Care for Others, Care for Ourselves: The Power and Limits of Literature and Art (NeMLA 2022)
“Where does literature intersect with life - with lives - how can we contribute to an increment of justice in the world?” – Dame Marina Warner, 2001
Literature and art can prompt us to care for one another across space, time, and culture. They can challenge social structures that underpin injustices. Yet they can also represent trauma and injustice in ways that undermine care by spectacularizing, universalizing, or appropriating lived experiences. Conventions of writing, reading, and marketing can limit what stories are heard and read as worthy of care.