archive
Chicago Latino Film Festival
A group of Hispanic Studies M.A. students taking Professor Rodr铆guez Navas's spring 2026 graduate seminar, "Place, Past, and Present in Latin American Fiction,鈥� attend the Chicago Latino Film Festival to watch the film Escritor (dir. Paula de Luque) with De Paul film studies professor Luisela Alvaray.
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
A group of students from Prof Natalia Valencia's SPAN 251 Spring 2026 course enjoy a performance of the opera El 脷ltimo Sue帽o de Frida y Diego at the Lyric Opera House.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
A group of students from Prof Natalia Valencia's SPAN 364 Spring 2026 course at the Goodman Theater enjoy a production of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
Polish Guest Speaker: Dr. Josephine Długopolski-Gach
The LUC Polish Student Alliance hosted a Speaker Night featuring Dr. Josephine D艂ugopolski-Gach, bringing together students interested in medicine, language, and Polish culture. The event offered valuable insights into medical careers and highlighted the importance of communication in healthcare, especially in multilingual environments. It also emphasized that Polish Studies is one of the few programs that offers a specialized course in Polish medical terminology. This unique opportunity is especially valuable for students considering a career in the medical field, as it helps build professional vocabulary and prepares them to work effectively with Polish-speaking patients.
Polish Pisanki Event
The LUC Polish Studies program hosted a vibrant Polish Pisanki Event on March 24, 2026, organized by Prof Aleksandra Majkowska Smith, bringing together students and faculty to celebrate Polish Easter traditions.
Latin Heritage Celebration
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Students from Dr. Gabriela Buitrón Vera's upper-division Spanish joined the Latinx celebration, played Latinx Bingo and enjoyed some multicultural food and music.
Pisanki Polish Event 2023
Easter event where Loyola students had a chance to hear about Polish Easter tradition and had a chance to create their own PISANKI using the scratching method.
Event took place at the Loyola campus on Tuesday, March 28th. You can see the result of their work
Israel 75 Birthday
"ISRAEL@75" BIRTHDAY PARTY! ENDS HEBREW STUDIES YEAR
Hebrew Studies celebrated Israel Independence Day with Birthday Cake in the shape of the Israeli flag, with Israeli Music Videos and some videos direct from Israel showing the celebrations in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv, and with the Hebrew students helping guests make Hebrew Name Bead Bracelets. There were also lots of Israel-themed giveaways!
L'Italiano oltre i confini: adotta una parola
Italian students who attended Italian 250 in Fall 2025 taught by Anna Clara Ionta won first and second prize at the competition 'L'Italiano oltre i confini: adotta una parola' organized by the Consulate General of Italy and the Education Office on the XXV Week of the Italian Language in the World. The Consul General of Italy Dr. Mario Alberto Bartoli and Education Officer Prof. Marina Lenza welcomed the students and their teacher on March 19, 2026, and received a certificate of merit. First prize winners: Sofia Call, Alexander Fiorentino, Genesis Morro, Grace Newell. Second prize winners: Gelannie Carbonell, Bryce Lepkowski, Evelyn Morrison, Anthony Mentas (not pictured). Congratulations to all!
Latin Heritage Celebration
-3741x2806.jpeg)
Latin Heritage Celebration
Students from Dr. Gabriela Buitr贸n Vera's upper-division Spanish joined the Latinx celebration, played Latinx Bingo and enjoyed some multicultural food and music.
From the classroom to the theater
A group of Spanish upper-200-level students, learning about Latin American dictatorships, attended Aguij贸n Theater Company of Chicago, accompanied by their professor, Dr. Gabriela Buitr贸n Vera, and saw the play 鈥淟a Muerte y la doncella,鈥� a political thriller by Ariel Dorfman. The play explores how a country, disturbed by repression, heals its wounds, and moves toward democracy through accountability.
The students in the Spring 2021 class FREN319 (The Romantic Century), taught by Dr. Julia Elsky and tagged with Women's Studies & Gender Studies, is excited to share the exhibition that they created on Omeka.
In this article for the Harry Ransom Center鈥檚 series 鈥淲hat Is Research?鈥� Julia Elsky reflects on her experience in archives in France and the United States while writing her book, Writing Occupation: Jewish 脡migr茅 Voices in Wartime France (Stanford University Press, 2020). She discusses what archival research can tell us about the life of a novel, and in particular about Jean Malaquais鈥檚 wartime novel told from the perspective of refugees in France.
Julie Elsky's ground-breaking book Writing Occupation: Jewish 脡migr茅 Voices in Wartime France was published in December (2020) by Stanford University Press. It appears in the series Jewish History and Culture, and studies the wartime experiences and writings of Jewish 茅migr茅 authors in France. It also focuses on the topics of bilingualism and translation.
Initiatives for Racial Justice
Learn about recent and future initiatives contributing to combat racial justice.
Vorstufen des Exils / Early Stages of Exile by Reinhard Andress
In May 2018, Dr. Reinhard Andress organized a conference at Loyola on The Early Stages of Exile. The conference volume with additional articles, edited by Dr. Andress, appeared in July 2020 with Brill/Rodopi in the Netherlands under the title of Vorstufen des Exils / Early Stages of Exile. Exile is usually defined as the time one lives elsewhere, involuntarily separated from home. However, exile can also be conceptualized more broadly as a process already starting at home, while traveling into exile and/or before arriving in the place of exile. It includes the sense of alienation at home for political, racist, religious, cultural or linguistic reasons, also for reasons of sexual orientation or censorship. Pondering the pros and cons of exile, establishing networks of resistance, matters of bureaucracy or learning a new language are just some of the additional aspects. This volume attempts to shed detailed light on those early stages of exile.
.jpg)
Carinne Jarvis, a French Minor at Loyola University Chicago, competed in a call for papers from the American Journal of French Studies in the Spring of 2020 on the topic of "Transportation and New Technologies". Carinne came in 4th place in this highly competitive call for papers for her essay "Ce qu'on peut attendre dans une soci茅t茅 qui est bas茅e sur la technologie". Carinne is continuing to study French this year and is currently enrolled in French 270, a survey course to explore French literature from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Congratulations Carinne!
Speaker Series
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola University Chicago is sponsoring the 2020-2021 lecture series, which will address issues of health and sickness, both individual and social, engaging with how discourses of plague, hygiene, and containment are inflected with power and race.
麻豆传媒
Search LUC.edu
Arabic, Artistry, and Bridges of Belonging in Oman
.png "Woman wearing a purple headscarf standing by a seaside overlook with rocky cliffs in the background.")
My name is Giulianna Larson, and I am a part of the Arabic Language and Culture minor at Loyola. In addition to Arabic, I am majoring in Multimedia Journalism and have minors in Spanish Language and Political Science. Together, I hope to use my studies to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities and shift the narrative of the global community to be inclusive and accurate.
This past summer, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend one week in Oman. After two years of Arabic, I was excited to immerse myself in part of the Arab world and speak in Arabic with Oman’s local community. I have traveled to Amman, Jordan; however, I was very young and had no knowledge of Arabic.
Admittedly, I did not know a lot about the country and its culture. My dad and I got the idea to go to Oman for our vacation after watching a documentary about Omani nature and culture. From the documentary alone, it was clear Oman’s land is sacred to the Omani identity. By the end of my travels, I deeply appreciated Oman’s intentional intertwinement of artistry, hospitality and homeland.
One of the first architectural features I noticed in Oman were their intricately designed doors. Most commonly made of teak or metal, the doors were carved with a variety of patterns, including representations of Islamic geographical depictions of Oneness, lush plants and even scenes of animals. Without any prior knowledge, my first reaction was to study all the tedious designs on an object which is used every day. Upon speaking with a local woman, I learned the ornate door-carvings are an effort to welcome guests. I was already amazed, but it wasn’t until I was drinking a cup of tea on the balcony late that night that I fully captured the deep symbolism of the doors.
Since teak is not an abundant natural resource in Oman, its placement at the front of homes, masjids and government buildings symbolizes Oman’s efforts to connect with other nations and integrate foreign raw materials into national architectural styles, just their hospitality aims to integrate travelers into Omani daily life.
In addition to the beautifully-ornate doors, one of Oman’s main forms of artisanship is clay pot. Once used for water and food collection, today the clay pots are sold as art. However, the enriching part about the creation of the pots is that artisans use Omani clay as the main ingredient. Between the teak carved-doors and the pots made from Omani clay, I was in awe to understand the enriching connections between homeland and hospitality in Omani art. Through these connections, it is clear Omani art embodies an appreciation for humanity and ties to homeland. Upon these reflections, it was ever the more apparent why homelands, with their native resources and culture, must be preserved. Homelands signify how both nature and humanity not only coexist, but co-create a sense of belonging. Just as humans long for a home as a means of peace and community, native sediments settle into the ground, supporting the century-old roots of rich fruit trees and colorful flowers. Homelands represent how native communities not only welcome others, but also integrate others’ connections to their land through art.
In Omani craftsmanship, motifs of homeland and hospitality compliment each other to represent the vital balance of preservation and inclusion to cultivate belonging. Although art is not inherently dependent on language, my communication with locals in Arabic intensified my appreciation for Omani art forms and showed me how these motifs operate in daily life. As global citizens, we should not hesitate to enthrall ourselves with both ancient and modern art. Through such discipline, we gain a greater understanding of universal themes such as hospitality and the longing to belong. Lines and borders on a map cannot limit the representation of community and longing in art.
