With a renewed focus on fascist discourse and iconography taking place across the world, a call for papers on the international dimensions of fascism has been issued for a workshop taking place in Mexico in June 2017.

The workshop, ‘Fascism and the International: The Global Order Yesterday and Tomorrow,’ will be hosted from 18 to 20 June at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. It is being organised by Kent Law School Lecturer Dr Rose Sydney Parfitt who is currently based at Melbourne Law School undertaking a three-year research project with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Although the workshop leans towards the field of international law, Dr Parfitt says its character is strongly interdisciplinary and interventions (including textual, visual and aural interventions) from individuals and groups working in all disciplines are welcome.
Possible topics are detailed in the Call For Papers document.

Paper proposals are invited from scholars, artists and activists working in and across the fields of international law, history, history of art, international relations, postcolonial studies, sociology, anthropology, political theory, geography, feminist studies, queer theory and critical race theory. Abstracts must be submitted to rose.parfitt@unimelb.edu.au no later than Wednesday 1 March 2017. As spaces are very limited, anyone hoping for their application to be considered is encouraged to contact Dr Parfitt as soon as possible before this deadline.

The workshop, part of a wider project, entitled ‘International Law and the Legacies of Fascist Internationalism’, is funded by ARC, Melbourne Law School and the University of Melbourne. Amongst the activities, there will be an introduction to (and a tour of) the Museo de Arte Moderno, a landmark in modernist architecture and home to one of the most important collections of anti-fascist art in Latin America.

The Student Hub,  new home of GK Unions at Medway campus, is now open.

The Hub, on the site of the former naval swimming pool and skittles alley, has been transformed since 2015 with the help of students from both Kent and Greenwich Universities.

The Student Hub, new home of GK Unions at Medway campus, is now open.

The Hub, on the site of the former swimming pool and skittles alley, has been transformed since 2015 with the help of students from both Kent and Greenwich Universities.

The new hub has a modern bar, flexible entertainment and social space with a great range of food available. You can find out more about the Deep End menu here.

We also have an exciting programme of events lined up. To stay up to date, like our Facebook Page @deependmedway.

The Hub will be home to our Advice Centre plus offices for GK Unions Activities. It will also offer flexible, bookable activity space for Greenwich, Kent and Christ Church students.

The official opening of the Hub, featuring Tinchy Stryder, takes place this Friday night (20 January) from 22.00. You can buy tickets here.

The Student Hub and Deep End will be a transformational change for GK Unions improving the student experience at Medway, by providing much needed flexible social and activity space for over 6,000 students that we represent. You can see a preview of everything the Hub has to offer on this KTV film.

We can’t wait to see you in the Hub!

GK Unions

The catalogue of the exhibition Apollinaire Le regard du poète, for which Professor Peter Read was a member of the Advisory Committee, has recently been awarded the 2016 Prix CatalPa, an annual prize awarded to the year’s best Paris exhibition catalogue.

The exhibition ran at the musée de l’Orangerie, in the Tuileries, from 6^th April to 18^th July 2016. It explored the role played by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) as critic, promoter and impresario of innovative artists including Chagall, De Chirico, Delaunay, Derain, Duchamp, Léger, Matisse and Picasso, and also of African and Oceanian art. The exhibition presented paintings and sculptures from international museums and private collections as well as posters, films, set designs, photographs, manuscripts and other documents. It attracted 186,000 visitors.

Peter Read gave two public lectures during the exhibition, at the Orangerie and at the Picasso Museum, presented the exhibition on French national radio and was a consultant for the catalogue, to which he contributed three chapters. The 2016 Prix CatalPa was chosen this year from a field of sixty publications. The President of the jury was the Haitian francophone novelist Dany Laferrière, member of the Académie Française. The runners-up were the catalogues for Icônes de l’art moderne La collection Chtchoukine (Fondation Vuitton) and Beat Generation (Centre Pompidou).

Laurence des Cars, Peter Read et al., Apollinaire Le regard du poète, Paris, Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie / Gallimard, 2016. 320 pp. 45 Euros. ISBN : 978-2-07017-915-2.

Peter Read has recently guested on French tv and radio programmes, presenting his latest book.

Peter Read, Professor of Modern French Literature and Visual Arts at the University, was a guest, with four other authors, on the hour-long, Bibliothèque Médicis, the main literary talk show on French tv, presenting his latest book, Apollinaire Lettres calligrammes manuscrits. Hosted by Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, the programme was first broadcast on the evenings of Friday 9 and Saturday 10 December. It may be viewed on:

https://www.publicsenat.fr/emission/bibliotheque-medicis/le-rendez-vous-des-livres-et-des-auteurs-48730

Peter was also guest for a 20-minute interview on the radio programme Danse des mots, recorded for the French World Service (Radio France Internationale) and first broadcast on 4 January 2017.

His new book, Apollinaire Lettres calligrammes manuscrits is a large-format, illustrated, hard-back, co-published in November 2016 by the French National Library (Bibliothèque nationale de France) and Éditions Textuel. It features colour facsimiles of over 100 manuscripts, including previously unpublished works, from private collections and public archives, covering the whole creative trajectory of the poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918). The manuscripts have been selected, transcribed and presented, with introductions and commentaries, by Peter Read. Apollinaire was an important war poet and this publication has been financially supported by the French government’s 1914-1918 commemorative committee (la Mission du centenaire de la Première Guerre mondiale).

The book has also received widespread coverage in the French press, where it has been described as “fascinating” and “erudite”  (Le Monde), “beautiful” (Le Figaro), “superb” (Télérama), “Captivating” (Le Parisien), “dazzling” (Florilettres), “this beautiful book gives us access to fragile and fascinating treasures of national significance” (Ouest France).

Peter Read, Apollinaire Lettres calligrammes manuscrits, Paris, BnF Éditions / Textuel, 2016. 264 pp. 55 Euros. ISBN: 978-2-84597-562-0.

On Tuesday 24 January 2017 (12.00-13.30) the E-Learning staff will be holding an E-Learning forum (ELF) in the UELT Seminar Room at the Unit for Enhancement of Learning & Teaching.

Over the next year we are looking to increase the use of KentPlayer for lecture recording across the university, supported by a number of developments and initiatives.

The session will be led by Mark O’Connor (Distance Learning Technologist) to present and discuss the plans for KentPlayer. The key issues will include:

• KentPlayer upgrade
• Online training
• KentPlayer as standard
• My Folder
• Scheduled recordings

Further details available https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/learn-tech/2016/11/08/kentplayer-update-2/

To book a place please email cpdbookings@kent.ac.uk