"The State and Stakes" of the Profession
News Release Date: March 25, 2010
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Research Triangle Park, N.C. Featuring appearances from some of the leading figures in literary study, the Center's conference on "The State and Stakes of Literary Study" provided two days of stimulating discussion for over 140 attendees concerning the variety of factors that are shaping the discipline, perceptions of literary study both inside and outside the academy, and directions for the future.
Themes common among panelists included concern for the ways that literary study has come to be seen and valued (by administrators, students, and other disciplines), the need to thoughtfully integrate new technologies and respond to the opportunities and challenges of globalization, as well as calls for pedagogical and theoretical approaches that encourage communal experience and spark passion for literature among students.
Speakers at the conference included a number of past participants in the Center's Summer Institutes in Literary Study (SILS). Since 2003 this program brought together junior literary studies faculty from across the United States to explore specific texts with some of the leading literary scholars in the world. Seminar leaders who spoke at the conference included: Richard Brodhead, president, Duke University; Sharon Cameron, Johns Hopkins University; Jonathan Culler, Cornell University; Frances Ferguson, Johns Hopkins University; Kate Flint, Rutgers University; Catherine Gallagher, University of California, Berkeley; Marjorie Garber, Harvard University; Seth Lerer, University of California, San Diego; Deidre Lynch, University of Toronto; Toril Moi, Duke University; Patricia Spacks, University of Virginia; and Michael Wood, Princeton University.
"The State and Stakes of Literary Study" was made possible through the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A slide show from the event can be viewed here.
| Photos: Kent Mullikin | » Full Screen |
