The Poetics of Globalisation

May 2nd, Centre for Contemporary Writing, University of Southampton

Confirmed speakers
Michael Davidson (University of California, San Diego)
Jeff Derksen (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
Liam Connell (University of Herfordshire, UK)
Keston Sutherland (University of Sussex, UK)

The implications of the ubiquitous languages of ‘globalization’ for literary and cultural critique are far from clear. The term is deeply ambivalent, suggesting both a political critique of the neo-liberal agenda and an accession to the universalizing assumptions of its corporate entities. This workshop offers literary critics the opportunity to assess and openly debate the significance of the theoretical and political frameworks of globalization for the study of literature.

Specific issues to be addressed include:

• How does literature allow us to better understand the impact and effects of globalization: on the body, on the nation, on work?
• How can globalization be understood as a cultural, as well as economic and political, entity? What cultural and literary forms has it produced? What kinds of engagement with the economic and political do these cultural forms demand or produce?
• What are the languages of globalization? How new are they? How do they supplement or replace existing discourses of Marxism, post-colonialism, or postmodernism?
  

This event is intended to facilitate discussion between specialists working in these emerging areas. It will consist of a two two-hour panels (with three speakers in each) and one extended roundtable discussion.

Proposals of maximum 200 words are sought for twenty-minute workshop papers, as well as for short (max 5 minutes) 'position papers' for the concluding discussion.

Please email proposals or enquiries to Nicky Marsh at nm8@soton.ac.uk