[Discussion] The Empire of Eurocentrism

[sule tarakcioglu]

Papers are welcome for the panel "The Empire of Eurocentrism: Legacies
and Challenges" (please see description below), part of the 2005 American
Comparative Literature Association annual meeting (Penn State University,
March 11-13, 2005; Conference Theme: Imperialisms--Temporal, Spatial,
Formal).

Proposals for 20-minute papers should be submitted online by October 15
through the ACLA website:
http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/ACLA/default.asp?WhichPage=paper

The ACLA conference is organized into seminars consisting of eight or
twelve papers, and meeting on two or three days of the
conference. Presenters are required to become ACLA members after
acceptance of their papers.


"The Empire of Eurocentrism: Legacies and Challenges"

Organizer: Nicoletta Pireddu, Georgetown University
Email: pireddun@georgetown.edu
<https://charon.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr/basilix/basilix.php?RequestID=CMPSNEW&premail=-1&is_js=1.4&is_ssl=1&cmps_to=pireddun@georgetown.edu> 



The connection between eurocentrism and imperialism (literal and
metaphorical) is obvious. Dealing with the European tradition inevitably
implies coming to terms with its self centeredness, its strategies of
self-legitimation, and its power over otherness. This seminar explores
past and present forms of literary, linguistic, cultural, and political
resistance to Europes imperialism produced inside and outside of
Europe. Yet, it also addresses the risk of what could be defined as a kind
of reversed imperialism: the tendency to dismiss Europe in bulk as
eurocentric.

We welcome papers engaging with the following issues (but not
exclusively): How and why did/do European and non-European authors
challenge eurocentrism? If, as Chakrabarty claims, the non-European world
needs to provincialize Europe by demystifying the cliches it borrowed from
European thought, can Europe be provincialized from within? Is the
emerging New Europe a real aftermath of its Old imperialist counterpart,
and how do contemporary writers address this question? Can this New Europe
legitimately be analyzed with the tools of postcolonial theory, as various
European intellectuals are doing? How can we rethink the role of Europe,
of its literatures and cultures, in academia and specifically in
comparative studies, without reducing them to agents or targets of
disciplinary imperialism?

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