Presenters: Dr Maria Dolores Herrero, University of Zaragoza and Dr Merlinda Bobis, University of Wollongong

 

The Philippines was colonised by Spain for nearly 400 years (1521-1898), then by America for 40 years (1901-1945). As a writer primarily in English, Bobis has always sensed that her sensibility has greater affinity with literatures of Hispanic/Latin-American rather than of English/American origins. Is this literary affinity a late ripple of colonisation? On reading Bobis’ short stories for the first time, Herrero sensed them as ‘so familiar’, evoking Spanish writers. This recognition may well reinforce that late ripple, now a liminal space for productive-subversive cultural production, where the creative arc is both disruptive and expansive. Bobis and Herrero explore this liminal space by collaboratively examining and translating (from English to Spanish) Bobis’ short story ‘Fish-Hair Woman’. This process is a transnational and interdisciplinary conversation where different territories (cultures, languages, disciplines), now of equal agency, extend and disrupt each other. This paper documents that conversation.

 

To view the flyer for this event please see: SENSING AND SENSIBILITY: THE LATE RIPPLE OF COLONISATION?