2016 Oceanic Ecologies and Imaginaries. UC Irvine, CA, 26 Jun–2 Jul.

WORKSHOP SYNOPSIS: There has been an “oceanic turn” in scholarship of the past decade. Our project moves beyond ocean as metaphor to engage it as an ecology, resource, nexus of biopiracy, place of sea-level rise, mineral extraction, waste dumping, and artistic performance. Our residency is concerned with work that focuses in and of the sea, rather than its crossing. In an era of climate change that is made visible by sea-level rise, the oceanic imaginary takes on new urgency and valence, and demands multiple disciplinary approaches. We request a short-term residency to establish a dialogue about how “oceanic ecologies and imaginaries” function in each of our respective fields, to workshop and submit 4 essays to the Journal of Transnational American Studies and to prepare to launch an online E-book project that would bring our interdisciplinary engagements, particularly visual representations, to the general public.

WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS: 

Elizabeth DeLoughrey, English, UC Los Angeles

Lizabeth Paravisini-Gerbert, Hispanic Studies, Vassar College