Activity: Lecture and Panel Discussion
Host: Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick
Date: Monday 10 June 2013

The talk, entitled ‘Caribbean Literature and World Ecology: Comparative Perspectives’, explored the possibilities opened up by the concept of ‘world ecology’ for new forms of literary criticism. ‘World-ecology’ is a theory introduced by the environmental historian Jason Moore. It covers ways in which environmental transformations are connected to changes in the global economy.
The lecturers discussed how the territories of the Caribbean archipelago have played a key role in the emergence of capitalism and as bellwethers of ecological crisis. The first part of the lecture examined the presence and significance of folkloric figures of the massacouraman and fairmaid in Guyanese literature. The second part of the lecture analysed the work of Charles Barrington Brown in Guyana and the ways in which his text treats exploration narratives and issues of environmental racism.

Background information on the presenters and panel:

Dr Michael Niblett (University of Warwick). Michael Niblett is a research fellow at the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of The Caribbean Novel Since 1945, as well as various articles on Caribbean literature

Dr Chris Campbell (University of Warwick). Chris Campbell is a research fellow at the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of World Creating Jungles, a study forthcoming with Rodopi on Caribbean literature and the environment.

Dr Kerstin Oloff (University of Durham). Kerstin Oloff is a lecturer at the School of Modern languages at the University of Durham. She is co-editor of Perspectives on the Other America: Comparative Approaches to Caribbean and Latin American Literature and author of a number of articles on Caribbean literature.

Dr Sharae Deckard (University College Dublin). Sharae Deckard is a lecturer in world literature at UCD. She is the author of the study Paradise Discourse, as well as numerous articles on postcolonial and world literature.