Dr Bidisha Banerjee, Associate Centre Director (second right in the front row) International Research Centre for Cultural Studies Scan QR code for more information The International Research Centre for Cultural Studies (IRCCS) recently convened the second international conference for the Thanatic Ethics project, an interdisciplinary project focused on examining the death and migration and representations of migrant death in various forms of art and literature. The conference was held in Kolkata, India on 12-14 December 2022, titled “Thanatic Ethics: Response, Repair, Transformation.” The conference examined the responses that are articulated in contexts of death in migration, with a specific focus on the modalities of hospitality, care and repair. During the conference, 22 academics from around the world presented papers on a range of subjects. The keynote speakers featured prominent scholars who addressed the following topics: Dr Li Zhen Jennie, Assistant Professor Department of Chinese Language Studies “Thanatic Ethics: Response, Repair, Transformation”: Conference convened by Dr Bidisha Banerjee FHM Research Bulletin Issue 1, March 2023 Dr Li Zhen publishes her first monograph on Chinese heritage language learner identity The ‘Identity of Chinese Heritage Language Learners in a Global Era’ is Dr Li Zhen’s first monograph, which focuses on the life stories and identity construction of Chinese heritage language (HL) learners, a group of people with Chinese ancestry who grew up in English or other language-dominant societies and lost their mother tongue competence. The inspiration for monograph came from the previous experiences of Dr Li Zhen as a Chinese language teacher, where she observed overseas Chinese students with a low level of Chinese despite having Chinese-speaking parents. Scan QR code for more information 3 This monograph contributes to reflections on the emerging discourses of heritage language learner identity in the context of multilingualism and transnational migration. It challenges the stigmatised image of Chinese heritage language learners as ‘diasporic subjects’ or ‘language minority students’ in the literature and conceptualises Chinese heritage language learners as transformative linguistic and social actors in processes of transnational migration and institutional change. Likewise, the book illustrates how positioning is implicated in HL learner identity construction and identity change over time. The implications of this book are presented to challenge the stigmatised conceptualisation of HL learner identity in diasporic contexts, and to call for a more critical approach to examining identity construction in shifting contexts that were characterised by superdiversity. “Borders and Commons: The Struggle over Political Imagination” by Miriam Ticktin (Graduate Centre, The City University of New York, New York): The presentation covered different political imaginaries about borders. “There Used to be Old People” by Deepak Unnikrishnan (New York University, Abu Dhabi): A writer’s talk about the lack of senior citizens among visa-dependent communities in Gulf cities. “Death, History and the Destitute Present: Reflections on Recent Fiction from Kerala” by Udaya Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi): A Talk on the emergence of a new genre of fictional narration that departs from realist templates of historical continuity to explore the difficult and indelible links of subaltern presents with death and displacement. “Public grief and political transformation” by Alexandra Delano Alonso (The New School, New York) and Ben Nienass (Montclair State University, New York): A talk drawing on distinctions between instrumental and prefigurative politics.
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