5-7 January 2008, University of Nottingham
The Department of German at the University of Nottingham was delighted to host the Seventh ALCS Biennial Conference at the University of Nottingham. Two plenary papers addressed the notion of Dutch across borders from two very different corners of the Dutch-speaking world, and from two different disciplinary perspectives too.
A plenary by the eminent Leuven philosopher Rudi Visker addressed The Philosophy of Multiculturalism, while Lila Gobardhan-Rambocus (Instituut voor de Opleiding van Leraren, Paramibo, Suriname) provided a fascinating, accessible and yet scholarly insight into the history of Dutch language education in Suriname, with her paper ‘The status of Dutch in Suriname’.
A third plenary by Nottingham University’s own expert on Rubens, Jeremy Wood, told the story of Dutchmen abroad through the history of art, with his paper on the case of ‘Rubens in Spain. The diplomatic gift to the duke of Lerma’. Other papers presented ranged from the Middle Ages to the present day, and from linguistics to literature and history.
The ALCS gratefully acknowledges the very generous support of theNederlandse Taalunie. A selection of the papers presented appeared in the journal Dutch Crossing.