Royal Holloway Postgraduate Research Day

I am hoping to attend the following event below which sounds like a valuable event for further discussion on the direction of postcolonial studies:

Postgraduate Research Day 2008: Interrogating the Postcolonial
Tuesday 29 July
9:30am-5:30pm
Royal Holloway building, 11 Bedford Square, London

Interrogating the Postcolonial is a free research day that aims to provide an interdisciplinary forum for postgraduate students to discuss the contemporary meaning, direction and relevance of ‘postcolonial studies’.
Proposals for papers of 10-15 minutes are invited for presentation in the morning – spaces are very limited for this section. Topics may include (but are by no means limited to):
· Moving beyond the postcolonial canon?
· Visions of empire and imperialism
· Performing colonialism and postcolonialism
· Borders, boundaries and bodies – colonial and postcolonial migrations
· Colonial and postcolonial power, resistance and violence
· Culture and commodities of colonialism
· Multiculturalism, hybridity and diaspora
· Colonialism, decolonization and development

The due date for abstracts is Friday 13 June 2008, with acceptance decided by Friday 20 June. Abstracts should be 200-250 words in length, and should be sent to D.J.Whittall@rhul.ac.uk.

The day will feature papers delivered by postgraduate students, an academic dialogue between Professor Elleke Boehmer (Oxford University) and Dr David Lambert (RHUL), and smaller ‘break-out’ discussion groups.


For more information please see our website at https://mail.stir.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.cameronius.com/helen/RHPRG; our Facebook event ‘Interrogating the Postcolonial’, which can be found through our Facebook group ‘RHUL Postcolonial Research Group’; or email Dan Whittall at D.J.Whittall@rhul.ac.uk.

Teaching and Research in English: Making the Links

Teaching and Research in English: Making the Links
City: Edinburgh
Venue: University of Edinburgh, Conference Room, Ground Floor, David Hume Tower
Date: 13 Jun 08
Time: 10:00

Event Description: Bringing together subject-specific current practice and theory in the area of Teaching-Research Linkages, this workshop will encourage teacher-researchers (including postgraduate students) from the areas of Creative Writing, Language and Literature to share ideas. Possible areas to be addressed may include:
The relationship between research skills/methods and the skills passed on to students
The effect teaching has on research practice (eg how far is research teaching-driven?)
The importance of diverse research interests in curriculum development and provision
The limitations which research may place on teaching skills (eg what effects, good and/or bad, does the specialisation inherent in research have on teaching?)
Do our students mind/care if we are an 'expert' in what we teach?
Programme: (subject to alteration)
Time
Theme/Session
10:00
Registration and Coffee
10:30
Teaching-Research: issues in the Scottish ContextDr Vicky GunnUniversity of Glasgow
11:30
Coffee
11:45
Living on the Border(s): Perspectives on Researching and Teaching Scottish LiteratureAssociate Professor Carla SassiUniversity of Verona
12:45
Lunch
13:45
Teaching to Research: Scottish Women WritersResearch to Teaching: The Carlyle LettersMs Aileen ChristiansonUniversity of Edinburgh
14:45
Coffee
15:00
Summary and DiscussionTeaching-Research: an eternal balancing act OR a happy relationship?Dr Keith HughesEnglish Subject Centre
15:45
Close

Latin American and Caribbean Studies in Scotland Workshop

One Day Workshop (LACNET), University of Stirling

Friday 6 June 2008; 10:30 – 16:30
Pathfoot Building B2

Latin American and Caribbean Studies in Scotland: The State of the Question

The purpose of the workshop is to establish a forum for discussion within and across Latin American and Caribbean Studies in Scotland. Presentations introduce major themes of significance from a range of disciplines and will be followed by roundtable discussions open to everyone to foster debate and possible future collaborations.

10:30 Opening and welcome (Charlotte Lange)

11:00 - 1:00 New Practices in Latin American Studies (Charlotte Lange)
Jesús Rodero, University of Strathclyde: ‘Political Fiction, Allegory and the Fantastic in the Contemporary Latin American Short Story’
Fiona J. Mackintosh, Carolina Orloff, Iona MacIntyre, University of Edinburgh: ‘River Plate Research Cluster: Plans and Possibilities’
Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar, University of Stirling: ‘Early Colonial Languages and Cultures in the Andes – Interlacing Wor(l)ds’
Tristan Platt, University of St Andrews: ‘The Anthropology of History and Change’ (tbc)

1:00 – 2:00 lunch

2:00 – 4:00 Placing Caribbean and Latin American Studies (Gemma Robinson)
Trevor Stack, University of Aberdeen: ‘Visions of Citizenship in Mexico and California’
Isobel Anderson, University of Stirling: ‘A Changing Cuba? Implications for Domestic Policy – the Case of Housing’
Mark Harris, University of St Andrews: ‘Some problems in the Study of the Brazilian Amazon’ (tbc)
Karen P. Peña, University of Glasgow: ‘The Brazilian Question’
Mariángeles Navarrete Lopez, University of Glasgow: ‘An Approach to Pablo Neruda: Love Metaphors through Cognitive Poetics’

4:00 – 4:30 Closing session: Future Directions in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

The workshop is open to all academics and postgraduate students working in the field of Latin American and Caribbean Studies in Scottish universities.

Translating Christianity

Last week I participated in a colloqium 'Translating Christianity' hosted by the School of Languages, Cultures & Religions (SLCR) of the University of Stirling in conjunction with the ‘Colonialism and Postcolonialism network’ and the ‘Critical Religion Category Network (CRCN)’ (http://www.crcn.stir.ac.uk/). Here are some more details about the event:


In this research colloquium we focused on issues of translation and particularly, the
translation of texts, practices and concepts identified as Christian, from one
language and (sub)culture into another, reflecting an interest in translation both in its
linguistic and in its socio-cultural sense. Apart from written texts we hoped to reflect
on other genres as well, such as dramatic and ritual performances, visual
representations and oral traditions.

Objectives
To entertain multiple perspectives and methodological approaches (religious studies,
history, languages studies & linguistics, anthropology, literary and gender studies) in
addressing the issue of how cultural contents such as religious canons, beliefs and/or
practices found in mainstream, dominant, elite sectors of society both change and are
changed in the process of translation into minority, marginalised or subaltern
contexts.

Translating Christianity Colloquium · Programme
Stirling University, 28 May 2008
10.00-10.10 Welcome
10.10-10.20 Brian Murdoch
The Apocryphal Adam
10.20-10.30 Kerstin Pfeiffer
Staged Interpretations: Exegesis and the Question of
Representation in Late Medieval Drama
10.30-10.40 Stephen Penn
John Wyclif and the Meaning of Veritas in Scholastic Exegesis
10.40-11.10 Discussion
11.10-11.40 Break
11.40-11.50 Nara Improta Franca
The Translation of the Bible into the Yoruba Language –
the Concept of 'Nation' and 'Nationality'
11.50-12.00 Fiona Darroch
Rastafarian 'Translations' of the King James Bible
12.00-12.10 Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar
The Construction of Chipaya Origins – Interlacing Andean and
Christian Beliefs
12.10-13.00 Discussion
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-14.10 Alison Jasper
Virgen María: 'The Holy Translator of God’s Desires to Women'
14.10-14.20 Christine Lindner
The Use of Evangelical Literature and Revival Narratives by
Protestant Women in Ottoman Syria during the Mid-nineteenth
Century
14.20-14.30 Michael Marten
Locating Metropoles and Peripheries
14.30-15.00 Discussion
15.00-15.10 David Bebbington
Translating Evangelical Christianity in the Modern World
15.10-15.20 Tim Fitzgerald
Protestant Mission Strategies in Mexico and Vietnam: Religion,
Secular and Profane as Categories
15.20-15.40 Discussion
15.40-16.10 Break
16.10-17.00 Final discussion: Crystallising themes.

Global Gothic Symposium

The first symposium arranged in association with the AHRC Global Gothic Network is being held on the afternoon of Friday July 11 and Saturday July 12 at University of Stirling. The list of participants in the discussions follows at the end of this post and the issues to be discussed are described on the Network's website at http://www.globalgothic.stir.ac.uk/

If anyone is interested in sitting in on the discussions, either or both days, please email Glennis (glennis.byron@stir.ac.uk). Lunch provided, and a chance to meet some of these people over a glass of wine.

List of participants:
Katarzyna Ancuta, Assumption University
Elizabeth Andrews, University of Stirling
Colette Balmain, Buckinghamshire New University
Francesca Billiani, University of Manchester
Fred Botting, Lancaster University
Steven Bruhm, University of Western Ontario
Glennis Byron, University of Stirling
Ian Conrich, Birkbeck College, University of London
Justin Edwards, University of Wales
Ken Gelder, University of Melbourne
Giulio Giusti, University of Manchester
Terry Hale, University of Hull
Andrew Hock Soon Ng, Monash University, Malaysia
Avril Horner, Kingston University
Sarah Neely, University of Stirling
Charles Shiro Inouye, Tufts University
Tabish Khair, University of Aarhus
Barry Murnane, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
David Punter, Bristol University
Victor Sage, University of East Anglia
Aspasia Stephanou, University of Stirling
Abigail Lee Six, Royal Holloway, University of London
Dale Townshend, University of Stirling
Isabella van Elferen, Utrecht University

French Slavery Study Day

On Saturday 28th June I will be participating in the French Slavery Study Day hosted by University of Stirling. Here are some more details about the event:
---
University of Stirling, Saturday 28 June 2008

Interested colleagues and postgraduates are invited to a study day on the French Slave Trade and its Aftermath. The event is free (this includes lunch), but advanced registration is essential. For registration and any other enquiries, please contact:

Bill Marshall
Professor of Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies
School of Languages, Cultures and Religions
Pathfoot Building
University of Stirling
Stirling FK9 4LA
Scotland, UK.

Email: w.j.marshall@stir.ac.uk

Programme:

The sessions will take place in Room C1/C2 in the Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling,

Presentations will last for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes of discussion.

Tea and coffee are available from about 10.15.

10.45 Welcome and opening remarks

Chaired by Bill Marshall:

11.00 Nick Nesbitt (University of Aberdeen): “Slavery, Populist Reason, and the Atlantic Enlightenment in the Haitian Revolution”.

11.45 Peter Hallward (Middlesex University): “Self-Emancipation and Political Will”.

12.30 LUNCH

Chaired by Charles Forsdick (University of Liverpool):

1.30 Susan Castillo (King’s College London): “The Caribbean Gothic: Victor Séjour and George Washington Cable”.

2.15 Lorna Milne (University of St Andrews): “The Curse of Slavery in Contemporary Antillean Fiction”.

3.0 TEA & COFFEE

Chaired by David Murphy (University of Stirling):

3.30 Dominic Thomas (University of California at Los Angeles):
“The Global Circulation of Bodies: Immigration, National Identity and
Co-Development”.

4.15 Richard Watts (Tulane University): “The Myth of the Ecological Slave”.

5.00 CLOSE

Caribbean-Scottish Passages Conference

At the end of June I will be attending the Caribbean-Scottish Passages Conference hosted by University of Stirling. Here are some more details about the event:

Caribbean-Scottish Passages: History, Language and Literature
Tuesday 24 - Wednesday 25 June 2008
Stirling University

Participants include:
Joan Anim-Addo (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Giovanna Covi (University of Trento)
Douglas Hamilton (University of Hull)
Kei Miller (University of Glasgow)
Velma Pollard (Mona, University of the West Indies)
Alan Riach (University of Glasgow)
Carla Sassi (University of Verona)

This 2-day conference will provide a forum for debate on historical, literary and linguistic interconnections between the Caribbean and Scotland. Studies of imperialism have only recently begun to investigate Scotland's role in the making of the Atlantic world, and the Caribbean’s role in Scottish life. To date, research has focused on remapping colonial history. A central aim of the conference is to assess past work, including a project funded by the University of Trento that resulted in Caribbean-Scottish Relations (2007), a co-authored book by four of our speakers: Anim-Addo, Covi, Pollard and Sassi. We believe that it is now necessary to reflect on past and current work that links the Caribbean and Scotland. This will be the first conference to present research in the combined fields of Scottish, Postcolonial and Caribbean Studies.The conference will focus on the complex cultural, social and political relationships between the Caribbean and Scotland, including discussions of Caribbean peoples/the Caribbean in Scotland; Scots/Scotland in the Caribbean; reparation and memorialisation across the Caribbean and Scotland; diasporic identities; Wilson Harris and Scottish literary traditions; the Caribbean, Scotland and the Enlightenment; abolitionist writing and campaigns in the Caribbean and Scotland; Scottish and Caribbean song traditions; aspects of language: Caribbean Creoles, Scots and Gaelic.

This conference is funded by the British Academy, the Dipartimento di Anglistica of the University of Verona, Stirling University's Centre for Commonwealth Studies, Centre for Scottish Studies and Department of English Studies.