LLC11: Perspectives on Europe from the Periphery
About
This interdisciplinary Working Group investigates the effects of mobility on literature and visual arts in twentieth century Europe. We focus on intersections of language, place, artistic production, and cultural transfer between core and periphery.
Active since: 2015
Closed Group of Collaborators
- Syracuse University
- Cornell University
- Colgate University
Collaborative Goals
During AY 2021-22, the Working Group planned and held one public lecture by Cristián Ricci, University of California, Merced, a renown scholar of Spanish and transnational literary studies and sought-after speaker. The initially proposed title, "An Analysis of Amazigh-Catalan Literature in the 21st Century", was changed based on a closer focus on the writing of one Amazigh-Catalan author: "Najat El Hachmi: Away from Patriarcho, Hijab, and Cultural Relativism."
Because of the ongoing pandemic, the lecture which took place as planned on October 27, 2021, was moved to Zoom. As all lectures of our Working Group, it was open to the public and attended by Working Group members, a colleague from SUNY Cortland, as well as students from Kathy Everly's Spanish classes, SPA 457 Civil War to Contemporary Literature and SPA 601 Literary Theory and Research Methods.
The anticipated planning meeting of our Working Group in Spring 2022, for which we did not request any funding, has been moved to Fall 2022 because several Working Group members were on leave and/or had numerous other obligations.
During the entire AY 2021-2022, Everly, Giannini, and von Tippelskirch continued working on the book project, Centers–Peripheries: Literary, Cinematic, and Artistic Spaces, which evolved from the international symposium Centers, Margins, Boundaries, held at Syracuse University in Fall 2019. By June 2022, five Working Group members and three invited guest lecturers have contributed book chapters. The proposal of our book project, Centers-Peripheries: Literary, Cinematic, and Artistic Spaces, is under review with Palgrave Macmillan. We expect a response by early Fall 2022. The goal is to publish the book in 2023, and we hope that Palgrave Macmillan will accept it for publication in its series on Geocriticism.
Group Organizers

Karina von Tippelskirch
Associate Professor, German; German Program Coordinator, Syracuse University


Kathryn A. Everly
Professor, Spanish Literature and Culture; Modern Foreign Language Coordinator, Syracuse University

Patrizia C. McBride
Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Programs & Professor, Cornell University

Group Members
- Ken Frieden, B.G. Rudolph Professor of Judaic Studies and William P. Tolley Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities, English Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics; Religion, Syracuse University
- Matthew Miller, Associate Professor of German, Colgate University
Activities
Najat El Hachmi: Away from Patriarcho, Hijab, and Cultural Relativism
Oct. 27, 2021, 4 p.m.
Group Outcomes
- The lecture introduced a new topic, writer, and contemporary literature from "the Periphery of Europe" to our Working Group and the attendees. Amazigh, also known as Berber, is the language of the ethnic group by the same name living in North and Western Africa. The lecture analyzed Najat El Hachmi's writing in the larger frameworks of Maghribi and Subsahan literature in European languages and the broadening of Postcolonial Literary Studies. It also enriched Everly's courses on 20th and early 21st century Spanish literature in Fall 2022.
- An additional important outcome of Ricci's lecture is his further collaboration and contribution of a chapter to the book project.