
Into Russian: Teaching in the Time of Crisis
4. Evgeny Dengub, University of Southern California, Middlebury
College Summer School, Humanistic Approaches to Russian
5. Jason Merrill, Michigan State University, Middlebury College
Summer School, New Approaches to Working with Heritage
Learners of Russian.
Title: The ‘where’ of languages: Perspectives from widening
participation universities
Chair/s: Emmanuelle Labeau, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
Speakers:
1. B. Muradas-Taylor Language, Leeds University: Degree
programmes: Mapping England’s widening participation crisis
2. E. Labeau, Birmingham Research for Upholding
Multilingualism (BRUM): Assessing the language skills and needs
in a superdiverse city.
Title: PG Panel “Where Are We Going? Emerging Voices”
Chair/s: Sergey Tyulenev
Speakers:
1. Vladimir Liparteliani, Durham University: The Role of Russian
and Western Soft Power in Georgian Nation Building: From
Independence to the Rose Revolution
Discussant: Dušan Radunović
2. Eva Corchado Maseda, Durham University:
Translation as an Instrument for the Rediscovery of Women
Poets: The Women of the Generation of 1927 in the World
Literary Field
Discussant: Yarí Pérez Marín
3. Austin LaGrone, Durham University: Reassessing the
Museum’s Hegemony
Discussant: Simon Ward
Title: Modern Languages: Remapping a Shifting Landscape in a
new handbook  Scholarship I
Chair/s: Andy Byford, Claudia Nitschke.
Speakers:
1. Jennifer Burns, Warwick University
2. Derek Duncan, St Andrews University: Title TBC: Title TBC
3. Andy Byford, Durham University: Title TBC
4. Claudia Nitschke, Durham University: Title TBC
Title: ‘Heroines’
Chair/s: Marie-Claire Barnet and Emma Cayley
Details: A co-led discussion forum and creative workshop on
Heroines and role models. This is part of a series launched by
Barnet on Heroines represented and passed on as a loaded
legacy to both genders - its playful format of discussion and
creation is linked to the critical practice of feminist acts of
resistance. By starting the series of reflections on old and new
‘Heroines’, we aim to deconstruct and interrogate the circulation
of gendered identities, sexualised and racialised forms of body
types, offering a hands-on approach to ongoing discussions of
key feminist issues and opening up exchanges and intervention
spaces for activism and critical thinking. Discussion will move
into an ‘upcycling’ workshop intended to lead participants to
reflect on the nature of the commercialisation and
commodification of the body across history through the medium
of dolls. We will explore issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion
in the toybox, and consider the packaging, presentation and
consumption of these idealised bodies. Participants will receive a
doll wiped of factory paint to upcycle, and will be provided with
paints, fabric, and equipment as well as advice, encouragement,
and paint-remover in case of disaster.
Title: 'Intermedialities' Hybrid panel
Chair/s: Polly Dickson
Speakers:
1. Nick Roberts, Durham University, TBC.
2. Rey Conquer, Oxford University, Viewing Art in Film
3. Polly Dickson, Durham University, Reading Doodles as Form.
Title: Inclusivity in Language Pedagogy in MFL Research and
Chair/s: Tracey Reimann-Dawe, Katya Chown
Speakers: 1. Madeleine Chalmers, Durham University: Eloquent
Silences: Disfluency and Inclusive Pedagogy
2. Dominique Carlini Versini and Luca Malici: Gender-Inclusive
Practices in French and Italian Language Classroom
3. Ekaterina Chown (MLAC, DU), James Youdale (DCAD, DU), and
Caroline de Saint Seine (Department of Anthropology, DU):
Supporting University Students with Autistic Spectrum Condition
in the Process of Foreign Language Acquisition.
Title: Inclusivity in Language Pedagogy in MFL Research and
Scholarship II: The 'Hub'
Chair/s: Tracey Reimann-Dawe, Durham University
Ekaterina Chown, Durham University:
1 x 20 minute workshop on the topic "Inclusivity within the MFL
Student Body" followed by: 1x 20 minute workshop on the topic
"Inclusivity in the MFL Curriculum" followed by a 20-minute
general discussion.
The aim of the hub is to provide an opportunity to conference
participants to engage in a more informal, yet structured
discussion within the two sub-topics following the panel, to
identify research and scholarship strands already represented at
MLAC and other DU units within the area of inclusive language
pedagogy, as well as to encourage development of future
collaboration.
“Where Are We Now? The Location of Modern Languages and Cultures”: draft conference programme

Day 3: Friday 21 April

9.00-9.30 Day registration
9.30 – 11.00 Breakout session 6: Panels and roundtables
Title: The Age of Trauma: Trauma Narratives in Italian and Title: How has COVID-19 affected ML learners and educators? Title: Roundtable Panel: The Languages of COVID-19: Title: Translation, Interpreting and Cognition Title: Shifting Worlds: (Re)positioning the Study of Languages Title: Rethinking the Discipline: Russian and Slavonic Studies in
Transnational Women’s Writing Chair/s: Aziza Zaher Translational and Multilingual Approaches to Global Healthcare Chair/s: Binghan Zheng and Cultures the Wake of the War in Ukraine
Chair/s: Katrin Wehling-Giorgi. Speakers: Chair/s: Steven Wilson, Queen’s University Belfast Speakers: Chair/s: Emanuelle Santos, Birmingham Chair/s: Dušan Radunović
Speakers: 1. Aziza Zaher, Associate Professor, School of Modern Languages Speakers: 1. Binhua Wang, Leeds University: Cognitive processing of the Speakers: Speaker/s:
1. Tiziana de Rogatis, Università per Stranieri di Siena: ‘Women & Cultures 1. Piotr Blumczynski, Queen’s University Belfast: Translational extra layer of live captioning in simultaneous interpreting on 1. Sara Jones, University of Birmingham: 1. Stephen Hutchings, Manchester University, ‘Disinformation
Writers and the Spectral Paradigm of Trauma: A Transnational 2. Sara Al-Tubuly, Lecturer in Arabic Language and Linguistics, Al- Approaches to the Pandemic. Zoom platform: Triangulation of eye-tracking and performance Connecting Disciplines and Sectors: The Risks and and the War in Ukraine: Decentring or Recentring Russian
and Comparative Perspective’ Maktoum College of Higher Education (hybrid panellist) 2. Catherine Boyle, King’s College London: Worldmaking in the data Opportunities of Interdisciplinarity and Impact. Studies?’
2. Katrin Wehling-Giorgi, Durham University: ‘Writing Trauma in 3. Mark Critchley, Director, Centre for Foreign Language Study. Time of COVID-19: The Challenge of the Local and the Global – 2. Saihong Li, Stirling University: Interpreters’ Stress in Crisis 2.Elena Caetano Álvarez , University of Birmingham: The 2. Andreas Schönle, Bristol University:
Italian and Transnational Women’s Writing: Wounded Bodies and School of Modern Languages & Cultures. Prof. Communication and its implication in Future Training forgotten past: How decolonising our ways of teaching the “Shared heritage? On the russianised afterlife of the architecture
Visual Imaginaries’ 3. Loïc Bourdeau, Maynooth University: SARS-CoV-2 and 3. Lu Shao, Sun Yat-sen University: English translation of Mo Yan’s pre-modern world could revitalise our disciplines. The case of of Kyivan Rus’ and our methodological blind spots”
3.Mara Josi, University of Manchester: ‘Living in Hiding: Holocaust- Discursive Inoculation in France: Lessons from HIV/AIDS. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out: A cognitive narratology Hispanic Studies. 3. Daria Mattingly, Cambridge University, “Rethinking Slavonic
related Traumas’ 4. Steven Wilson, Queen’s University Belfast: Translational perspective. 3. Emanuelle Santos and Aengus Ward, University of Studies Through the Neglected History of Ukraine.”
4. Alessia Zinnari, University of Glasgow: ‘Reclaiming Agency Cultural Responses to COVID-19: Reframing Medical Heroism in Birmingham: Grounding the discussion: How to even an 4.Alexandr Kravchuk (Simferopol, Ukraine and Bristol University,
Through the Body: Leonora Carrington's and Alda Merini's Illness French-Language Graphic Novels. uneven playing field? “Crimea and Novorossiya during the reign of Paul I (rethinking
Writing’. 5. Marta Arnaldi, University of Oxford: Translational Futures: the legacy of Catherine II)”.
Reflections on Ecology and Translation from the COVID-19 Crisis.

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break

11.30 – 13.00 Plenary Lecture: ECR speaker: Karolina Watroba (Chair: Katrin Wehling-Giorgi)
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00. Conference end

We are grateful for the following conference sponsors: