MATERIA: Latin Americanist and Comparative Post-Anthropocentrisms
MATERIA is a new discursive space on campus for sustained intellectual exchange on a central tendency in contemporary criticism: the decentering of humans as “our object of study.” We are an inclusive, interdisciplinary group that finds in the notion of post-anthropocentrism an umbrella for some of the most interesting debates of recent years. These span not only post-humanism and new materialism, but also animal and object studies. In 2014-2015, each quarter will focus on a specific critical current within post-anthropocentrism.
Session formats alternate to include discussions of readings moderated by faculty and graduate students, presentations of works-in-progress, and talks by guest speakers. All readings will be pre-distributed by email and will soon be available to download from our website, materia.stanford.edu.
Fall Quarter – New Materialism
October 21: Héctor Hoyos and Patricia Valderrama
November 11: Craig Epplin (Portland State University)
Winter Quarter – Animal Studies
January 15: Ximena Briceño and Monica VanBladel
February 5: Gabriel Giorgi (NYU)
February 26: Ericka Beckman (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Spring Quarter – Posthumanism
April 8: Eric Santner (University of Chicago), with German Studies
April 29: Andrew Brown (Washington University in St. Louis) with the Center for Latin American Studies
May 20: Francine Masiello (UC Berkeley) with Comparative Literature
All meetings held in Pigott Hall (building 260), room 216, 5:15 – 7:05 PM
