On Wednesday 21st June, the Connecting Cultures GRP hosted its annual event, ‘Cultures of Belonging: The Politics of Inclusion, Exclusion and Reparation’. The theme for the event sought to illuminate where and how the perimeters of culture are drawn, and the various ways those perimeters may be reinforced, reproduced, and challenged. The topic intersected with the GRP’s overarching mission to explore how cultures connect, by considering how we can imagine—or reimagine—cultural connectivity, while reckoning with cultural and historical erasure, as well as the harm that cultural contact sometimes entails.

Our invited speakers, Dr Xine Yao (University College London), Professor Charles Forsdick (University of Liverpool) and Dr Janina Ramirez (University of Oxford) each contributed a distinctive reflection on the topic, based on their areas of expertise. Janina Ramirez offered thoughts on the exclusions of traditional historical narrative; Xine Yao spoke about disaffection as a mode of resistance to cultural oppression; and Charles Forsdick explored the links between connecting cultures and translating cultures. A panel discussion and Q&A followed, which touched on the different understandings of exclusion that emerged from the presentations and on questions of cultural history, pedagogy, and community building.

Following the discussion, attendees were shown two short films created especially for the event by artist Sujatha Menon and video/digital artist Paul Windridge. Both pieces were inspired by the work funded by the Connecting Cultures GRP in the course of the past academic year.

Discussion continued at a reception following the event, where attendees were also treated to an interactive exhibition of Sujatha Menon’s artwork, created during her term as artist-in-residence at the University of Warwick’s School of Life Sciences.

The event on ‘Cultures of Belonging: The Politics of Inclusion, Exclusion and Reparation’ attracted a diverse audience from within and outside the university. Audience members responded enthusiastically to its expansive reflection on issues that are of central importance to cultural cohesion and to imagining more inclusive forms of community. The Connecting Cultures leadership team is delighted to have facilitated such a rich discussion and to have been able to celebrate the diversity of important interdisciplinary work sponsored by the GRP this year.

Here are some photos from our event