InterCulturalia #8, an intersection of 5 languages and several fields, organised by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures in partnership with the Faculty of Geography and Geology, the Faculty of Law, Moldova State University, and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Grigore T. Popa” of Iaşi, took place on the 3rd and 4th of April this year.
With a total of thirty-four panels and nine other activities, this year’s InterCulturalia brought together almost two hundred participants eager to share their contributions about embodiment and disembodiment in arts, cultures, and science. Over sixty volunteers and thirty organisers worked together to ensure the smooth running of the event across two days and several locations.
In the spirit of embodiment and disembodiment, the first day of InterCulturalia delighted us with a blend of online and on-site panels and keynotes. Our two online English panels allowed students from Bucharest, Turkey, and Germany to participate in InterCulturalia #8 with relevant and innovative presentations on the use of AI in translation and teaching, clones in Kazuo Ishiguro’s works, Frankenstein’s monster, puppetry, and more. Following the tradition of previous editions, French panels hosted both online and on-site participants, thus creating a beautiful intercultural exchange between our Romanian students and their peers from France, Haiti, Algeria, Morocco, Moldova, and Canada. The numerous French-speaking students discussed various topics stretching from Molière and Racine’s plays to postcolonial Algerian novels, and from medicine to law. Towards the end of the day, the Critical Studies panel had five students presenting new teaching and research methodology, introducing concepts such as “restlessness” and “autofiction.”
Students also had the chance to join several keynotes and workshops. As usual, those unfamiliar with the mysteries and intricacies of Iași went on a guided tour with Prof. Mihai Bulai from the Faculty of Geography and Geology. Students from the Italian department enjoyed an exploration of Giants during Prof. Dr. Dragoș Cojocaru’s keynote “Lo smembramento dei Giganti.” Dr. Marcela Sulak’s online keynote titled “Containing Multitudes: the (Mother) body politic” took us on a journey across several authors’ poems, dissecting the notion of motherhood. Recently returned from Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia), Lect. Dr. Florina Năstase showed us a glimpse into the American reality and the beauty of archival work. After a keynote often doubled by laughter and shock from the audience, those present left the room with more questions than ever for Dr. Năstase and were eager to join the next event, a creative writing workshop. At NegruZi coffee shop, Fulbright Junior ETA David Miller taught students and professors alike how to analyse good and “not-so-good” sentences, ultimately having them write their own perfect sentence.
The 4th of April started with energy and excitement as students split among two activities. Firstly, Andreea Gafincu, UAIC Letters Alumna, presented the idea of self-publishing to students from the perspective of someone working in this field. The event highlighted the intersections between academia and industry, letting students explore a possible future career path. Meanwhile, the Asian Studies talk with Conf. Dr. Oana Cogeanu-Haraga and Daria Ștefana Dima, a Faculty of Letters student and volunteer at ROK Center for Korean Studies, tackled the topics of K-Gender Studies and the 4B Movement. This marked InterCulturalia’s first collaboration with the Korean Center and, if students’ response is anything to go by, it will not be the last. The engaging and constructive debate that followed these two presentations could thankfully be extended into two Asian Studies panels, one on Korean culture and the other on Japanese. Those interested in Asian culture could listen to presentations about Korean Beauty Standards, Korean Cinema, K-Pop, Anime and Manga, Japanese literature, and even comparative studies on Korean and American feminist literature. The talks in the Dystopian Literature, Gothic Literature, and Posthuman Embodiment panels delved into “perfect” citizens, corporeality, and the works of Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. Italian, German, and Spanish did not fall far behind, offering an array of presentations on Gothic Italian fiction, the works of Italian writers Giuseppe Verdi and Luigi Pirandello, German writers Friedrich Dürrenmatts and Cornelia Travnicek, and Spanish writers Vicente Huidobro and Carmen Martín Gaite. The American and British Studies panels brought to the fore issues of grief, morality, the loss of innocence, and obsession, revisiting canonical authors such as James Joyce, George Eliot, Emily Brontë, Cormac McCarthy, and Louisa May Alcott. The Gender Studies panel and the AI, Trends & Social Media one had a surprising amount of overlap, discussing the performance of gender, sexual politics, and the “ideal” (artificial) woman. Despite the uncertain future some presentations tackled, the conversation managed to ease our anxiety regarding AI and social media, proposing solutions to the rise of the artificial.
For the first time, Game Studies got its own panel. Passionate students could explore their love for video games using critical approaches, thus dissecting popular game series like The Legend of Zelda, Undertale, and Assassin’s Creed. These conversations perhaps best encapsulate the beauty of InterCulturalia and the reason the project keeps coming back. As the world progresses in unexpected ways and new generations become interested in researching things older ones could not even dream of approaching through an academic lens, one thing stays consistent: passion and an enormous love for community.
We hope future editions of InterCulturalia continue to surprise us and force us to accept that the world is changing… hopefully for the better!
Written by Ana-Maria Brustureanu
PhD Student