Pluralize the Anthropocene

24 February 2018

Kirsten Stirling

Maria Shmygol, Post-doctorante, Université de Genève

Kirsten Stirling, MER, Unil

Zoe Lehmann, Post-doctorante, Université de Berne

Steven Mentz, Professor of English, St John's University (Queens, New York)

This one-day workshop will be led by Prof Steve Mentz (St Johns University, NY), who has published widely on literature and the environment. The event seeks to bring together doctoral students and staff working on literature from the early modern to the contemporary, whose research interests may include critical theory, ecocriticism, actor-network theory, and the relationships between humans and the more-than-human world. The event will invite participants to reflect upon a 'pluralized' view of the Anthropocene, to consider the critical merits of challenging the idea that it can be pinned down to a particular, singular point in history. More importantly, it will offer participants the opportunity to discuss: a) ways in which humanities and literary studies offer important perspectives on how human interactions, interventions, and modes of writing about the environment across time shape critical understandings of human/non-human relationships, and b) how their own research might contribute to a wider cultural narrative of the Anthropocene.

Université de Lausanne

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