News Archive

PD Dr. habil. Nora Pleßke and Dr Clarisse Godard Desmarest (University of Picardie Jules Verne, France) are organising a panel entitled "Cities in Scotland: Cultural Heritage and National Identity" at the 15th conference of the European Society for the Study of English in Lyon on 31 August 2021. Within the panel, Scotland's cultural heritage will be discussed as an important national asset with a focus on cities. Instead of the country's natural heritage, which is often prioritised in analyses of Scotland's past, the focus will be on the country's urban heritage and how this relates to issues of national identity. The panel on Scotland's urban heritage includes the following contributions on urban development, architecture, monuments, art, public memory, tourism, and literature and film:

10:30 to 12:30 hrs

• Cities Outside Scotland: The Urban Heritage of the Scottish Communities Abroad (Esther Mijers, University of Edinburgh, UK)
• Anatomising ‘Athens’: Architecture, Medicine, and Writing in Early Modern Edinburgh (Anne-Marie Akehurst, University of York, UK)
• Edinburgh’s Political Martyrs’ Monument: Reconciling Civic and National Identities (John Lowrey, University of Edinburgh, UK)
• Restoring the ‘Georgian House’: Architecture, Politics and Identity in 1970s Edinburgh (James Legard, Simpson & Brown Architects, UK)
• V&A Dundee and Cultural Institutions: The Role of Museums in Culture Led Regeneration (Kirsty Hassard, V&A Dundee, UK)

14:45 to 16:45 hrs

• Edinburgh and the Art Market in the First Age of Enlightenment (Murray Pittock, University of Glasgow, UK)
• Nomadic Murals: Architectural Tapestry in Post-War Scotland (Lisa Mason, National Museums Scotland, UK)
• Maydays to Mayfests: Cultural Politics and the Popular Arts in Glasgow, c.1983-1990 (Angela Bartie, University of Edinburgh, UK)
• Notions of National Identity within the Scotland’s Urban Realm (Kirsten Carter McKee, University of Edinburgh, UK)

17:00 to 19:00 hrs

• The Discursive Construction of Scottish Towns as Wellness Retreats in On-Line Tourism Promotion Texts 2019-20 (Irmina Wawrzyczek, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland)
• Narrative and National Identity: A Literature House for Edinburgh (James Loxley, University of Edinburgh, UK & Tara Thomson, Edinburgh Napier University, UK)
• The Themes of Urbanism and Identity in Val McDermid’s My Scotland (Yildirim Ozsevgec, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey)
• The City in Iain Rankin’s Novels (Florence Dujarric, Supméca – Institut Supérieur de Mécanique de Paris, France)
• Edinburgh on Screen: Rethinking Scottish National Identity in Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting (Deividas Zibalas, Vilnius University, Lithuania)

For more information on the conference, registration and the full programme with abstracts, please visit the conference website.

On 2 July 2021, the Chair of English Cultural and Literary Studies welcomes the renowned founder of the Medical Humanities in Germany, Prof. Dr. Heinz-Peter Schmiedebach (Charité Berlin) for a block seminar on this topic as part of the student custody project. The aim of the seminar is to introduce the concept of Medical Humanities and explain it using concrete examples. The cultural imprint of medicine through the respective historical, technical and social circumstances will thus become apparent. In addition, the complementary function of medical humanities with regard to a supplementation of the technological and scientific basis of medicine will be clarified, which is expressed in particular in a medical practice oriented towards the subjective experiences and feelings of patients. The seminar also aims to make the scope of this concept tangible by means of some small exercises for individual areas of narrative-based medicine. Further information on the programme can be found in the seminar announcement (in German).

As part of the mini-workshops of the Custody Project, Dr Ariane de Waal (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) is offering a workshop on "Dermatology and/as Literature" on Wednesday 23 June 2021 from 3:15pm to 4:45pm. In addition to the participating students, other interested parties are welcome to attend. The workshop will take place via the video conferencing software Zoom. If you are interested in participating, please contact PD Dr. Nora Pleßke () in advance for dial-in details.

In order to cushion learning deficits caused by the school closures, the Federal Government provides schools with funds from the DigitalPakt, which can be used for paid tutors. The Editha-Gymnasium Magdeburg is now looking for students from the OVGU for the subjects English, German and Mathematics. Interested students who would like to tutorpupils in grades 5 to 10 are invited to contact the headmistress, Katja von Hagen.

The British Council offers free webinars to prepare for the IELTS test, which is needed, for example, as proof of language skills for a semester abroad. Sessions dedicated to the different test areas of the IELTS take place every Thursday at 10:30a.m. and 4:00p.m. (German time). You can find more information and register directly on the British Council website.