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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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Arabic from Rome to Seville with Wandering Winta!
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marHaba again,
My name is Winta Girmai, and I am currently a senior majoring in Global Studies with an Anthropology and Arabic Language and Culture minor. This past spring semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Rome. As someone who grew up learning about the Italian influence on my home country, Eritrea, I have been interested in pursuing my passion to languages, even more! (Please see my former blog on Arabic and Eritrean 鈥淒ubai: An Extraordinary Cultural Consciousness!鈥�)
My time abroad was nothing short of greatness as I tried my best to immerse myself in my surroundings and learn the deep history of the great city of Roma. Like the Arabic Language, Italian has been on my list of one of the languages I wanted to learn. Those languages have been an integral part of the cultural and linguistic identity elements of my home country in various forms of representation. As I began the journey, I realized that I always grew up using many of the Italian lexicon, at home.
Ever since I was younger, my parents would always end a conversation with 鈥淐iao,鈥� or when my mom needed a fork, she would ask me to grab the 鈥淔orchetta,鈥� or when she wanted us to hurry up, she would say 鈥淎ndiamo.鈥� Yet, despite that, learning Italian was as challenging as was navigating a new city, country, and continent.
My passion to languages and their interconnected inclusive worth prompted a visit to Sevilla, Spain. On my first morning there, I realized that there was a familiar scent lingering around the streets. It was not until I looked across my friend's apartment window that I realized all the streets aligned with orange trees. On my first full day, I visited the Gothic-style Cathedral with its beautiful stained glass and bell tower allowing a panoramic view of the whole city of Seville.
On my second day, I explored the Alcazar de Sevilla by myself. At first glance, it looks like a regular-sized palace, but as you walk in, you see how spacious and well-laid it is. This palace was established during the Islamic influence on Seville. As you continue walking around, you see a beautiful collage of architecture and linguistic influence of Muslims, Arabs, Moorish, and Amazigh as well as Gothic, European, and Christian influence.
There were ceilings filled with splendid mosaics, intricate designs, and carefully designed arches allowing light to weave into the space in a stunning fashion. The domes were so tall and colorful, yet so much nature surrounded the villas with fountains. It was gorgeous. While wandering around, I met a street artist who immediately recognized where I was from and told me about her experiences in Seville. I purchased one of the art pieces she drew to remember this moment.
My time away from home was enriching in self-reflections and cross-cultural experiences. As the days drew closer to departure, I started to get bittersweet feelings about the memories I had created and the moments I cherished. Multilingualism and transdisciplinary connections of language and people is fascinating. Besides fostering critical international world views, languages are a means to empathy and understanding. I will forever be grateful to my parents, the school, and the people I met for making this trip a memorable experience for me.
My trip to Seville helped me witness Spain's Arabic/Islamic influence when I visited the Alcazar de Sevilla. I remember just walking into the royal palace. I was immediately wowed by it. I remember seeing Christian/ Catholic influence as I divided deeper into the palace. I quickly recognized the Arabic influence from the windows with designs, the tiles, arches, and the ceilings with geometric patterns. It made us wonder if people recognized the influence and how the color and design have stayed intact compared to everything else in the palace. Even though it's been hundreds of years, it surrounds you and even the Islamic influence with deciding not to have any images around, which made me instantly recognize that It was once a mosque.
I remember seeing little signs discussing the history behind the designs and nothing about the Arabic/Islamic influence. I was proud of recognizing it and couldn't wait to tell Dr. Abbadi. Anytime the signs had an Arabic word, I would read it and absorb the uniqueness and serene feeling the rooms provided. I will forever be grateful to my parents, the school, and the people I met for making this trip a memorable experience for me.
