The AILC-ICLA/Memory of the World Series

           

As part of the collaboration between the AILC-ICLA and the UNESCO Memory of the World programme, a new series of online events – The AILC-ICLA/Memory of the World Series – has been launched, starting in Spring 2026.

The series includes talks, seminars and conferences, and is hosted by the Centre for Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.

The Series is coordinated jointly by Professor Lucia Boldrini (Honorary President, AILC-ICLA, and Honorary Director, Centre for Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London), Professor Ipshita Chanda (AILC-ICLA President, 2025-28) and Professor Lothar Jordan (Chair of the MoW Sub-Committee for Education and Research, SCEaR).

Confirmed events are listed below; more are being planned and will be added soon.

24 March 2026, 13:00 UTC (Lecture): HU Suqing, “The Ferghana Horse from the Han to Northern–Southern Dynasties: A Cosmotechnical Perspective”.

Since its introduction to China during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the Ferghana Horse has occupied a vital position in the Chinese cultural imagination, inspiring a tradition that has continued for more than two millennia. Specifically, Dr. Hu will examine the cosmotechnical reconfiguration of the Ferghana horse as a key visual and conceptual mediator of trans-Eurasian exchange along the Silk Road… Read more on the event page...

23 October 2026 (Conference – Call for Papers deadline: 31 May 2026): “Metaphors of Memory, Comparative Literature and Heritage”

Different metaphors have been used to represent, describe or conceptualise memory and its processes, from blank slate or wax tablet receiving impressions, to book where events are recorded and organised in narrative form, to canvas of images…  Monuments stand for and aim to preserve collective memories, asserting national, ethnic or historical identities, although those memories can be contested, as we witness when statues are pulled down. Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, embodies the myth of the generative power of art and literature to encode and transmit – transfer, carry across – cultural identity. But amnesia is inextricable from memory, and heritage remains a contested field of preservation, transformation, misrepresentation, oblivion and active erasure. We invite papers that reflect on metaphors of memory from the perspective of, or to explore, relationships between comparative literature (broadly understood, including interdisciplinary approaches) and heritage.…. Read more and see the Call for Papers...