International conference

Flux and Flow in Irish and Scottish literatures 

(late-19th century to present) 

This conference seeks to explore the pervasive influence of the flux and flow of seas, oceans, rivers and other waterways on Irish and Scottish literatures from the late 19^th century to the present. The rise of the “blue humanities” as part of what is often referred to as an “oceanic turn” in the humanities has turned critical attention towards the centrality of seas and oceans in the shaping and understanding of our real and fictional worlds. As Blum and Brannigan have argued, thinking from the vantage point of the sea invites an alternative epistemology that flows beyond landlocked and nation-bound frameworks, to embrace the connective, plural and interwoven currents of oceanic and riverine dynamics. Indeed, while initially blue humanities were mainly interested in oceans and seas, critics such as Steve Mentz have recently called for a more “inclusive” approach to the field, which would be open to multiple forms of water such as rivers, ice, vapor but also coastal spaces, islands and archipelagos, encouraging the development of a “poetics of planetary water”.