Vol. 1 (2018)

Welcome to the first volume of Satura, the student journal of the English Department of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. This issue is the culmination of a ten month labor of love on the part of the Satura team. Our first goal – to bring together articles from a variety of subjects within the English Department – was successfully achieved thanks to the authors who provided us with a broad range of submissions. Our second goal – to offer experience to students in the production of a printed journal – was reached from the moment we got a group of students together to plan the first issue. Finally, our third goal – the finished work you are reading right now – was only met thanks to the dedication of the entire Satura team. It is because they shared our belief in the project that this became possible.

The seed for Satura was planted in January 2018, after a student workshop in cooperation with Universiteit Leiden. As participants, we thought it would have been nice to print a small journal as a compilation of the presentations given at the workshop. Such an edition never came to pass, but the seed had been sown and took root as an idea to print a journal representing the diversity of subjects within the English Department – a journal managed by students for students. Today, we celebrate the bounty of the first harvest.

In an era of fake news, cacophonous discourse, and 280-character debates, the study of the Humanities has become more important than ever. How else do we learn how to form arguments, gain insight from history, and peer into the soul of humankind? How else do we learn to write the words that inform and soothe rather than deceive and obfuscate? Science is important, of course, but if we leave the Humanities behind we lose, for lack of a better word, our humanity. Our vision for the future of Satura – which means mixed dish in Latin – is to encourage discourse from all areas of the Humanities, and listen to what students have to say about their studies and interests. Our aim is to make Satura a long-lasting tradition for the English Department at WWU.

We hope that you, dear reader, enjoy what Satura has to offer. To our staff and supporters we owe unending gratitude, and as always, cookies.

Laura Ntoumanis
Natalia Tolstopyat