Konferenzteilnahme "The Arts of Fugitivity", Association for Study of the Arts of the Present, Seattle, WA, USA

Antragstellende: Gulsin Ciftci
Fachbereich, Studienrichtung: FB 09, Promotion American Studies

I was invited to give a talk at the conference, The Arts of Fugitivity, organized by the Association for Study of the Arts of the Present to take place on October 4-7, 2023, in Seattle, WA, USA. At the conference, partly funded by Santander Mobility Fund, I presented a paper, “Fissures. Breaks. Ruptures. Interstices. Or, How to Read a Patchwork?” that draws from my dissertation project “Reading Reading: Affect and American Literature in 21st Century.”

The Association for the Study of Arts of the Present is one of the central hubs for the contemporary minds of critical theory at work. The association’s emphasis on the contemporaneity in its scope and importance of interdisciplinarity speaks to my research interests very closely. The opportunity to take part in their annual conference has been wonderful in more than one way.  I got the chance to present my own research on one of my dissertation chapters and received feedback from scholars whose research focus align with mine. I co-organized the panel with a colleague from Seattle University, and we collaborated with other panelists from New York and Iowa. This allowed us to bring together fellow researchers sharing similar interests and resulted in a panel that overall engaged with questions of reading and fugitivity by and large. Presenting my research at this conference allowed me to put my ideas to test and receive valuable feedback from those with expansive knowledge in the field. Given the early stages of my dissertation project, this has been invaluable.

I left the conference with valuable insights and new questions that will shape my own intellectual journey. I much appreciated the opportunity to travel to Seattle and to be part of the community that takes issues with similar questions to those that shape my dissertation. I am very grateful for the contacts, insights and experiences that I was able to gain at this conference, which would not have been possible without the generous support of the Santander Mobility Fund.