Emerging Trends in English Studies .pptx

Discussion on new trends in English Literature. Useful for UG,PG and PhD dissertation in English.

1. Dr Rajesh V Nair Professor of English School of Letters Mahatma Gandhi University Kerala EMERGING TRENDS IN ENGLISH STUDIES

2. 01 Session 01 Early Phase

3. Early phase Learning objectives
Ten Introductory observations about research in contemporary humanities
Turns, trends and paradigms
Liberal humanist paradigm
Theoretical turn: Features
Linguistic Turn
Cultural Turn
Death of theory debates
Post theory developments
Summary
Interaction Structure of Presentation

4. Learning Objectives To give a comprehensive overview of different methods and approaches in English studies
To familiarize the participants with the changing dimensions of studies in humanities Structure of Presentation

5. 01 Humanities research in 21st century 02 What is research? 03 Levels of research 04 Turns in research 05 Interdisciplinarity 06 Process of research 07 ‘Applied’ research 08 Role of ethics 09 Role of theories 10 Why research? Humanities: Ten Introductory Observations

6. Social contexts Paradigms and Movements Features Texts Turns, Trends, and Paradigms

7. Paradigms and Movements Social Context: Classical roots
The Renaissance and Reformation
The Enlightenment
Scientific developments
The Age of Revolutions Text: Shakespeare’s Macbeth Features: Liberal Humanism Features: Literature enhances moral and ethical development
Good literature is of timeless significant
Literature for the enhancement of human values
Human nature is unchanging
Social context is not important
Role of author’s genius

8. Social Contexts Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (1859)
Marxism
Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud
Ferdinand Saussure
Feminist movements
Linguistics, Modernism
Postmodernism
Growth of science and technology
The Age of Virtual Reality
Globalization
Migration and postnationalism Digital revolution
The growth of New Media
AI Key Developments The Indiana University Conference on ‘Style’ in 1958
The John Hopkins University international symposium, 1966
The publication of Deconstruction and Criticism, 1979
Terry Eagleton’s Literary TheoryAn Introduction, 1983
Jean Baudrillard and ‘The Gulf War Never Happened,’1991
The MacCabe Affair, 1981
The Sokal Affair, 1996 Theoretical Turn

9. Key Ideas Truth is subjective Politics is pervasive in narratives; ideological commitment Language constructs reality Meaning of a text is unstable Different theoretical trends in connection with philosophy Recurrent Ideas in Critical Theory

10. Social Context: The Rise of Structuralism
Developments in Philosophy
Influence of Semiotics
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
The Influence of Psychoanalysis Text: Features: George Orwell’s 1984 Linguistic constructivism
Rejection of Essentialism
Influence of Structuralism & Post- Structuralism
Focus on textuality
Emphasis on discourse analysis Linguistic Turn

11. Post- World War II Societal Changes
Civil Rights, Feminist, and Social Movements
Expansion of media and technology Globalisation and cross-cultural exchange
Academia's Growing Interdisciplinarity Social Context: C. K. Janu, Mother Forest Text: Culture as a Site of Power and Ideology
Expansion of the Literary Canon
Representation in culture constructs and reinforces race, gender, class, and national identity.
Influence of Semiotics and Discourse Analysis
The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies was founded in 1964
Importance to popular culture
Cultural studies and new cultural studies Features: 01 02 03 Cultural Turn (1980 -1990s)

12. Reassessment of the dominance of high theory
From grand theory to local contexts
Turn to interdisciplinarity
Theory fatigue
Turn to praxis and activism
Role of Terry Eagleton, Edward Said and Bruno Latour
Not a rejection but a rebalancing act Features Disillusionment with high theory
Identity politics and social movements
Growth of technology
Idea of a university Decolonisation of curriculum Social Context: Death of Theory Debate

13. Emotions and bodily sensations
Embodiment and materiality
Media and technology
Trauma and memory
Ethics and responsibility
Politics of fear and security
Ecological concerns 01 Features Transdisciplinarity Theory’s immersion in the everyday
Separation of theory and philosophy
Against the cult of the theorist 02 Features: Post Theory

14. 02 Session II Contemporary Phase

15. 01 Affective turn 02 Spatial turn Contemporary Phase 03 Ethical turn 04 Ecological turn 05 Material turn 06 Posthuman turn 07 Digital turn 08 Conclusion 09 Interaction Structure of Presentation

16. A reaction against rationalism and intellectualism
Identity politics and social movements
Post 9/11 and the politics of fear
Growth of science and technology
New materialism Social Context: Affect and partition literature
Queer affect
Affect and dalit life writing
Eco- affect
Affect in pandemic narratives
Affect and digital narratives
Emotional atmosphere in graphic memoirs
Affect and disability narratives
Affect and fear studies Research Topics: John Keats “Ode to a Nightingale” Text: Focus on emotion and feeling
Critique of linguistic constructivism
Embodiment and materiality
Trauma and memory Features: Affective Turn (2000- present)

17. 01 Social Context: Urbanization and globalization
Postcolonialism and beyond
Interdisciplinarity
Cultural critique of modernity and capitalism
Digital spaces
From time to space 02 Text: Gandhi statues
Virtual classroom 03 Features: Space as socially constructed
Space and power
Space and identity
The city as cultural text
Space and cultural mobility 04 Research Topics: The city in Indian English literature
Gendered spaces in Indian English fiction
Digital space and embodiment in virtual classroom
Space and resistance
Space and graphic narratives Spatial Turn (1990 – present)

18. Social Context: Post- Holocaust and postcolonial developments
Rise of writings of trauma
Death of theory debate
War, migration and inequality
Literature and ethics Text: C.K.Janu , Mother Forest
William Blake, “The Tyger” Features: Renewed Focus on Ethics and Moral Responsibility
Human Rights and Social Justice
Literature and Ethical Criticism
Environmental and Posthuman Ethics Research Topics: Ethics in Holocaust literature
Ethical dilemmas in postcolonial literature
Ethics and the literature of the displaced
Ethics and eco- fiction
Ethics and vulnerability in life writing
Ethics in war writings Ethical Turn (1990s – present)

19. Social Context: Environmental crises and climate change
Rise of environmental movements
Postcolonial and indigenous studies
Impact of globalization
New materialism and posthumanism Texts: Wordsworth’s “Lines Written in Early Spring” Features: Interconnectedness between human and non- human life
Environmental Ethics and Justice
Critique of Anthropocentrism
Focus on Place, Land, and Bioregionalism
Affect and Ecological Imagination Research Topics: Nature in indigenous narratives
Ecofeminism and women’s writing
The Anthropocene in fiction
Land, Loss, and Survival in African and South Asian Literature
Urban Ecologies in Literature
Human- Animal Relationships in Literature
Visual Cultures of Environmental Catastrophe Ecological Turn

20. The Agency of Matter
Embodiment and Sensory Experience
New Materialism and Posthumanism
Environmental and Ecological Focus
Rethinking Archives and Material Culture Reading Colonial Artefacts in Postcolonial Literature
Memory, Trauma, and the Body in Women’s Life Writing
The Politics of Discard in Contemporary Indian Fiction
A Materialist Reading of Fatness in Visual Culture
Eco- Materialism and Resistance Disenchantment with Purely Discursive Approaches
Technological and Digital Materiality
Climate Crisis and Environmental Collapse
Global Capitalism and Material Inequality
Embodiment, Gender, and Race
Posthumanism and New Materialism Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur “ Social Context: Text: Features: Research Topics: Material Turn (2000s - present)

21. 01 03 04 Social Context: Technological Advancements and Digital Culture
Biotechnological and Genetic Developments
Environmental and Ecological Crisis
Globalization and Media Culture
Animal Studies and Non- Human Agency Features : De- centering the Human Subject
Blurring Boundaries Between Human, Animal, and Machine
Post- Anthropocentric Ethics and Ecological Thought
The Digital and Virtual Turn
Posthuman Aesthetics and Literature Research Topics: Posthuman Bodies in Science Fiction
Disability and the Posthuman in Autobiographical Narratives
Animal- Human Entanglements in Modern Poetry
Techno- embodiment and Identity in Digital Art and Performance
Posthuman Aesthetics in Eco- cinema and Visual Culture Text : Ted Hughes’ “The Thought Fox” 02 Posthuman Turn (2000-present)

22. 02 03 04 01 Technological Advancements and the Rise of Digital Culture
Crisis in the Humanities
Rise of Platform Culture and Surveillance Capitalism
Pandemic- Era Acceleration Social Context: The William Blake Archive Text: Cultural informatics
Use of Digital Tools and Methods
Interdisciplinarity
Open Access and Public Scholarship
Visualization and Multimodal Analysis
Interactive and Nonlinear Reading
Changing Pedagogy
New Forms of Authorship and Collaboration Features: Digital Archives and Cultural Memory
Reading Poetry on Instagram and Twitter
Meme Culture as Political Discourse
Digital Storytelling and Collective Memory in the pandemic era
Virtual Museums and the Reimagining of Cultural Space
Digital Pedagogy and Humanities Education
Gendered Voices in Online Archives and Platforms Research Topics: Digital Turn (2000-present)

23. Summary Humanities in motion, always questioning, evolving, and reimagining its boundaries To move beyond fixed categories and embrace complexity – past and future Challenge the neutrality of knowledge and the universality of the human Learning to see the world differently Each ‘turn’ in the humanities is like a shift in the direction of the wind—prompting us to adjust our sails, to realign our methods, and to reorient our focus Conclusion

24. Thank You