The paradigm of ‘the global’, with its connotations of teleology, anthropocentrism, and systemic homogenization, has come under intense pressure in a range of discussions and recent critical paradigms, including planetary studies, ecocriticism, and the Anthropocene debate. Such perspectives have suggested that the heterogeneity and relationality of the planet’s manifold scales has been rendered invisible by ‘the global’. Simultaneously, scholars in diverse fields have highlighted the world-making capacity of literature, the arts, visual media, and popular culture.
Against this background, the seminar seeks to explore the aesthetic instantiation and political valences of imaginaries of the planet under the condition of globality in such media as literature, film, photography, the arts, cartography, and digital media. Re-framing debates surrounding the ‘globe’ and ‘planet’ with respect to aesthetics, the seminar will examine the long history of world-making—in its spatial and, notably, in its temporal dimensions—as a critical interrogation of processes of globalization.
Specifically, the seminar hopes to establish, first, an interdisciplinary forum for scholars in fields such as literary, film, media and cultural studies, philosophy, and art history to critically take account of recent developments in the study of planetary cultures. Secondly, it aims to explore the poietic potential of aesthetic artefacts for constructing imaginaries of the planet, with a particular interest in the politics of form. Thirdly, it seeks to catalyze new research around issues of ‘globe’ and ‘planet’ for German Studies by bringing together researchers from different fields, such as world literature, planetary studies, and ecocriticism. Finally, the seminar builds on recent interest in the intersection of time and world-making and emphasizes questions of temporality in the study of cultural world-makings.
To encourage discussion and productive exchange on a shared intellectual foundation, on the first day, we will discuss constitutive theoretical texts for the field of planetary studies (e.g., by G. Spivak, A. Elias/C. Moraru, S.S. Friedman, P. Cheah). Following this, we workshop participants’ projects. In advance of the seminar, participants distribute a text describing their own project/research interest (max. 10 pages; e.g. excerpts of a dissertation/book chapter, article project, project proposal, or any other format you find suitable to advance your research and the seminar discussion) and then give very short input presentations, which are followed by group discussion.
Please submit a 250-word abstract of your seminar contribution as well as a brief bio. Seminar enrollment opens on January 6, 2020, and applications are due by January 27, 2020. Responses will be sent out by February 1. Please visit the GSA website and submit electronically at https://www.xcdsystem.com/gsa/member/index.cfm.
Please contact conveners, Christoph Schaub ([log in to unmask]) and Alexis Radisoglou ([log in to unmask]), with any questions. For more information about the 2020 German Studies Association Conference, see here: https://www.thegsa.org/conference/current-conference.
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