420010 SE The Ethics of Reading and their Role in Humanities Research (2023W)

As scholars in the humanities, reading is a central part of our research process. We read other researchers' theoretical papers, we read about their thoughts on our primary texts in secondary literature, and we read and re-read the primary materials that make up our own research corpus. At the same time, we assume and sometimes actively research readerly responses to the texts that we analyse, both in terms of qualitative and quantitative aspects.

But what are the ethics of reading and assuming reading processes in others? What do we bring to a text in terms of personal and social contexts as well as normalised and invisible cultural expectations, and can we ever encounter the alterity of the texts we read without reducing their strangeness to what is familiar to ourselves as readers? Given the thesis that literature and verbal creation is inspired by otherness, as Derek Attridge claims, can we (and how/how far can we) open ourselves to the unexpected, strange and unknown of the texts we read?

In the seminar, you will have to opportunity to reflect, for your own PhD projects, how you deal with the ethics of reading. This includes (but is not limited to) the following issues:

• How do you reflect on your own assumptions while/when reading and interpreting what you have read?


• Do you (and how can you) integrate your ethical responsibility for the otherness of your texts into the text of your own manuscript?


• What are the concrete ethics of reading that your primary texts ask for in their implicit reader, and do you work with, against or beyond these ethics in your reading of your corpus?


• Do you, and if yes, how do you, undertake reader research, in your own project? What is the role of this reader research for your own interpretation of your material?


• What is the role of other researchers' reflections upon their own practices of reading your corpus for your own reading of it?

As participants of this seminar, you will have the opportunity to discuss how you deal with reading processes in your own project. You can present actual results gleaned from your own reading and interpretation processes of your corpus. We will also discuss how your future interpretations and issues like corpus selection might be shaped by the inclusion of an ethics of reading. Therefore, the seminar is open to early-stage PhD candidates who are still working out their analytic framework and methodology as well as to PhD candidates who are nearing the end of their projects and are interested in presenting concrete results.

The seminar will be taught in English.