Reading, Self & Society: A Theory / Criticism Seminar
We invite you to a special seminar where we gather for something we rarely get a chance to do: to suggest, read in advance and discuss together the most influential and interesting research in our fields.
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How does reading transform the self? How does reading transform society?
These questions have driven research in many fields over many years, but now we need a new assessment of the power of reading in light of twenty-first century interrelated crises of attention, mental health, and social fragmentation—not to mention fake news and falling test scores. In anticipation of a larger funding application, we seek to begin a cross-campus, interdisciplinary conversation about how reading works both across the lifetime (from childhood past retirement) and across historical time (from the earliest written word to tomorrow). In order to prepare for — or even predict — the future of reading, we need to know its past. In order to understand reading yesterday and today, we need to map how reading shapes the individual self and communities of readers. In turn, we need to map how societal changes affect what reading is and can be.
This seminar has two main goals: 1) to map foundational critical and theoretical academic texts as well as the newest ground-breaking interventions that help us understand how reading works, and 2) to make new connections and spark new collaborations between researchers in different disciplines who are interested in pursuing research in these topics.
Call for readings: Please submit 1-2 relevant scholarly (not primary) readings that might be of broader interest to scholars outside your field or period. The reading should ideally be relevant for your own current or future research plans. If your reading is set in the program, you would lead a c. 30 min discussion on it. We hope to solicit the most influential publications from fields such as: literature, religious studies, education, psychology, psychiatry, cognitive science, cultural studies, narrative studies, literacy studies, gender studies, history of emotions, digital culture, art history, history, critical library studies, etc.
Readings should relate to any of the following questions:
- How does the immediate experience of reading shape the self?
- i.e. cognitive and emotional processes, attention, responsiveness, etc.
- How does the subsequent effect of reading shape the self?
- i.e. intercultural competence, empathy, mental health, religious belief, etc.
- How do the combined experience and effect of reading in individuals in turn shape communities and society at large?
- i.e. criticality, critical literacy, democratic citizenship, group formation, etc.
- What are different definitions of ‘reading’ at work in different academic fields?
- How does reading change over different historical periods?
- What are discourses around reading in different contexts around the world?
- How does the medium shape the reading experience? i.e. manuscript, print, digital, etc.
- How have our critical approaches to the study of reading changed over time, historiographically speaking?
- What are the biggest gaps in our different fields?
1 November - Deadline for submissions: Readings should be in English or a Scandinavian language and under approx. 40 pages. To submit a reading, please use this link: https://tinyurl.com/readingselfsociety
8 November - Program published and registration opens
25 November - Registration closes
5 December - The seminar, reception following
