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.