Contemporary Poetry

student resources 243

globalisation

Often associated with actions in mass media, corporate fi nance,
market trading, and the political negotiations where interests are
interlinked or interdependent across nations. What such processes
might mean for literary studies is complex, but for some critics it
can be seen as a celebration of multilingual practices and formal
approaches which are transnational. For others there is a fear that
globalisation will ultimately lead to a corporate similarity, in effect
challenging and eroding difference. Frequently these fears are
couched in relation to the fate of minority languages, in the face of
English as a global language.

hybridity

Literally means a mixture or mixing together, often contextualised
in terms of race and ethnicity. In literary production the term is
often associated with the creation of new transcultural forms.

identity poetics

The literary exploration of what is referred to as identity poli-
tics. Identity politics, premised upon distinctions between groups
according to race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, fi nds
a fertile and often recuperative role in contemporary poetry.
Essentially identity politics focuses upon the experience of often
marginalised identities as an enabling possibility for political
discussion and action.

idiolect

A form of language unique to an individual or individual use. In
linguistics, however, the term is often used to refer to the speech
acts of a particular community.