School of Modern Languages hosts international symposium on East Asian screen cultures

Academics from around the world gathered at the School of Modern Languages recently to discuss their research on female transgression in East Asian and diaspora screen cultures.

The symposium, which was entitled Transgressive Women in East Asian Screen Cultures, was held at the School on 23 and 24 May 2024 and was hosted by Dr Forum Mithani and Dr Elaine Chung. The event also received support from two of the School’s postgraduate research students, Chen Yang and Ka Long Tung.

The symposium was a 2 day event which was supported by The British Academy, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Academy of Korean Studies. More than 20 scholars from all over the world attended the symposium and delivered talks and presentations on their research. Some of the talks discussed reflections on femmes fatales in contemporary Japanese cinema and preserving Indigenous imagination through cinema.

In addition to the talks and presentations, 3 keynote talks were given by academics from universities across the UK. Dr Irene González-López from Birkbeck, University of London gave a keynote talk on ‘Transgressive desires and pleasures: Rethinking the trope of the panpan sex worker in Occupied Japan’, Dr Colette Balmain from Kingston University London gave a talk on ‘Monstrous Becomings in East Asian Gothic: From Parasite Eve to Gyeongseong’s Creature’ and Dr Eva Cheuk-yin Li from Lancaster University gave a talk on ‘Fandom of A Transgressive Woman: How mainland Chinese fans of a censored singer negotiate identities and transborder solidarity’.

The event also included a screening of the TV documentary ‘Deciphering Japan’. Following the screening of the documentary, a roundtable was held to discuss issues relating to representation and diversity in the UK and international screen industries. The roundtable featured the director of ‘Deciphering Japan’, Georgie Yukiko Donovan, Japanese actor, Haruka Kuroda, and Japanese media expert Dr Griseldis Kirsch.

Reflecting on the event, Dr Forum Mithani said: "The symposium was an excellent opportunity to bring together and share the fascinating research and insights of scholars and media practitioners from across the globe. The event was also an opportunity to showcase the School's specialist knowledge and research on East Asian media. Feedback from participants has been extremely positive, particularly in terms of future collaboration on an edited publication based on the papers presented at the symposium."