Ayesha Ramachandran, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of Graduate Studies, in October published her book The Worldmakers with University of Chicago Press. The interdisciplinary study investigates the transformation of the concept of “the world” in a variety of 16th and 17th century thinkers in fields ranging from cartography to poetry to natural philosophy. Through the lens of the self-conscious shaping of the concept “the world,” Ramachandran explores the early modern quest to conceive of the world as a whole, while considering the possibility of such early modern worldmaking to transcend Eurocentric modernity. The book was a winner of the Sixteenth Century Studies Association’s Founders Prize (2015) for the best book manuscript across all disciplines.
For more information concerning the book or to purchase a copy, please see the University of Chicago Press website.