Hello culture, my old friend! We’ve come to talk with you again. Remember this iconic song of the mid 1960s, Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel? We know it too well, that is why we believe that it is time to look for some new sounds! The Sound of Culture provides the awakening sound after a long period of cultural silence. Continue reading
Author Archives: culturalstudiesleuven
Archiving The Festival That Never Happened
The current global pandemic has influenced every aspect of our lives, including the way in which we consume (performing) arts. Forced to move to a digital space, festivals and performing arts have had to adapt, or even change their format completely. This new configuration, however, has brought along many new challenges. Some prevailing questions remain: How does one create and curate an online performing arts festival whilst remaining true to its ultimate agenda Continue reading
Podcast (Re)considering Club Spaces: now available on Soundcloud
Thanks to the numerous efforts of the collective Nachtplan in collaboration with the city of Leuven, the Leuven residents can look forward to a new club in their own city. To involve every possible voice before the arrival of the new club, Nachtplan has called in the help of a group of students Cultural Studies to examine different views, each in their own way, sharing a special bond with nightlife. Continue reading
Go Beyond the Label: DisABILITY Film Festival
In spite of the ever-evolving wokeness culture, ‘disability’ and disability representation in media remains a conversation we have yet to have. From stereotypes to ‘inspirational’ movies about disability, and the lack of representation of people with disabilities in filmmaking leads to them being excluded. Continue reading
WARM ALARM: join the Climate Week on TikTok!
The Climate Week is back! This year, the week shouts “Warm Alarm: Stop hitting the snooze button”! The week entails a lot of different activities and projects, including ours. This one gives you the opportunity to be part of it too! Continue reading
An Exploration into a phenomenon called literary festivals with the case of Passa Porta
Popular with writers and intellectuals as well as readers and fans of texts, from coffee houses of the 18th and 19th centuries to big gatherings with tents in summer in the 20th century to online festivals under the pandemic last year, literary events have long been thought to be the heartbeat of culture. But what is exactly meant by it when we talk about a literary event? What can they bring in? What do they require? With them or without them, how would reading and writing evolve? What kind of communities can they form? How do they vary from a society to another one? Continue reading
CENSORED: a podcast on the relation between art and power in Russia
Censorship for the benefit of “protecting the common good” has been commonplace in Russian art for some considerable time now. From Stalin’s dictatorship to the controlling rule of Cold War Soviet Union, up to this very day, censorship and restrictions in the arts are still very much alive. Continue reading
One book (on history), two lessons (for cultural studies)
Pierre Nora, best known for his research on memory (he coined the notion of “places of memory”), defines himself as follows: “I am not what is called a great historian, but I served history”. But there is more to learn in these pages, a self-edited anthology covering more than three decades of intellectual work and commitment, than this admirable mix of modesty and pride. Continue reading
AIPI Summer School Ricerca a fumetti: generi, forme, declinazioni (“Comics research: genres, forms, declinations”)
The AIPI School will be held at the Universiteit Gent (Belgium) from 12 to 15 July 2021 and was created with the idea of bringing together early career researchers (doctoral or postdoctoral level) and include them into a recently created network of scholars working on Italian comics (SnIF: Searching’n Investigating Fumetti). Continue reading
Bearing Questions: An Incomplete Guide to Motherhood
Do you want to be a parent? How do you know when you’re ready? Do you really know when you’re ready? What’s stopping you? What’s pushing you? What impact might your career, your age, your ethnic or racial background, your sexual identity or gender have on your decision?
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