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Comparison

Theories, Approaches, Uses

edited by Rita Felski and Susan Stanford Friedman

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An extended volume of New Literary History that considers the practice of comparison in literary studies and other disciplines within the humanities.

Writing and teaching across cultures and disciplines makes the act of comparison inevitable. Comparative theory and methods of comparative literature and cultural anthropology have permeated the humanities as they engage more centrally with the cultural flows and circulation of past and present globalization. How do scholars make ethically and politically responsible comparisons without assuming that their own values and norms are the standard by...

An extended volume of New Literary History that considers the practice of comparison in literary studies and other disciplines within the humanities.

Writing and teaching across cultures and disciplines makes the act of comparison inevitable. Comparative theory and methods of comparative literature and cultural anthropology have permeated the humanities as they engage more centrally with the cultural flows and circulation of past and present globalization. How do scholars make ethically and politically responsible comparisons without assuming that their own values and norms are the standard by which other cultures should be measured?

Comparison expands upon a special issue of the journal New Literary History, which analyzed theories and methodologies of comparison. Six new essays from senior scholars of transnational and postcolonial studies complement the original ten pieces. The work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Ella Shohat, Robert Stam, R. Radhakrishnan, Bruce Robbins, Ania Loomba, Haun Saussy, Linda Gordon, Walter D. Mignolo, Shu-mei Shih, and Pheng Cheah are included with contributions by anthropologists Caroline B. Brettell and Richard Handler. Historical periods discussed range from the early modern to the contemporary and geographical regions that encompass the globe. Ultimately, Comparison argues for the importance of greater self-reflexivity about the politics and methods of comparison in teaching and in research.

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Reviews

A great, timely collection edited by two of the leading figures in the field with essays from major, significant scholars.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
352
ISBN
9781421409122
Illustration Description
9 halftones
Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: The Stakes of Comparison
Chapter 1. Why Compare?
Chapter 2. Why Not Compare?
Chapter 3. Crossroads, Distant Killing, and Translation: On the Ethics and Politics of Comparison
Chapter 4

Introduction
Part I: The Stakes of Comparison
Chapter 1. Why Compare?
Chapter 2. Why Not Compare?
Chapter 3. Crossroads, Distant Killing, and Translation: On the Ethics and Politics of Comparison
Chapter 4. Axes of Comparison
Part II: Comparison in the World: Uses and Abuses
Chapter 5. Comparison as Relation
Chapter 6. On Comparison: Who Is Comparing What and Why?
Chapter 7. Transnationalizing Comparison: The Uses and Abuses of Cross-Cultural Analogy
Chapter 8. Race and the Possibilities of Comparative Critique
Chapter 9. The Material World of Comparison
Chapter 10. Chomsky's Golden Rule: Comparison and Cosmopolitanism
Chapter 11. Endings and Beginnings: Reimagining the Tasks and Spaces of Comparison
Chapter 12. Comparison Literature
Part II: Comparison in the Disciplines
Chapter 13. Rethinking Comparativism
Chapter 14. The Uses of Incommensurability in Anthropology
Chapter 15. Anthropology, Migration, and Comparative Consciousness
Chapter 16. A Meditation on Comparison in Historical Scholarship
Notes on Contributors
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Rita Felski

Rita Felski is a professor of English and chair of comparative literature at the University of Virginia.