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Seeing is believing? Words and images after 9/11

Doctoral inaugural lecture on 10 February

Issued on 05 February 2010

New research at the University of Leicester is set to highlight the importance of reopening debate over the ethics of representation, engaging with critical and creative responses to 9/11, investigating the targeted use of words, images and monuments found in politics, advertising and the media in order to re-sensitise the reader to how reality is constructed.

Literary and visual representations in America after 9/11 are to be explored in a public lecture at the University of Leicester.

Dr Emma Kimberley of the School of English will give her doctoral inaugural lecture entitled ‘After 9/11: Representation in a Climate of Fear’ on Wednesday 10 February. This lecture is free and open to the public and begins at 5.30pm in Lecture Theatre 3, Ken Edwards building.

During the lecture, Dr Kimberley will analyse literary and theoretical responses to attempts by politicians, businesses and the mass media to control representations of the 9/11 attacks and the ‘war on terror’ in order to promote their own ends, whether commercial or ideological, stemming from her Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded doctoral research.

The lecture will introduce a generation of poets and theorists worried about the increasing politicisation and commercialisation of language who challenge the use of words and images targeted to manipulate public opinion. Those featured will include poets Jorie Graham and Claudia Rankine and theorists Judith Butler and Slavoj Žižek, who are working to expose contemporary representations that seek to control the development of collective perceptions, memories and emotions – especially fear – by investigating the techniques through which this control is maintained.

Dr Kimberley commented:

“Every attempt at representation is contextualised by a conceptual frame, whether this is acknowledged or not, and many commentators are coming back to the idea that to present any representation as though it is unmediated or transparent is not only untruthful, but also profoundly unethical.

“Political decisions after 9/11 have had an undeniable impact on contemporary literature and visual representation. The attacks may have united Americans under the flag, but the effects of this new unity have not been universally positive.”

The inaugural lecture will take place on Wednesday 10 February at 5.30pm, Lecture Theatre 3, Ken Edwards Building. To confirm your attendance, please click here .

Emma Kimberley completed her BA English degree at the University of Leicester in 2001 and her MA the following year. She was awarded a PhD in 2008 for her thesis entitled ‘Ekphrasis and the Role of Visual Art in Contemporary American Poetry,’ which she is currently developing for publication. Currently, Emma teaches for the School of English and the Centre for American Studies at the University of Leicester and also provides support to postgraduate research students as a Research Forum Facilitator and as the keeper of the Graduate School Media Zoo in the David Wilson Library. In her spare time, Emma represents the University as a member of the Latin American and Ballroom Dancing Team.

Note to Newsdesks:

For more information, please contact Dr Kimberley via ek36@le.ac.uk or 0116 252 2857.

The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. www.ahrc.ac.uk

Amy Cory