UC Davis Comparative Literature
The Politics of Modernism and Beyond
The Graduate Students of the Department of Comparative Literature at UC Davis are pleased to invite you to join us for the upcoming Graduate Student Colloquium, “The Politics of Modernism and Beyond,” to be held on Saturday, February 11, from 2-6pm in Olson Hall, room 53A.
The Colloquium investigates how politics shape and are shaped by texts. Global politics, personal politics, linguistics, socioeconomic policies, history, and more come to light within literary forms, artistic representations, music, sculptures, and other modes of expression. While some may argue that Modernism is particularly interrelated with politics, examining that relationship can also be fruitful with regard to times “beyond” Modernism temporally, be it before or after.
Colloquium participants from across California will gather to consider these topics, and we welcome you to join in the conversation. See the Colloquium program below for more information:
2:00 Sicily Lerner
Opening Remarks
2:10
Panel 1: Meeting Divergence: Identifications and Identity in Modernist Peripheral Works
Panel Chair: Amy Motlagh
Leonardo Giorgetti (UCD – Comparative Literature), “Defending Women’s Dignity: the Politics of Religion and Gender in Some Lay Readings of the Bible in Early Modern Italy and Europe”
Steven Canet (UCSB – Philosophy) and Sheryl Barbera (UCI – English), “Modal Epistemology in Cavendish’s Dramas”
Reem Taskyakan (UCSC – Cultural Studies), “The Post-9/11 Polyphonic Novel: Interconnected American Experiences in Laila Halaby’s Once in a Promised Land and Laila Lalami’s The Other Americans”
3:30
Panel 2: Philosophical and Aesthetic Re/Creation of the Political
Panel Chair: Stefan Uhlig
Speaker 1: Merve Ünsal Genç (UCSC – Film and Digital Media Studies),“Vision for the Post-Surveillance: Contemporary Art’s Disengagement with Surveillance Tools”
Speaker 2: Nicholas Petry (UCD – German), “The Far-Right’s Misreading of Burke: Reevaluating Political Ideology and Talking Points”
4:20
Panel 3: Struggling Against, With, and Through Nationalism in Film and Poetry
Panel Chair: Sheldon Lu
Speaker 1: Erik (Yichen) Tan (UCSD – Cultural Studies), “The Japanese New Wave and the Spirit of Lu Xun”
Speaker 2: Ross Hernández (UCD – Comparative Literature), “Sense Certainty and Inamic Dyads in Heriberto Yépez’s “Refutación del pájaro”"
5:15
Roundtable:
Chair: Sicily Lerner
Co-chair: Benjamin Fong
Steven Canet
Sheryl Barbera
Leonardo Giorgetti
Zhenyu Xu
Mary Elliott