International conference: Comparative Literature and Decoloniality
From: Mary Lum, St John’s Primer, 2022.
International conference: Comparative Literature and Decoloniality
Oxford, 11-12 September 2025
Coordinator: Mohamed-Salah Omri
Conveners: Mohamed-Salah Omri (Oxford); Paul Castro (Glasgow); Shanti Graheli (Glasgow); Fiona Macintosh (Oxford); Georgia Nasseh (Cambridge); Josh Robinson (Cardiff) and Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)
This conference brings together scholars from around the world to revisit the intersection of comparative literature and colonialism, and to engage with the emerging worldwide 'decolonial turn' in the humanities and social sciences. How might decolonisation change comparative literature? How might thinking comparatively move us away from homogenization or the reduction of one language or culture to the terms of another, and lead us to alter some of the ways in which we think of decolonisation? Questioning comparative literature in relation to decoloniality allows for critical perspectives on language justice, imbalance in knowledge circulation and social and ecological injustice at the global level. This conference frames dialogue among comparatists at various stages of their careers, studying African, Asian, Latin American and other literatures. It is a collaboration with The British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA) which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is supported by St John’s College, Oxford and Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation. For full details and list pf speakers, see: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/british-academy-conferences/comparative-literature-and-decoloniality/