Seminar title: The World of World Literatures: Practices, Pedagogies, and Possibilities

Organizers: Dr. Mir Islam, Nalanda University, India. Arunav Das, University of South Carolina, USA

American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), Annual Convention 2026, Montreal, Canada

Abstract Submission Deadline: October 2, 2025. Must be submitted through the ACLA portal. 

ACLA annual convention: February 26 - March 1, 2026. Montreal, Canada (In-person) 

More info: https://www.acla.org/annual-meeting 

Direct Abstract Submission: https://www.acla.org/seminar/bb781bd2-e4ef-4d30-a094-95c9c7343091

In recent decades, 'World Literature' has been revitalized, emerging as a field of critical exploration and debate, and has become an academic discipline and subject of contestation. In this context, Spivak’s Death of a Discipline marks a key methodological shift: “There are, of course, many institutional obstacles… institutional fear on both sides. Disciplinary fear” (19). Spivak advocates for dismantling colonial epistemologies in “Area Studies/Comparative Literature” (15), emphasizing an ethical connection with the subaltern. She states, “What we are witnessing in the postcolonial and globalizing world is a return of the demographic, rather than the territorial” (15), referencing French, Portuguese, and Spanish influences in Africa and Latin America, questioning British colonial impacts that erased indigenous languages, thus illustrating the “irony of globalization” (16). As a result, the questions that appear are: What is “world” in World Literature? Does it offer a vision for a more equitable and interconnected world? Or does it reinforce existing inequalities or foster a sense of shared planetary belonging?

This seminar challenges the assumptions of 'World Literature' within a critical cultural and philosophical framework, extending critiques by Moretti and Damrosch; Cheah also urges us to move beyond viewing the world as a spatial object of globalization. Furthermore, we can build on models that engage with Édouard Glissant’s call for a "poetics of relation" and "right to opacity," or Casanova’s mapping of the unequal in the World Republic of Letters. This involves rethinking canonical models by focusing on processes driven by displacement, migration, and multilingual circulation, echoing Tagore’s idea of Vishwa Sahitya and Goethe's Weltliteratur.

Grounded in these theoretical explorations, this seminar seeks to transcend established frameworks by examining 'World Literature' through translation, minor and oral traditions, endangered scripts and non-alphabetic systems, ecology, regional philosophies, socio-economic connections, and archipelagic imaginaries. By bridging disciplinary and geopolitical boundaries, we aim to develop approaches to understand 'World Literature' as a dynamic and multifaceted field of literary creation, distribution, and resistance, incorporating theories, case studies, historical analysis, and creative works, including films, documentaries, and other visual and literary expressions.

Abstracts are not limited to the following topics:

Post/decolonial and World Literature: State, Ecology, and Multiculturalism

Translatability and Untranslatability: Decolonizing Translation 

Methodology and Pedagogies of Alterity to engage the world

Contribution of Reflective Traditions in Language, Thought, and Action

The “Other” and Identity Politics in World Literature

Global Cinema, Oral and performance-based literary traditions

 Feel free to write to us with any questions regarding the abstract and conference: mir.islam@nalandauniv.edu.in / arunav@email.sc.edu 

Few instructions

Participants must open an ACLA account.

Become a Member: https://www.acla.org/become-member 

Seminar Registration after final confirmation 

Annual Meeting FAQ's: https://www.acla.org/annual-meeting/about-annual-meeting/acla-2026-faqs

For Technical assistance: https://www.acla.org/contact