Northeastern University London / Online, 25 June 2025
The Comparative Methods Lab is excited to announce our inaugural symposium on the theme of “Worlds, Institutions, Disciplines,” taking place at Northeastern University London and online on 25 June 2025.
At a time when economic and political pressures are forcing large-scale reorganizations of university infrastructures and new configurations of a multi-polar world, this one-day symposium will address past, present, and future methods in comparative literature, a discipline that has always sought to examine and reimagine different formations of the world and/or worlds.
As a discipline in the institution of the university, comparative literature flourished under world conditions that are under radical pressure and transformation. Even as the world as an object of study is transforming rapidly and demanding new forms of comparison, the world of the institution no longer seems to accommodate comparative literature as a discipline. This symposium will ask about the continuing viability of comparative methods to address this twin crisis. Are there comparative methodologies that might offer paths to engaging and reframing these twinned institutional and historical problems? Where (and how) can the methods developed in the history and present of the discipline intervene?
We are asking for short position papers (no longer than 10 minutes) reflecting on how ongoing research projects might respond to questions, such as: How do particular comparative research projects raise shared questions, methodological reflections, or critical vocabularies? What are the institutional futures of comparative literature and/or how might the discipline learn from its past? What are the new or emerging sites and forms of comparison today? Where has comparative study aligned with, enabled, or been entangled with political projects and/or communities?
We welcome expressions of interest in two forms:
- A title and topic for a short position paper of your own work;
- A short or extracted piece of work (1-2 pages) from you or another scholar showcasing interesting methodologies or problems.
Please respond with a short bio and expression of interest to jacob.mcguinn@nulondon.ac.uk and tomas.elliott@nulondon.ac.uk by 23 May 2025.