Postgraduate Research in English Literature
Page for Postgraduate Events and Research in English Literature
Contemporary Theory Reading Group Presents: K-Punk Quarantined: A series of seminars hosted at the University of Birmingham via Zoom on the legacy of Mark Fisher’s work. Proceedings will begin at 3pm on Tuesday the 26th of May, and run weekly until Tuesday the 23rd of June. A guest lecture featuring Matt Colquhoun will also take … Continue reading “CTRG – K-Punk Quarantined (26/05/2020-23/06/2020)”
In support of the UCU Industrial Action, we have rearranged two of our forthcoming sessions as Teach-Outs. This means that these sessions will now be held in different locations to what was previously advertised. Non-Places, Simulacra and Simulation (March 3rd, The Bristol Pear) The first of our sessions will follow a break-out format, and will … Continue reading “CTRG Teach Out Sessions (March 3rd, and March 10th)”
On Tuesday the 18th of February we will be looking at Graham Harman’s ‘The Third Table’. In this essay, Harman aims to clarify the nature of real objects, which is to say what an object is on its own terms. He does this by considering the everyday object of the table. For Harman, there are … Continue reading “CTRG – Speculative Philosophy – February 18th”
Join us at 4pm in Arts 141 on the 4th of February for a discussion of Michael Richardson’s ‘Climate Trauma, or the Affects of the Catastrophe to Come’. In this article Richardson argues that ‘climate catastrophe are traumatically affecting without necessarily being traumatizing: they are jarring, rupturing, disjunctive experiences of future crisis in the now.’ … Continue reading “Imagining Catastrophe – February 4th”
It’s a New Year, and to usher in the times, Timothy the Octopus has put together a new schedule! Our first session will be on Theory relating to Queerness and Disability. However, we wanted to try something a little bit different for this session: instead of setting a text to read, we will be having … Continue reading “CTRG – Queerness and Disability (24th of Jan) & Schedule”
To show solidarity with the UCU strike action over changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and universities’ failure to make improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads, the Contemporary Theory Reading Group will be running a Teach-Out on the 3rd of December at 3-4pm in the Bristol Pear. The reading for this week has … Continue reading “Teach Out – Uses of Theory: The Dirty Version (Dec 3rd)”
This week we will be reading the ‘Introduction’ from Rey Chow’s Sentimental Fabulations, contemporary Chinese Films: Attachment in the Age of Global Visibility. In this piece of film criticism, Chow explores the Fifth Generation filmmakers of mainland China within the context of Western cinema. Drawing heavily on both the Taiwanese New Wave and Hong Kong … Continue reading “Rey Chow – Sentimental Fabulations (Nov 19th)”
On what is usually a night full of spirited displays of fireworks, we will be considering the vibrancy of matter itself in the first chapter of Jane Bennett’s ‘Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things’. This session will be held on November 5th in Arts 119 at 3-5pm, a change from our usual venue of … Continue reading “Jane Bennett – ‘Vibrant Matter’ (Ecocriticism, November 5th)”
For Week 2 of the Critical Theory Reading Group, we will be analysing and discussing Alondra Nelson’s ‘AfroFuturism: Past-Future Visions’. This sessions will take place in the Westmere Lounge at 3-5pm on Tuesday the 22nd of October – snacks and refreshments provided. Nelson engages with innovation and improvisation in the African Diaspora’s histories and Futures. … Continue reading “Alondra Nelson – ‘AfroFuturism: Past-Future Visions’ (22nd of Oct)”
The Contemporary Theory Reading Group is back for the first semester of 2019/20! Join us at the Westmere Postgraduate Hub Seminar Room, every second Tuesday at 3pm, from the 8th October (REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED by the CCLC and CDC), where we will interrogate contemporary texts in the Norton Anthology of Critical Theory, engaging with questions such … Continue reading “Contemporary Theory Reading Group (Semester 1 Schedule)”
