Anglicists and Americanists Today. Facing Ideology and Its Discontents

Celebrating 100 Years of English and American Studies in Iasi 

International conference, 8-9 May 2025, Iasi

Our contemporary world at large has undergone dramatic shifts of paradigms in the last 80 years or so. Between 1945 and 1960, most of the new states in Asia and Africa achieved at least an autonomy if not complete independence from their European colonial rulers. This situation generated a need for political and cultural (self)identification and self-determination. Decolonisation reshaped the world. In its wake, Asian, African, and Western intellectuals reshaped the cultural paradigm: Fanon, the theorists of the so-called “Subaltern Studies”, Michel Foucault’s analysis of the relation between power and knowledge, Edward Said’s groundbreaking Orientalism (1978) shook the plinth and the whole scaffolding of entrenched colonial culture. In Europe, the French upheavals of 1968, with their makeshift barricades and graffiti protests, paved the path for radical movements of restless emancipation. From France, the zest for ceaseless discontent has spread and conquered both sides of the Atlantic. The advancement of technology inspired Julian Huxley, a brother of novelist Aldous Huxley, to envisage in “Transhumanism” (1957) an era of social and cultural change, a future when humanity transcends itself. In the 21st century, Huxley’s concept of transhumanism coexists with Posthumanism and a range of other theories and movements in what looks like a cacophony of narratives and discourses.

Întâlnire cu Mihaela Pîrvuleț, terminolog principal la DGT-RO

Marți, 13 mai 2025, în Sala Senat, studentele, studenții și cadrele didactice de la specializarea Limbi Moderne Aplicate - Traducere și Interpretare și de la masteratul de Traducere și terminologie au avut plăcerea de a se întâlni cu doamna Mihaela Pîrvuleț, terminolog principal la Directoratul General pentru Traduceri al Uniunii Europene. În cadrul întâlnirii, doamna Pîrvuleț ne-a vorbit, printre altele, despre ce presupune munca de terminolog în instituțiile europene, instrumentele informatice folosite, cursul normal al unui proiect terminologic, dar și despre importanța documentării, a unei foarte bune cunoașteri a limbilor străine implicate și a perseverenței. 

Interculturalia 2025: Looking at the (Post)-canon to Get to Grips with the new Zeitgeist

InterCulturalia #7, an intersection of 5 languages and several fields, organised by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures in partnership with the Faculty of Geography and Geology, the Faculty of Law and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Grigore T. Popa” of Iaşi took place on the 11th and 12th of April this year.

Despite the chilly weather, its spirit was as enthusiastic as ever. The topic of interrogating centers, margins and norms in the age of the (post)-canon challenged the participants and the keynote speakers to look into it and chart a vast and complex territory through interdisciplinary methods. In the German Studies, the literary canon and xenotransplantation were tackled together. Thus, the humanities and the medical sciences engaged in a dialogue.