2026 Hanna Geldrich-Leffman Colloquium to focus on literature and authoritarianism
This year’s Hanna Geldrich-Leffman Colloquium, focusing on the theme “Literature and Authoritarianism,” will be held on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. The public are welcome to attend the free colloquium in the 4th Floor Program Room in the Andrew White Student Center on Loyola’s Evergreen campus.
The colloquium's schedule is as follows:
- 11 a.m.: Carmen Moreno-Nuño, Ph.D., chair of Hispanic studies and professor of Spanish literature and culture at the University of Kentucky, will speak on “Blood as an Elixir of Eternal Youth: What Fiction Can Teach Us about Conspiracy Theories, Violent Extremism, and Authoritarianism”
- 2 p.m.: Brahim El Guabli, Ph.D., associate professor of comparative thought and literature at The Johns Hopkins University, will speak on "Other-Archiving Authoritarianism: How Survivors of State Violence Placed History at the Center of Citizenship "
- 3 p.m.: Patrice Nganang, Ph.D., chair and professor of Africana studies at Stony Brook University, will speak on “The Story of my Deportation: ICE and Cameroon's GSO, or the Farcical Tragic Similitudes of Tyrannies”
Find more information on the Hanna Geldrich-Leffman Colloquium page.
About the Annual Colloquium
The Colloquium on Language, Literature, and Society was created in 1986 as a way of demonstrating on an on-going and dynamic basis the vitality and diversity of the cultures represented by the department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola. In 2007, the colloquium was renamed to honor Hanna Geldrich-Leffman, long-time chair of the department and, along with Ursula Beitter, one of the co-founders of the colloquium. Conceived as an interdisciplinary event, the colloquium explores ways in which different cultures express certain ideas in various genres and media, such as the novel or film. The aim is to foster discussion and debate on the topics selected by bringing a variety of varying perspectives to bear on each issue.