world literatures and indigenous studies

Since the discovery of oil in the 1970s, Gulf Cooperation Countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman) have employed a large expatriate labor force, primarily from neighboring South Asian Countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Philippines. Recent studies claim that nearly 50.4% of the total population of the Gulf Cooperation Countries are expatriates. Such mass emigration has not only allowed for the rapid economic expansion of these Gulf countries, but at the same time they have produced a number of cultural and socio-economic consequences for the countries from where Gulf’s primary work forces originate.

Transnational Spaces of the Americas

Abstract

Is World Literature the new, upgraded version of Comparative Literature (Comp Lit 2.0) or rather an attenuated, impoverished version of the latter? What unites us, and what divides us, especially considering that many World Lit faculty are drawn from Comp Lit backgrounds?  How do we, practitioners in these fields, rethink these disciplines for the era when humanities as such are under constant attack? In this session, we hope to discuss our shared ground and our shared challenges.  This roundtable is organized by the NeMLA World Literature Working Group as a yearly forum for discussing theoretical and historical issues, pedagogy and curriculum, and new directions in the field of World  Literature.

This session will explore the rationale of Post-postcolonial revisionism introduced by the US as global colonizer from Post-postcolonial Pakistani Literature while focusing on the post 9/11 social misrepresentations. There are four aspects which highlight the theme of the session (US as Global Colonizer): 1) US hegemony in the form of Revisionism, through social misrepresentations and exploitation 2) The recursivity of nuclear power and American domination that alludes to the evolving “great game” in Afghanistan 3) Welfare of Imperialism: American influence on Paksitan’s internal policies and minority rights in Pakistan, and 4) The relationship between US (neocolonizer) and Pakistan (colonized) in the aftermath of 9/11.

How does the anticipation of translation shape texts in their original languages? In this panel, participants will analyze literary works that seem to be written with translation and the global publishing market in mind or those that reject a globalized style of writing. Papers may analyze texts from any region, but must address translation in some way.

Go to NEMLA's site for more information. Abstracts must be submitted via NEMLA's site. Panel number 17650.