This has been a very prolific and exciting summer, which started at the end of Spring and has been filled with different public activities: workshops, conferences, and symposia.
As mentioned in the previous post, in May I joined Chiara Xausa and Marco Caracciolo for a workshop at Ghent University on ecofeminism, as part of the wonderful ongoing series of ecocritical reading sessions organized by Shannon Lambert and Leila Williamson. I talked about reactionary care in Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering with you – a paper will come out soon if all goes well!
Later on, I participated in the TRAMEVIC symposium, organized at the University of Valencia by Marcos Centeno, on visual representations of transnational memories, specifically in a session on the redefinition of perpetrators, with a paper on the greenwashing and whitewashing of Japan’s wartime responsibility in Godzilla Minus One.
June was devoted to a research visit to Japan. It started with my attendance at the Japan Past and Present conference on the reimagination of the field of Japanese studies, held at my dear temporary alma mater, University of Waseda. I then took the chance to stay longer in Tokyo and gather material, resources, meet with friends and colleagues, and buy books, many books. I was also invited by UGent’s EU-team to give a talk to prospective MSCA candidates, providing advice on what could they do to enhance their chances of succes.
Finally, I am happy to have participated in the conference “Getting Ready for the Present: Engaging with the World and the Planet in Contemporary Dystopian and Speculative Narratives”, organized at the University of Bologna, at the stunning San Giovanni in Monte complex. I presented a paper on the Anthropogenic turn as traced by analyzing the adaptation of Komatsu Sakyo’s seminal Japan Sinks in Japan Sinks: People of Hope. I don’t think I have ever had a better background for these kinds of talks! My sincere gratitude to the organizers, the team led by prof. Paola Scrolavezza.
Jordi Serrano-Muñoz 