Regime Change in Canada: Trudeau MK2
05/11/2015
While news of North American politics in the UK has lately focused on Donald Trump’s perplexing Republican presidential nomination bid, another campaign was unfolding north of the border, culminating in Canada’s 42nd federal election on 19 October. After nine years of government by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives (two minority governments followed by a majority in 2011), …
Charlie Hebdo editors double down on their principles in first issue since attacks
23/01/2015
The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo is nothing out of the ordinary. Today’s response to the attack on its offices on January 7 is precisely what sets it apart from other newspapers. The front cover, a cartoon of a weeping prophet Muhammad holding a sign reading “Je suis Charlie” that was released in advance, is …
Creative writing in Spanish
02/01/2015
Milan Kundera, Samuel Becket, Joshep Conrad, Franz Kafka and Vladimir Nabokov have in common the fact that they did not always write in their mother tongue. There is something special about writing in a foreign language, and our Creative Writing in Spanish students know it well. A quote attributed to Proust reads, ‘a novelist who …
An Evening of Print Culture
06/11/2014
Hannah Murray is a PhD student in American & Canadian Studies, where she is writing a thesis on liminal whiteness in nineteenth-century American literature. In this post, she looks forward to welcoming Dr. Hester Blum, a leading scholar in nineteenth-century print culture studies. When we read a novel or short story we may not think …
Nas at Lovebox: 20 years of Illmatic
20/10/2014
To mark Black History Month, Nottingham MRes student Jasmine Gothelf (American & Canadian Studies) reviews a recent performance by the African American artist Nas in Britain, and discusses the ongoing political relevance of hip hop to contemporary African American life. Please join the American & Canadian Studies department for its Black History Events this month: …
People often think they know Martin Luther King Jr, but do they?
17/10/2014
Look at the new statue in Washington, featured on the poster below. Its design was controversial because some felt it made King look too stern and forbidding a figure, but maybe it corrected a false perception of him and his non-violent philosophy as simply conciliatory and passive. The monument also casts an African American in …
Imagining silence: experiencing history as fiction
15/10/2014
By Katie Hamilton, PhD student in the Department of American & Canadian Studies On first consideration, a reading and conversation with a novelist seems an incongruous way to celebrate Black History Month. It begs the question of what a contemporary novel can tell us about the history of the African diaspora that we don’t already …
Bloodthirsty Urges, Papier-Mâché Pigs and More: Behind the Scenes of Golyi Korol’
01/07/2014
Last week we published a review of the recent Russian play. Now, one of the actors, Year Two student Bryony Lingard, gives us her insider’s perspective on the production… This year I made a more concentrated effort to get involved in pretty much everything I could at university, and one of the things I decided …
Students impress in Russian play
25/06/2014
In an earlier post, Olivia Hellewell reported on the preparations for this year’s Russian play, Golyi korol’ (The Naked King) by Evgenii Shwartz. Now, Cynthia Marsh, Emeritus Professor of Russian Drama and Literature, reviews the play, which was performed in the University of Nottingham’s Performing Arts Studio over three nights earlier this month (10-12 June …
Sinterklaas, Cinderella and Sauerkraut…
04/06/2014
With the academic year 2013-14 drawing to a close, DAAD-Lektor Sascha Stollhans looks back at some of the events held in the German Department over the past twelve months… The German Department offers various opportunities for students to practise their German and get insights into German culture outside the classroom. There is a wide range …
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