Event Date
Tiffany Jo Werth
Professor – English, Program Director for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS)
In "Reflections on Exile" (1984), Edward Said states, “Much of the exile’s life is taken up with compensating for disorienting loss by creating a new world to rule.” While Said addresses exiles in foreign lands, his insights prompt reflection on the cultural exile of humanity. This talk examines heightened early modern European perceptions of exile during the upheavals of religious reform. The migration of religious dissidents coincided with emerging cartography aimed at mapping both the earth and the cosmos, where heaven became the ultimate refuge. This mindset, influenced by a hexameral cosmology of divine expulsion from Eden, fostered what Philip Hardie calls “celestial aspirations.” Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer notes that cultures informed by the Genesis narrative view Earth as an “alien world” on the journey to heaven, leading to environmental degradation and social injustice. This perspective amplifies how an exiled humankind compensates by seeking new worlds to rule, not only on an emerging colonial map of earth, but also the moon and planets in the heavens. By extending ecocriticism into a ‘cosmocritical’ perspective, this talk traces how literature reflects a pivotal shift when celestial bodies evolved from mere symbols of eternity to tangible realms for exploration, occupation, and resource extraction, anticipating our current moment and humanity’s ever increasingly complex—and competitive—exploration of the cosmos.
Lunch Provided
Note From The Field is presented by The Department of Religion, Society and Culture and the Castelfranco Endowment for Comparative Religion. A monthly speaker series featuring faculty and advanced graduate students, whose research focuses on the study of religion.
