A Talk by John R. Eperjesi:

“Deimperialization and the Oceanic Turn in English Studies”

Date: 19 November (Friday)

Time: 5-6:30pm

Venue: MB205, Main Building, HKU

Abstract:

The current issue of PMLA contains a section entitled “Oceanic Studies.” In this paper I will address the question of what is at stake in the turn toward the oceanic in English studies by looking at two texts – the Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition and Korean American writer Paul Yoon’s new collection of short stories, Once the Shore (Sarabande, 2009). The U.S. Exploring Expedition was a massive scientific exploring expedition that surveyed over 280 islands in the Pacific between 1838-1842. I argue that the Expedition marks an important and overlooked beginning of U.S. imperialism in the region. Paul Yoon’s short stories are set on a fictional Solla Island, the inspiration for which came from time Yoon spent on Jeju Island. Solla is an abstract or heterotopic space through which Yoon critiques issues confronted by island spaces subjected to colonial and the cold war. In order to think these two texts into a productive relationship, I will look at Kuan Hsing Chen’s new book, Asia as Method (Duke UP, 2010). Chen’s articulation of a problematic that links deimperialization, decolonization, and de-cold war creates a form of a critique, “geocolonial historical materialism,” through which the oceanic turn in English studies can be made to matter.

John R. Eperjesi is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.  He received his Ph.D in the Literary and Cultural Theory program at Carnegie Mellon University, and is the author of The Imperialist Imaginary: Visions of Asia and the Pacific in American Culture (University Press of New England, 2005).  His articles have appeared in boundary 2, Asian Studies Review, and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies.

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For enquiry or seat reservation, please contact Ms Helena Wu by 2859 2757 or <semin@hku.hk>.