Writing/Re-writing: The Linguistics of Writing 40 Years On

Organized by Hannah Proctor and Fearghus Roulston (History, Strathclyde) with the Raymond Williams Society

4-7pm, SW105, Stenhouse Building, University of Strathclyde

This workshop will mark the 40th anniversary of the conference ‘The Linguistics of Writing’, held at Strathclyde in 1986 and filmed as an experimental documentary by David Lodge, which was shown on Channel 4. The conference brought together scholars from different traditions to debate deconstruction, linguistics and postmodernism. British Marxist theorist Raymond Williams and the French post-structuralist Jacques Derrida met for the first time at the conference. The documentary includes interviews with Martina Attille, Rosalind Coward, Stuart Hall, Terry Eagleton, Fredric Jameson, Edward Said and Benjamin Zephinah and captures some of the political debates that erupted at the event.

The workshop will celebrate Strathclyde’s history of interdisciplinarity, while reflecting critically on the current state of the humanities, providing a space to discuss the legacies of these theoretical debates and traditions (in fields such as feminism, Black Studies, postcolonial theory and queer theory) within and beyond academia today.

The event will include reflections on the original conference from some of its original organizers and attendees (including Nigel Fabb and Willy Malley) and a screening of parts of the film, followed by a roundtable with interventions from Sita Balani (QMUL), Natalia Cecire (Sussex), Sophie Jones (Strathclyde) and members of the Raymond Williams Society that will address the legacies of British cultural studies, poststructuralism and theories of deconstruction. We hope that these interventions will prompt a lively discussion among speakers and with the audience about the place – or lack of it – within and beyond universities for producing and engaging with theoretical work in cultural studies and critical theory.

Part 1: 1986

4-5.15pm

Introduction

Film screening

Reflections on the original conference

5.15-5.45pm - break

Part 2: 2026 (and beyond)

5.45-7pm

Interventions and discussion

There is step free access. Full accessibility details available here.

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Host or Publisher Hannah Proctor