World Literary Classics and “White Capitalist Expansion”
May 12, 2015
UC Irvine
This talk will discuss Unesco’s Collection of Representative Works (CRW) as a form of imperial trusteeship.
Initiated in the late 1940s to translate the world’s classic literature into widely used languages (in practice mainly English and French), the CRW was supposed to support world peace via intercultural understanding. Yet by looking closely at how the program was devised and instituted we see that it quite openly supported the privileged role of experts from the developed nations in directing the course of world history.
Free & open to the public. For questions: communications@hri.uci.edu
