8th April 2021, 5-6.30pm
Sound and Otherness: Theses on Poetry and Thought
‘In this talk, I ask what is at stake in knowing through rhythm, sound and vibrations. I propose that to think through rhythm is to listen to what earth and objects tell us, to cultivate a practice of radical listening, to restore slowness, to leverage the heretical, shock quality of slowness in a culture of increasing violence. Ultimately, like Charles Olson, I am interested in all the doubt that muthos (utterance; spoken word) casts on the division between emotion and logic. In considering the ways in which poetry allows us to know through sound, vibrations, and embodied connections, I will explore the question of whether poetry is its own form of rationalism.’
Dr Jason Allen-Paisant is a Lecturer in Caribbean Poetry and Decolonial Thought, with joint appointments in the School of English and the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds. He is also Director of the University’s Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies. His research interests lie in theatre and performance studies, critical theory, and poetry. His articles can be found, or are forthcoming, in French Studies, Cultural Critique, New Theatre Quarterly, New Formations, among other journals. His poetry and creative non-fiction have been featured in Granta, The Poetry Review, PN Review, New Poetries VIII, BBC Radio 3’s The Verb, and other venues. His first full-length volume of poems, Thinking with Trees, will be published by Carcanet Press in June 2021.