14th Annual Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Graduate Student Conference
Departmental Event
Start Date: Apr 15, 2022 - 01:00pm
End Date: Apr 16, 2022 - 09:00pm
Location: SUB Santa Ana A & B
14th Annual Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies Graduate Student Conference
Where are we going? Human, cultural, environmental, and technological
effects of human displacement in the Anthropocene Epoch
Keynote lecture to be delivered by: Dr. Jesse Alemán, The University of New Mexico
Displacement has always been a part of the Anthropocene Epoch. The effects of displacement, both negative and positive, have been made particularly clear in the past few years through war and climate change-driven refugee crises all over the world. However, displacement does not only affect the refugees themselves. Displaced people bring their cultural norms and languages with them to their new homeland. This can lead to negative feelings directed towards the new arrivals by certain segments of the population in the receiving country, but it can also lead to a significant cultural enrichment in the refugees’ new homeland. Both the trauma and the enriching effects of such displacement have been explored in literature and in movies by portraying characters struggling with these issues. This conference is intended to be a forum for the exploration of the cultural, political, economic, and social effects of human displacement in the Anthropocene Epoch. The question to which we seek answers is "What are the positive and negative effects of Anthropocene Epoch human displacement and how are these effects reflected in historic and contemporary artistic and literary movements?”
We welcome topics which engage with questions of personal, political, or cultural reactions to periods of heightened social disruption in any form of media (Literature, Cinema, Fine-Arts, etc.). The conference is open (but not limited) to fields such as History, Literature, Anthropology, Philosophy, Art History, and Sociology.
Possible session topics include but are not limited to:
· Human/animal relationships · Language and linguistics · Media's representation of displacement · Diaspora, refugee crises · Human displacement · More than human: catalysts and costs savior-figures | · More than human: Displacement due to technological advancement: A replacement for the human being? · Climate change and displacement · Resilience to displacement · Trauma of displacement |
Conference Structure: The conference will be in-person (with the option of synchronous online participation for out of state participants) and will consist of the keynote address, panels, and a closing workshop led by the keynote speaker. Panel presentations will be 20 minutes in length, plus discussion time (10 minutes). There will also be a closing reception on Saturday evening, which is open to all participants and audience members.
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