The Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS) is delighted to present its annual postgraduate conference in June 2018 at SOAS, University of London.

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to trace the ways in which empathy is articulated, experienced and exchanged as a commodity around the world. As well as focusing on empathy as a research object, it will also explore how empathy might be practised as a methodological tool in academic and non-academic contexts.

Empathy - perhaps most simply understood as the ‘ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes’ - has gained currency in recent political, cultural, and critical discussions that seek to map and understand our interactions in an interconnected yet fragmented world. Over two days, papers and panellists will respond to questions such as: What is the value of empathy? Through what means, and to what ends, do transactions of empathy take place? How might empathy be mobilised productively in processes of knowledge formation across popular, political and academic discourse? When does the experience of empathy become an end-point in itself and when might it act as a catalyst for further social engagement?

All are welcome!

A more detailed schedule of panels and papers is available on our website. Regular updates on the conference are available through our accounts on Facebook and Twitter (@Empathy_SOAS).