University of California, Berkeley • September 14 - 15, 2018
READING MATTERS Workshop
Articulating and performing a mode of reading that responds to the challenges of the present has been a constant endeavor not only in literary studies, but in all academic disciplines. Technological and scientific developments require us to constantly reflect on what it means to read and make sense of texts and events as conveyed through various mediatic forms, and across disparate and various global, historical, political, and cultural contexts and specificities. In focusing on the matter (i.e. DNA, architecture, landscapes, bodies, international waters, codes, satellite images, networks, urban infrastructure) of reading, Reading Matters aims to test generative forms of reading that can be thought of as not only a methodology, but a skill that supports us in addressing the challenges of our time.
As the first event in the Reading Matters series, this two-day workshop at UC Berkeley provided participants with the unique opportunity to work closely with professors and graduate students to explore alternative modes of reading through intensive seminars with the four faculty instructors. Graduate students from Princeton and Berkeley served as respondents and moderators in seminars lead by Professors Judith Butler (UC Berkeley), Eduardo Cadava (Princeton University), Gayle Salamon (Princeton University), and Patricia J. Williams (Columbia University).
