Cultural Literacy in Europe

CLE Biennial Conference 2019

Thu 9 – Sat 11 May 2019, Lisbon
The CLE Biennial Conference 2019 will be held at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Lisbon).
The topic is Cultural Literacy & Cosmopolitan Conviviality.
Keynote speakers will include Prof Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Prof Sowon Park.

More information coming soon.

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Meeting the challenge of Cultural Literacy

What is Cultural Literacy?

Cultural literacy is an ability to view the social and cultural phenomena that shape our lives – bodies of knowledge, fields of social action, individuals or groups, and of course cultural artefacts – as being essentially readable. Cultural literacy engages with interdisciplinarity, multilingualism and collaboration. It is a way of looking at social and cultural issues through the lens of literary thinking, employing communication, comparison and critique on a scale beyond that of one language or one nation-state, and avoiding abstraction. Furthermore, it is as much about innovation and creative practice – whether scholarly, artistic or social – as it is about analysis, and it very often brings these two methods together.

Developing knowledge and shared practices in the area of Cultural Literacy must be understood and promoted as a key strategic goal for a meaningful impact on European society and beyond it, by supporting individuals and groups in the continuous effort to achieve greater social justice and active forms of citizenship.

CLE Conferences 2015 & 2017

A5_04_Page_1The first Cultural Literacy in Europe [CLE] Conference took place in London, at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, on 16-18 April 2015. A major outcome of the conference is a shared understanding of Cultural Literacy as a key societal challenge for the future of Europe and its relationship with the rest of the world. This recognition must lead to common objectives among academics, professionals, and representatives of cultural associations and funding bodies.

The Conference demonstrated that excellent research and initiatives are already taking place in this area across Europe and beyond its borders. Whether working with methods and tools of Literary and Cultural Studies [LCS] or spanning other interdisciplinary areas, researchers and teachers in the Humanities and Social Sciences can make a key contribution to both understanding and answering the challenge of Cultural Literacy.

The second Cultural Literacy in Europe Conference took place in Warsaw, at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, on 10-12 May 2017.

The aims and objectives of CLE

The CLE initiative has two main aims: to achieve a broad shared understanding of the notion of Cultural Literacy and its importance; and to increase the visibility of the challenge presented by Cultural Literacy and of the contributions which LCS scholars and their fellow researchers continue to make in this area.

To achieve these aims, CLE is bringing together academics, educators, artists, policy-makers and members of the cultural industries, as well as a growing number of partner institutions, in a Forum for discussion and development across Europe and beyond.

The CLE Forum has undertaken the following actions:

  1. created an international Core Group to oversee all activities;
  2. organised a Workshop on ‘Migration’ in May 2016;
  3. organised the second biennial Conference in May 2017, at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw;
  4. organised the second Interim Symposium at the Monash Prato Centre in Tuscany in July 2018.
  5. set up Special Interest Groups devoted to key areas and initiatives.

It also continues to assure an enhanced web presence, support the distribution of information, share good practice, research outcomes and communication among interested parties.