Aaron Bartels-Swindells

Aaron is a Fox International Fellow at Yale University (2013/14), having earned an M.Phil degree in Criticism and Culture at the University of Cambridge last year. His work connects literary studies, political science and law to examine the way that texts encounter political, economic and social discourses. More specifically, he is interested in contemporary postcolonial literatures and theory, the relationship between law and literature, and literary theory in its historical aspect. He is motivated by the conviction that utterances are consequential, that culture plays a determinate role in our lives, and that the modes of reading encouraged in and insights produced by literary studies are applicable beyond the academy. His current project examines how legal discourses of human rights and literary discourses from postcolonial studies inform and produce each other.