Since the publication of Derrida's Specters of Marx (1993) and the resulting growth of Spectrality studies in the past twenty years, much attention has been devoted to literary works that portray a spectral entity that reconfigures the more traditional gothic vision of the ghost, especially in Western Literature. However, in recent years, literary works and scholars alike have responded to this Western bias by envisioning Hauntology as a method for recuperating the stories of marginalized groups. In this view, spectrality can also be employed as a metaphor for social invisibility, a model first expanded by Esther Peeren and Maria Blanco. 

For Pereen and Blanco, ghosts proves helpful in navigating the “intricacies of memory and trauma” (Pereen and Blanco 2013, 2), which eventually define the contemporary ontology of the ghost, and results in a prolific literature that addresses historical traumas and the quarrel with death as well as personal and collective memory. Significant literary works in this vein include Toni Morrison's Beloved, Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior: Memories of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, Joseph Skibell's A Blessing on the Moon, Shehan Karunatilaka's The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Kevin Chen's Ghost Town, just to name a few.

This seminar aims to interrogate how global literatures mobilize spectrality not only as a literary device or trope but as an analytical tool to examine articulations of trauma and alternative practices of remembering traumatic pasts. We will consider how global literatures uses spectrality and its tropes to tell stories of trauma survival while also negotiating the experiences and memories of the encounter with death. 

Our goal is to produce a comprehensive overview of some of the most significant examples of haunted texts from across the globe. The motivation of this seminar is to trace and possibly map differences and similarities in the ways authors represent the memory of trauma within their fictional works. 

Contributions on decolonial perspectives, trauma and memory studies, and literature of ethnic minorities within the Anglophone world are encouraged. Please submit a title, one-paragraph abstract, and brief biography by September 22 to be considered for our online seminar at the ACLA, May 15-16 2027.