How do literary works in Britain explore the economic, philosophical, social, and political dimensions of "statist" theory and practice? Possible topics include the utopian/dystopian potential of statism, emerging ideas about risk and insurance, new theories of consumption and production, the role of bureaucracy, forms of collectivism, regional 'place' vs. the abstract 'space' of the state, etc. Proposals on any relevant authors, themes, forms of cultural expression are welcome. -- Lauren Goodlad will be on this panel as a respondent.

Submit 300-word abstracts by 10 March 2012 to Benjamin Kohlmann (bk1010@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de). All panelists must be members of the MLA; special sessions are subject to approval by the MLA.