Leslie Marmon Silko, author of Ceremony and Almanac of the Dead
Peter Stallybrass (University of Pennsylvania), author of The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Topic: "Marx's Coat")
"Property was thus appalled / That the self was not the same." -- William Shakespeare
Hark how the trumpets Sound, / Proclaims the Land around, / The Jubilee; / Tells all the Poor oppressed / Nor more shall they be cess'd, / Nor landlords more molest, / Their Property. -- Thomas Spence
"I'll--why, I'll go home to Tara tomorrow." -- Scarlett O'Hara
Property: its very properties are now in question. If we are, as some say, on the brink of virtualization, what becomes of property? What happens when the old address that united name, goods, and legal responsibility refers only to a city of bits? Or is this in fact only the daydream of postmodern escapists who leave unthought and unthinkable an earth grown poisonous? Is it the ruse of the capitalists, disguising obvious and egregiously material inequities in the distribution of wealth? Even taken in the old-style sense of turf, property remains the pretext for marital, parental, class, and national warfare. We invite discussion on these and a variety of other related topics, proposals of individual papers, panel sessions, and innovative conference formats.
Topics:
Kansas State University's English Department | Program in Cultural Studies
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