Join us at the Central APA in Chicago in February 2018 for a unique opportunity!  For the first time, the Karl Jaspers Society of North Amercia and Gabriel Marcel Society are meeting together to view contemporary issues through the lenses of Jaspers and Marcel.  The content of the joint session is broadly construed, but with an eye toward contributions that draw from, or are indebted to, the work of Karl Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel. Differences and similarities of these two thinkers will be discussed in view of existentialism and politics. Contributions that integrate current political realities are especially encouraged, as are those that draw from distinct academic methodologies.

In 1993, Edward Said published—to great acclaim and critical discussion—what would come to be considered a signal achievement: Culture and Imperialism. Twenty-five years onward, Said’s text remains central to literary work from postcolonial studies to the Victorian novel, the New Historicism to World literature. Its endurance, it would seem, lay in its breadth: the magnitude of Said’s intervention, its power of synthesis, its inventive critical modes.

This panel seeks papers that analyze textual, visual, and/or performance-based media in which female, trans*, and/or genderqueer protagonists fight against injustice, whether through explicitly political acts (e.g. protest) or by living a life in opposition to oppressive hegemonic demands. How is this resistance coded aesthetically, linguistically, formally, and/or narratologically? How do intersecting aspects of the protagonist’s identity, such as race, ability, class, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and/or nationality/citizenship status shape the kinds of resistance undertaken? How are these acts interpreted by other actors in the storyworld and what is their impact?

On June 12, 2016, Jamaican author Michelle Cliff passed away quietly and to little public fanfare. Despite her many contributions to Caribbean literature, women’s studies, and feminist writings, her passing received only one article in the New York Times. In this article, she became a footnote to the life of her long-time companion, Adrianne Rich. For a writer and scholar of her magnitude, Cliff did not receive an elegy commensurate with the scope of her work. The avoidance of Cliff’s memory raises several questions. For example, was Cliff receiving a post-mortem censure for being a feminist and/or a lesbian? As the late Adrianne Rich’s partner, was Cliff only worthy of mention as an addendum to Rich’s life?

The idea of truth has become all the more contentious in light of recent social and political developments. Truth claims have long been a cause for scepticism within the humanities, with the advent of poststructuralism particularly highlighting the interaction between “truth” and power, leading scholars to be suspicious of transcendental truths or metanarratives. Feminists and writers of colour have raised similar concerns about truth claims; Jane Flax asks, “If there is no objective basis for distinguishing between true and false beliefs, then it seems that power alone will determine the outcome of competing truth claims” (Feminism/Postmodernism 42).