Time and Temporality in Literature and Media

6 novembre 2024

Mme Caroline Martin, UNIGE

Mme Aïcha Bouchelaghem, UNIGE

Prof. Deborah Madsen, UNIGE

Prof. Sherryl Vint, University of California, Riverside (US)

Prof. Mark Bould, University of the West of England (UK)

The "temporal turn" is now well established in literary and cultural studies. Time is both an object of study in itself and also functions as an epistemological determinant of knowledge that is invested in the logics of colonialism, patriarchy, racism and white supremacy, at the same time that it is key to the deconstruction of these discourses of power. Understandings of time structure our research questions, methodologies, and the results in very fundamental ways. This workshop considers recent analytical approaches to temporality, across the discipline of English Studies, that have been generated by this "turn." For example, the challenges of climate change and environmental threat underlie analyses of the Anthropocene; analyses of race, science, and history intersect in the Afro-futurism movement; the domain of nuclear futures is informed by analyses of imperialism, colonialism, and militarism; Indigenous futurism draws on analyses of decolonization, sovereignty, and Native nationalisms; and cultural movements like the "Time's Up!" campaign against sexual and racial harassment resonate in media and literature. Theorizations of different kinds of time, like digital time, biological time, geological or cosmic time, have refashioned literary methodologies, while the construction of temporality in literary and cultural artifacts has received renewed critical attention. The strategies by which time is articulated in literary and media genres of all literary historical periods – like science-fiction, speculative fiction, time-travel narratives, historical narratives, utopias and dystopias – also are subject to renewed critical focus. This workshop invites reflection on the deployment of temporality in the broad field of literature and media. Participants are encouraged to share their experience of time as a component of their research process, whether as methodology or as the direct subject of their research. This reflection will be supported by the interventions of two invited speakers who are prominent, long-time collaborators in the field of literary and media temporalities, as well as individual stude

UNIGE

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