Stephanie Posthumus
At the intersection of several contemporary critical streams, Stephanie Posthumus’s research focuses on the representations of the non-human, or more-than-human, in contemporary French literature as well as across European literatures and cultures. Constructing an ecological perspective for examining 20th and 21st Century French literary texts has been the main goal of her work since she finished her doctoral thesis in 2003. As Prof. Posthumus argues in several articles, ecocriticism, while based on a concern for global environmental problems, is not transferable from one national literature to another. The traditions, philosophies, and representations of the non-human world that influence and are influenced by literature create important cultural differences that do not allow for a global ecocritical perspective. To build a French ecocriticism, she draws on ideas such as l’écosophie (Félix Guattari), la nature-culture (Bruno Latour), and le contrat naturel (Michel Serres). Her articles demonstrate the use of French eco-theory to analyze questions of nature, environment, and landscapes in contemporary French novels (see her articles on Jean-Christophe Rufin, Michel Houellebecq, Marie Darrieussecq and Michel Tournier). Her work in this field was acknowledged as being both original and important when she was awarded the prize for the best article published in 2009 by a member of the APFUCC (Association des professeurs de français aux universités et collèges canadiens).
A second branch of her work looks at representations of animals in contemporary French literature. Whereas ecocriticism remains on the periphery of French literary studies, the animal question has garnered much critical attention in France. Researching different disciplinary work on animals, from philosophy (Jacques Derrida, Élisabeth de Fontenay, Dominique Lestel) to ethology (Boris Cyrulnik, Georges Chapouthier), from literary criticism (Lucile Desblache, Anne Simon) to animal ethics (Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer), Prof. Posthumus aims to define the animal question with respect to the French contemporary context. At the same time, she is interested in comparing this context to that of other European countries as the European Union has become an important ruling body for establishing laws about animal well-being and rights in Europe. The relationships between local, regional, and cultural differences in a global landscape are at the heart of Prof. Posthumus’s work on ecocriticism and animal studies.
More recently, Prof. Posthumus has been leading a research project on the convergences of the digital and the environmental humanities. Awarded a SSHRC Connections grant in 2013, she brought together scholars interested in exploring the ways in which digital technologies can be used to disseminate cutting edge research in the environmental humanities. An integral part of the project, the robust Digital Environmental Humanities platform serves three main functions: 1) it acts as a hub for researchers in this emerging field; 2) it provides examples of analytic approaches such as topic modelling and mapping; and 3) it features pedagogical tools (DEH syllabi, guidebook blog entries) and digital exhibits of environmental humanities research in Canada. Working with digital texts and exploring new reading environments, Prof. Posthumus examines the philosophical assumptions upon which the human/machine binary has been built. In this way, she continues to develop a posthumanist approach that seeks to rethink the human in light of contemporary thinking about animals, machines, and nature's others.
Stephanie Posthumus at McGill
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Posthumus's keynote address is titled "Navigating the Northwest Passage: Cultural Ecocriticism in the Age of the Anthropocene."
In Hermès V. Le passage du Nord-Ouest (1980), French philosopher Michel Serres adopts the image of sea routes through ever-changing ice floes to explain the movement from the local to the global, from nature to culture, from the sciences to the humanities. According to Serres, such passages are always singular and cannot be universalized because they depend on real-world conditions. But is the difficulty of such passages still true in the age of climate change? As ice melts at an alarming rate in the North, it has become easier to sail through these waters. Regarding Serres’s passages, we can ask if it is also easier to move from a local to a global view of the world because of the effects of climate change. Ecocritics such as Lawrence Buell have argued exactly this: the planetary scope of our current ecological crisis has made a global, unified response possible and even necessary. In my talk, I will take a more critical approach, asking whether ecocriticism has not passed over important socio-political and cultural differences in its embrace of global environmentalism. To support my argument, I will examine the case of a French écocritique, and in particular, two concepts – subjectivity and dwelling – that underscore the importance of thinking culturally. The example of the Northwest passage is worth revisiting: even if the waters become less encumbered by ice, their geopolitical conditions still require careful navigation as Canada places its claim on what other countries consider an international trade route.
A second branch of her work looks at representations of animals in contemporary French literature. Whereas ecocriticism remains on the periphery of French literary studies, the animal question has garnered much critical attention in France. Researching different disciplinary work on animals, from philosophy (Jacques Derrida, Élisabeth de Fontenay, Dominique Lestel) to ethology (Boris Cyrulnik, Georges Chapouthier), from literary criticism (Lucile Desblache, Anne Simon) to animal ethics (Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer), Prof. Posthumus aims to define the animal question with respect to the French contemporary context. At the same time, she is interested in comparing this context to that of other European countries as the European Union has become an important ruling body for establishing laws about animal well-being and rights in Europe. The relationships between local, regional, and cultural differences in a global landscape are at the heart of Prof. Posthumus’s work on ecocriticism and animal studies.
More recently, Prof. Posthumus has been leading a research project on the convergences of the digital and the environmental humanities. Awarded a SSHRC Connections grant in 2013, she brought together scholars interested in exploring the ways in which digital technologies can be used to disseminate cutting edge research in the environmental humanities. An integral part of the project, the robust Digital Environmental Humanities platform serves three main functions: 1) it acts as a hub for researchers in this emerging field; 2) it provides examples of analytic approaches such as topic modelling and mapping; and 3) it features pedagogical tools (DEH syllabi, guidebook blog entries) and digital exhibits of environmental humanities research in Canada. Working with digital texts and exploring new reading environments, Prof. Posthumus examines the philosophical assumptions upon which the human/machine binary has been built. In this way, she continues to develop a posthumanist approach that seeks to rethink the human in light of contemporary thinking about animals, machines, and nature's others.
Stephanie Posthumus at McGill
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
- Posthumus, Stephanie. French Écocritique: Reading Contemporary French Theory and Fiction Ecologically, University of Toronto Press, May 2017.
- Finch-Race, Daniel and Stephanie Posthumus, eds. French Ecocriticism: From the Early Modern Period to the Twenty-First Century, Peter Lang Publishing, Berlin, Germany, April 2017.
- Posthumus, Stephanie and Rachel Bouvet. “Eco- and Geo- Approaches in French and Francophone Literary Studies,” Handbook of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology, ed. Hubert Zapf. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2016. 385-412.
- Posthumus, Stephanie. “Écocritique en français au Canada / Ecocriticism in French in Canada,” The Goose. Tenth Anniversary Edition, 14.2 (2016): 37-9.
- Posthumus, Stephanie and Louisa Mackenzie, eds. French Thinking about Animals. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2015.
- Posthumus, Stephanie. “L’imaginaire paysan et l’habiter écologique chez Marie-Hélène Lafon et Michel Serres,” Fixxion, Revue critique de fixxion française contemporaine, Special issue: Écopoétiques. 11 (2015): 100-11.
Dr. Posthumus's keynote address is titled "Navigating the Northwest Passage: Cultural Ecocriticism in the Age of the Anthropocene."
In Hermès V. Le passage du Nord-Ouest (1980), French philosopher Michel Serres adopts the image of sea routes through ever-changing ice floes to explain the movement from the local to the global, from nature to culture, from the sciences to the humanities. According to Serres, such passages are always singular and cannot be universalized because they depend on real-world conditions. But is the difficulty of such passages still true in the age of climate change? As ice melts at an alarming rate in the North, it has become easier to sail through these waters. Regarding Serres’s passages, we can ask if it is also easier to move from a local to a global view of the world because of the effects of climate change. Ecocritics such as Lawrence Buell have argued exactly this: the planetary scope of our current ecological crisis has made a global, unified response possible and even necessary. In my talk, I will take a more critical approach, asking whether ecocriticism has not passed over important socio-political and cultural differences in its embrace of global environmentalism. To support my argument, I will examine the case of a French écocritique, and in particular, two concepts – subjectivity and dwelling – that underscore the importance of thinking culturally. The example of the Northwest passage is worth revisiting: even if the waters become less encumbered by ice, their geopolitical conditions still require careful navigation as Canada places its claim on what other countries consider an international trade route.
juan duchesne-winter
Professor Duchesne-Winter’s current research project addresses the cosmopolitics of writing in the context of emerging discussions on the global ecology of the Anthropocene. He has recently conducted research on the Amerindian literary movement in the Guajira peninsula, ancestral territory of the Wayúu people which spans northern coastal areas of Colombia and Venezuela, and on the Watunna, the mythological cycle of the Yekuana people in the upper Orinoco river. His ongoing research includes work with indigenous expressions in the Colombian Amazon. Another aspect of his research and teaching is the convergence of contemporary fantastic literature with Amerindian ontologies. His writings explore the intersection of theoretical reflection and political thought in contemporary literature. At present, Juan Duchesne-Winter is Director of Publications of the Instituto Internacional de Literaturas Iberoamericanas (IILI) and the Institute’s journal, Revista Iberoamericana, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh.
He has recently conducted research on the emergence of an Amerindian literary movement in the Guajira peninsula, ancestral territory of the Wayúu people which spans northern coastal areas of Colombia and Venezuela. His ongoing research concerns include the convergence of Amerindian multinaturalism and perspectivism with eccentric writing in Latin America.
Professor Duchesne-Winter has led an active role as a public intellectual in Puerto Rico, where he chaired the Department of Spanish (discourse and language) at the University of Puerto Rico’s main campus in Río Piedras. He has participated in various cultural programs on that country’s public television and on radio, where he co-directed the postmodern debate series Radio Alicia, and he is currently a regular contributor to the cultural online magazine published in San Juan, 80 grados. He co-founded the independent journals Postdata, Nómada, and Hotel Abismo. He is affiliated with the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Duchesne-Winter at Pitt.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
He has recently conducted research on the emergence of an Amerindian literary movement in the Guajira peninsula, ancestral territory of the Wayúu people which spans northern coastal areas of Colombia and Venezuela. His ongoing research concerns include the convergence of Amerindian multinaturalism and perspectivism with eccentric writing in Latin America.
Professor Duchesne-Winter has led an active role as a public intellectual in Puerto Rico, where he chaired the Department of Spanish (discourse and language) at the University of Puerto Rico’s main campus in Río Piedras. He has participated in various cultural programs on that country’s public television and on radio, where he co-directed the postmodern debate series Radio Alicia, and he is currently a regular contributor to the cultural online magazine published in San Juan, 80 grados. He co-founded the independent journals Postdata, Nómada, and Hotel Abismo. He is affiliated with the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Duchesne-Winter at Pitt.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
- Caribe, Caribana: cosmografias literarias (2015)
- La guerrilla narrada, acción, acontecimiento, sujeto (2010)
- Comunismo Literario: inscripciones latinoamericanas (2009)
- Del príncipe moderno al señor barroco: la república de la amistad en Paradiso, de José Lezama Lima (2008)
- ‘Equilibrio encimita del infierno’: Andrés Caicedo y la utopía del trance (2007)
- Fugas incomunistas (2005)
- Ciudadano insano (2000)
- Política de la caricia (1996)
- Narraciones de testimonio en América Latina (1995)