Comparative Literature and Decoloniality

British Academy Conferences bring together scholars from around the world to present, discuss and consolidate new research in the humanities and social sciences.

This conference brings together scholars from around the world to revisit the intersection of comparative literature and colonialism to engage with the emerging worldwide 'decolonial turn' in the humanities and social sciences. How might decolonisation change comparative literature? How might thinking comparatively move us away from homogenization, or the reduction of one language or culture to the terms of another, lead us to alter some of the ways in which we think of decolonisation? Questioning comparative literature in relation to decoloniality allows for critical perspectives on language justice, imbalance in knowledge circulation and social and ecological injustice at the global level. This conference frames dialogue among comparatists at various stages of their careers, studying African, Asian, Latin American and other literatures.  It is a collaboration with The British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA) which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is supported by St John’s College, Oxford and Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation.

Conference convenors

• Professor Mohamed-Salah Omri, University of Oxford
• Dr Paul Castro, University of Glasgow
• Dr Shanti Graheli, University of Glasgow
• Professor Fiona Macintosh, University of Oxford
• Dr Georgia Nasseh, University of Cambridge
• Dr Josh Robinson, Cardiff University
• Professor Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen, University College London

Speakers

• Dr Alain Serge Agnessan, Félix-Houphouët-Boigny University, Côte d’Ivoire
• Professor Anna Bernard, King's College London
• Professor Ruth Bush, University of Bristol
• Dr Paul Castro, University of Glasgow
• Chloe Cousins, Manchester Museum
• Dr Joseph Hankinson, University of Oxford
• Dr Nesreen Hussein, The University of Bern, Switzerland
• Dr Eesha Kumar, Ashoka University, India
• Professor Sinfree Makoni, The Pennsylvania State University
• Dr Adhira Mangalagiri, New York University
• Dr Sara Marzagora, King's College London
• Professor Daniel O. Mosquera, Union College, USA
• Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Harvard University
• Professor Mohamed-Salah Omri, University of Oxford
• Professor Francesca Orsini, School of Oriental and African Studies
• Professor Matthew Reynolds, University of Oxford
• Professor Shu-mei Shih, University of California, Los Angeles
• Professor Laura Van Broekhoven, Pitt Rivers Museum
• Professor Marchella Ward, Open University

Further information

Tickets available to book now.

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Image credit: With permissions of the artist: Mary Lum, St John’s Primer, 2022. Photograph by Stephen White & Co. St John's College, University of Oxford