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Presented By: Comparative Literature

Complex Spaces: Navigating Text & Territory

22nd Charles F. Fraker Graduate Conference

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Please see the program below (under "Web and Social") for complete event details.

The 2019 Charles F. Fraker Conference at the University of Michigan will take as its point of departure the complicated interactions of space, place, and mapping, in all of their contexts. This conference hopes to both clarify and complicate the notion of spatiality which arose during what Foucault referred to as the “epoch of space” and has continued to develop after the “spatial turn” in the humanities at the end of the 20th century. Further, we hope with this conference to place a focus on geocriticism, a term developed in part by Robert Tally, Jr., whom we are delighted to welcome as our keynote speaker.

The broad understandings and implications of space do not permit a facile definition nor do they warrant one. Instead of conceptualizing space as a backdrop for historicism, modern critics choose to regard space as an actor with significant agency. The goal of this conference is not to effect a common definition of the complexities of space, but rather to embrace these intricacies through dialogue. As we know, physical space is ubiquitous and, at times, unremarkable or invisible. It can welcome us or alienate us; place us at the center, in the margins, in between, or beyond; facilitate or hinder our movement, choices, and behavior; and influence our very thoughts. It follows that our work is similarly affected by spatial concerns. What can we learn from the spaces created by cultural production?​ ​How does space affect the production of knowledge? How does space relate to power, or to memory, or to narrative?
This year, we welcome panelists from Brown, Concordia (Montréal), CUNY, Emory, Purdue, Rutgers, SUNY–Buffalo, Texas State, UCSB, UAlberta, UChicago, UVirginia, UW–Madison, and UT–Austin, as well as our own University of Michigan. In recent years, papers have been given in different Romance languages as well as in English; 2019 will be no exception as our program includes panelists from across languages and disciplines.

The conference will take place on the 15-16th February 2019 at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. On Friday, 15th February, it will be held in the Michigan League, and on Saturday, 16th February, it will be held in the Rackham Graduate School; both buildings are near Ingalls Mall on UM’s Central Campus.

The keynote address will be delivered on Saturday at 5PM in the Rackham Amphitheatre.

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