The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM)
| Fédération Internationale des Langues et Littératures Modernes | |
| Abbreviation | FILLM |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1928 |
| Founded at | Oslo, Norway |
| Type | federation, academic, non-governmental |
| Purpose | encourage the scholarly study of modern and medieval languages and literatures through international scholarly cooperation |
| Fields | languages, literatures |
|
Membership
|
15 Member Associations |
|
Key people
|
Margaret Higonnet President Tom Clark Secretary-General Leena Eilittä Treasurer Adam Borch Communications Officer |
|
Main organ
|
The FILLM Committee |
| Affiliations |
International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies UNESCO |
| Website | www.fillm.org |
|
Formerly called
|
Commission Internationale d'Histoire Littéraire Moderne |
The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM), is an international academic organisation for scholarship in the field of languages and literatures.
FILLM is an umbrella organisation and its members are other academic organisations. As of September 2016, the federation has fourteen member associations.
FILLM was founded in Oslo in 1928 as the Commission Internationale d’Histoire Littéraire Moderne. In 1951 it was subsumed under the Conseil International de la Philosophie et des Sciences Humaines (CIPSH), which is a Non-governmental organization under UNESCO.
In connection with FILLM’s 6th Congress in Oxford, UK in 1954, the Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée (AILC) was founded.
During the last decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, FILLM experienced a period of questioning that reflected tensions in the humanistic studies, especially those addressing international issues. In 2003, David A. Wells edited an issue of Diogenes with “a view to introducing and explaining the history, purpose, and function of […] international learned societies”, specifically FILLM itself and its member associations. The idea behind the issue had taken form during the 21st International FILLM Congress in Harare, Zimbabwe (1999) and, according to Wells, it was essentially a response to a more widespread crisis among larger academic organizations (in particular those concerned with languages and literature).
Wells notes that whereas academic organizations such as FILLM had experienced a period of rapid growth and success during the 1950s and 1960s by the end of the 20th century their existence was “often questioned even by professional academics working within the discipline, and their very existence [was] largely unknown outside it, even to educated persons.” Wells provides a number of explanations for this change, ranging from increased specialization within the fields and a lack of financial support from governments to the organizations’ inability to create a useful function for themselves. The issue of Diogenes was intended to create a greater awareness of the role and function of FILLM and its member associations.
FILLM is managed by a Committee which is most often elected in connection with the federation’s triennial Congresses. The Committee consists of a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, a Communications Officer, a Secretary-General and up to seven Assistant Secretaries-General. In addition, each of FILLM’s member associations is required to have a representative on the Committee.
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