BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University will welcome a delegation of scholars from Russia as part of “Childhood & Globalization: An International Colloquium” from Sept. 13-17.
The colloquium will consist of readings and discussions with scholars principally from Illinois Wesleyan, Illinois State University (ISU) and the Russian State University for the Humanities (RGGU) in Moscow. Several sessions are free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan’s Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL), the International Studies program at IWU, the Isaac Funk Foundation and the ISU Department of English.
Altogether, eight scholars from Russia will take part in the colloquium, which will focus on children’s literature and politics of childhood around the globe. The Russian scholars are from RGGU and St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. Co-organizers for the colloquium are Illinois Wesleyan faculty members Isaac Funk Professor of Russian Studies Marina Balina and Associate Professor of French and Italian Scott Sheridan.
“United by a desire to investigate such a multifaceted subject as childhood around the globe, our colloquium attempts to address many different aspects of this issue – from the politics of childhood and its historical context, to literary production and various cultural practices and depictions of children in different forms of media,” said Balina.