Our Markets, Our Selves

Abstract Reflecting on several recurring themes in the contributions to this special issue, this essay discusses the interplay between an individual’s scholarly formation and the markets in which our work circulates, both within academia and beyond. The examples of Matthew Arnold and Michel Foucault can exemplify what Kenneth Burke described as “perspective by incongruity,” with which we can approach the widely disparate works now circulating within world literature, and challenge our own ingrained biases and assumptions in the process.