Panel Review: ‘Instapoetry and Hypercapitalism,’ BAAS Annual Conference 2021 (Online)
April 2021 has seen the return of the British Association of American Studies annual conference, organised by Suzanne Enzerink, in a newly digital form. Following the necessary cancellation of the BAAS 2020 conference due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s event was a long-anticipated opportunity to bring together Americanists throughout the UK and across the world after a year of working from home. Being BAAS’s first virtual conference, it offered an unprecedented chance to radically reimagine forms of academic community and knowledge exchange, envisioning not only a sustainably low-carbon footprint event, but one without the usual barriers of travel, time commitment (most panels being recorded for non-live audiences), and cost. One significant outcome of the conference’s online forum was its inclusive and expansive discussion regarding the relation between money, work, creativity, and autonomy in our increasingly digitised late capitalist society. This is an issue pervading both the arts and academia, […]