Nick Mayhew publishes New Book "Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church"

Nick Mayhew's book "Queerness in the Early Modern Russian Orthodox Church" will be published in late October or November in Palgrave Macmillan's series "Genders and Sexualities in History". While many historians and Church representatives have argued that queer identities are fundamentally incompatible with Orthodox Christianity, this book shows that in the past the Russian Church consistently permitted and celebrated non-normative genders and sexualities, including the consecration of same-sex unions in churches, the veneration of transmasculinity in stories about saints, and the Church’s broad lack of interest in policing homosexuality.

 

Stephen Ehrig New Book and Award

In October, Stephan Ehrig's (German) second monograph, 'Neubau Atmospheres. East German Cultural Remediations of Modernist Architecture' was published with Berghahn Books (New York). The book intersects East German modernist architecture, film and literature. It combines the affective experience of the built environment with the remediated cinematic and literary responses to modernist housing, addressing the perspectives of class, gender, and age.

Stephan Ehrig was also awarded a prestigious Harris German Visiting Professorship at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (USA) which he will take up in spring 2028, joining Dartmouth's Geography Department for one teaching term.

 

Dr Alessia Zinnari in conversation with Suzanne Santoro

SMLC Lecturer Alessia Zinnari recently interviewed American artist Suzanne Santoro. You can read the interview here. 

 

SMLC Life Hacks for your languages degree 2025

Life Hacks for your languages degree, the welcome event for Year 1 students enrolled in SMLC Level 1 Beginners and Non Beginners Language 1 courses, took place on Tuesday 24th October this year. The event, originally devised by Elizabeth Geary Keohane from French, provides an occasion to bring together Level 1 course conveners, tutors and junior and senior students in a friendly and informal atmosphere to foster sense of community and support in our School.

Professor Nina Parish, our Head of School, opened this year event conveying a warm welcome to participants. Staff teaching Level 1 Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Italian courses delivered short presentations to share a tip or two about language learning.

SMLC Junior student, Fergus Miller, Senior Honours, Eleanor Baughan and Katie Mavroudis-Stephens and first year postgraduate student Matt Jamieson shared their language learning wisdom acquired in their experience throughout the years. Their contribution was invaluable. Students and staff all enjoyed talking about learning and practising language(s), a topic we all love and are eager to find out more by sharing experiences. Judging by the feedback, participant students took away useful tips such as: ‘Hard work pays off’, ‘Nurture your love for the language(s) you are studying’, ‘Talk, chat, listen to music and podcasts- make the language(s) you are studying your daily routine’ and ‘Be patient with yourself’. A huge thank you to all for making the Life Hacks happen!

 

First published: 14 November 2025

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