MHRA Conference 2016: Have you Heard?

Have you Heard? Navigating the Interstices Between Public and Private Knowledge

2016 MHRA Conference

When: 14 October 2016

Where: Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London Senate House, WC1E 7HU

Organiser: Ann Lewis (Birkbeck College, University of London)

Keynote Speakers: ALISON SINCLAIR (University of Cambridge) and

FILIPPO DE VIVO (Birkbeck College, University of London)

One of the things that makes us human is language, both in the power of speech, and the production of written texts. How do ideas and opinions get into the public domain, and what is the nature of the sometimes fragile boundary between public and private? The aim of this conference is to explore the power and vicissitudes of the transmission of knowledge, and of unofficial modes of communication. Its intention is to go beyond the corpus of public elite literature and to bring into consideration the transmission of knowledge in a broad range of forms, including the trivial and ephemeral (as in pamphlets, chapbooks, street literature and newspapers). This range of material allows us to explore the cultural imaginary in ways that are many, various and erratically policed. What we choose to suppress in terms of public knowledge may well be as significant as what we choose to propagate. This interdisciplinary conference aims to consider the interactions between public and private knowledge, and the ambiguous, unofficial space that lies between.

Programme / Registration (closing date: 1 October 2016)

For additional information please contact Jane.Lewin@sas.ac.uk.