Join us from 6-10 March to celebrate languages, cultures, and the diversity of our global community.

Engage in virtual and in-person activities and events to develop your global outlook, meet new people, and be inspired to continue to enhance your international experience.

What is language good for? One obvious answer is communication, which helps us transmit information rapidly and understand the mental state of others, crucial for group cohesion and survival. Moreover, it is often said that learning a foreign language is an enriching experience that broadens our perspective and access to other cultures and ideas.

As Chair of the Arts Equality and Inclusion Forum, I’m launching an occasional series of readalong sessions designed to address elements of equality, diversity, and inclusion. Although I’m based in Arts, these sessions are open to all staff—anyone is welcome.

As the name suggests, in these sessions we will simply read out loud a portion of an agreed-upon text, with readers sharing some reflections afterwards. These sessions will be online in Teams. Inspired by a similar series at Royal Holloway, I’m proposing that our first sessions address Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition (2020), which I’ve had the library purchase as an ebook, available here: https://go.exlibris.link/08VHR6g2. I’ll be hosting the first of two sessions devoted to this text at 4-5pm on Monday of Week 9 (6 March), and then a second session 4-5pm on Monday 24 April, the first Monday of the new term. I suggest that we read in the first session from the chapter “United,” and in the second session from “The End of White Innocence.”

A signup sheet for the session is available here: Readlong 2023 Winter signup - Minor feelings.docx. Please indicate if you’d like to read, and if so what section of the book you’re interested in. A link to the Teams channel will be shared with the participants closer to the date.

I look forward to seeing those interested on Monday, 6 March! A Teams channel link will be sent to interested participants. Also, please be in touch with suggestions about texts we can read in further sessions, and in the new year!

MM

Michael Meeuwis (he/him)

Associate Professor | English and Comparative Literary Studies

Chair, Equality and Inclusion Forum | Faculty of Arts University of Warwick

What happens when students from all over Europe find themselves on an exchange at university in Barcelona? Whether you've studied abroad already or are planning on doing so, this is a must-see hit film!