Trans/Formations of Arabic Literary Theory: Prospects and Limits
Columbia University
December 14 – 17, 2021
Hosted by Columbia University’s Arabic Studies Seminar, Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Sheikh Zayed Book Award, and Brill Academic Publishers
In Memory of Jaroslav Stetkevych
Hosted at Columbia University’s Faculty House and available virtually for all.
Columbia University affiliates are eligible to attend in person with the ReOpen CU green pass, space is limited – register for in person attendance here. Virtual registration is open to all.
All times listed are EST – New York. A PDF copy of the program is linked here.
Registration for Panel 2 can be found here.
9:00-10:45 am
Panel 2: THE CHALLENGE OF THE CONTEMPORARY
Chairperson: Roger Allen, University of Pennsylvania
“Cauldron of Conspiracy”: Modernity, Apocalypse, and Conspiracy Theory in Habiby’s The Pessoptimist and Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad.”
Aya Labanieh, Columbia University
“Infrapolitical Digital Culture & the Reclaiming of Postcolonial Arab Identity.”
Ali Omar Abu-yasein, Universitat Ramon-LLull
“Adab al-manfā vs Adab al-luǧū’ ? ‘Refugeedom’ in Contemporary Arabic Fiction of Forced Migration.”
Annamaria Bianco, Aix-Marseille Université (IREMAM)
“A Biography for a Poet?”
Jonathan Lawrence, University of Oxford
Registration for Panel 3 can be found here.
10:45-12:15pm
Panel 3: DECOLONIZATION AS THEORY
Chairperson: Bruce Robbins, Columbia University
“Iltizām Under Duress, The Case of Ghassan Kanafani.”
Nouri Gana, University of California, Los Angeles
“Kitab Sudan: Arabic Language and Islamic Epistemologies in the Black Arts Movement.”
Ellen McLarney, Duke University
“Literature, Labor, Extraction.”
Shir Alon, University of Minnesota
“Poetic Accumulation: Toward a Critique of Settler Form.”
Jeff Sacks, University of California, Riverside
“Final Remarks on the Postcolonial.”
Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University
Registration for Bilal Orfali’s keynote talk can be found here.
12:30-1:30pm
Keynote Talk
Bilal Orfali, American University in Beirut