Mellon language grant

Virtual Hispanic Film Festival

Professors of Spanish Dosinda Alvite and Ramiro Garcia-Olano (Denison University) and Eva Paris Huesca (Ohio Wesleyan University) organized a virtual Hispanic Film Festival in fall 2020 featuring virtual screenings of five international award-winning films released in 2018 and 2019 directed by six women filmmakers. Each of the films featured post-screening discussions via Zoom led by scholars in Spanish and Latin American film studies, and question and answer sessions in English and Spanish led by three of the films’ directors.

German Identity and Immigration

German professors Gary L. Baker(Denison), Mareike Herrmann (College of Wooster), Paul Gebhardt (Kenyon) and Leo Riegert, Jr. (Kenyon) collaborated electronically and in person to revise an already existing course on German identity and immigration. The team introduced new materials to reflect changes since the course was last taught, particularly the rise of right-wing nationalist movements in Germany and Austria, and integrated additional literary/cultural texts into the course.

Quebec in and of the 21st Century

Professors Isabelle Choquet (Denison University), Wynne Wong (OSU) built on their 2018 project to introduce students to the culture of Quebec through its music by organizing a second symposium for university, high school and middle school teachers and students from across Ohio. The day-long symposium included sessions on Quebec in the arts, environment, Québécois identity and integrating these topics in the curriculum, highlighted by a performance by singer-songwriter Gregory Charles.

Hiroshima Survivor Visit

Kai Xie, Assistant Professor of Japanese (Kenyon College); Yumiko Tashiro, Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese (Kenyon College); Sachiko Kondo, Lecturer in Japanese (Oberlin College); Miho Suzuki, Lecturer in Japanese (Oberlin College); and Ann Sherif, Professor of Japanese (Oberlin College) will collaborate to bring Shiegeko Sasamori, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion, to Oberlin and Kenyon for public talks about her experience and peace-building activities.

Chinese Guest Lecturers through Zoom

Professors Jianhua Bai and Chengjuan Sun at Kenyon enriched their Chinese language classes by incorporating lectures by Hsiu-Chaung Deppman, chair of the Oberlin East Asian Studies Department and Chinese professor Rujie Wang (College of Wooster) via Zoom. The guest professors shared their expertise on Chinese cinema and modern Chinese literature in fall semester 2018.

Arabic and Spanish Faculty Exchange

Faculty members in Arabic and Spanish (Hanada Al-Masri and Jason Busic, Denison, Abeer Abdelaal, Ohio Wesleyan) will lecture in one another’s classroom in spring 2019 to share research about the sociolinguistic/diglossic situation in the Arab world, increase students’ awareness of Arab culture, and, in Spanish classrooms, discuss Christian-Muslim identities and mutual influence in medieval and early modern Iberia. Faculty members will present a panel discussion about their current research in these areas at both institutions.