Call for Papers - Digital Conference Rethinking Postcolonial Europe: Moving Identities, Changing Subjectivities

Zusammenfassung

  • Was Call For PapersCall for Papers - Digital Conference Rethinking Postcolonial Europe: Moving Identities, Changing Subjectivities
  • Wann 28.09.2020 from to (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)
  • Termin herunterladen event_note iCal Datei herunterladen

Beschreibung

Thinking ‘Europe’ as an idea, a geographical space, and a political  force is inseparable from thinking about its history of imperialism,  its postcolonial legacies, and its preoccupation with questions of in  and outside, centre and periphery, the self and the other. Migration  and the current so-called refugee crisis not only urge a changing  perception of those power hierarchies that tend to divide the world  between ‘the west’ and ‘the rest’ but also compel new discourses of  national and cultural identity and belonging. The recent resurgence of  populism and racism connected to the rise of right-wing parties in  several European states serves as an uneasy reminder of the continuing  influence of hegemonic ideas of European exceptionalism and cultural  superiority. Global inequalities persist and the freedom of movement  remains linked to where one comes from. At the same time, however,  practices of resistance and emancipation in migrant/BPoC  self-organisation reimagine Europe as an entangled space (Randeria  1999) that was and is home for different people. Received notions of  nation and culture as well as identity and subjectivity have undergone  a dramatic change, vividly reflected in the domains of art,  literature, media, law, and politics. Investigating these current  dynamics from a post-/decolonial perspective is thus crucial to  understanding contemporary Europe as a contradictory space and a  contested place.

Exploring Europe from a post-/decolonial perspective, the conference  lays emphasis on rethinking Europe and its borders to generate a  discussion about ‘travelling cultures’ (Clifford 1992), diasporic and  migrant communities, hybrid identities, changing subjectivities,  cultural translations (Bachmann-Medick 2012), transnational and  transcultural relations, neo/cosmopolitanism, or neo-nomadism (Dagnino  2013), to name but a few.  In our world on the move, it becomes  increasingly conspicuous that people, ideas, cultures, or resources  cannot be understood in terms of traditional, binary models of centre  and periphery, South and North or East and West as “cultural  conditions today are largely characterized by mixes and permeation”  (Welsch 1999: 197) in the wake of transnational relations. In the 21st  century, post-/decolonial studies continue to deconstruct the myths  around Europe by interrogating the histories and geographies of power  associated with Europe and its (colonial) legacy around the globe.

In light of the conference theme, the following questions can be  addressed: How have practices of travel and mobility in the age of  globalization altered traditional concepts of culture and identity?  How can post/decolonial literatures, art, and practices imaginatively  refigure (Gikandi 1991) Europe as a geographical space as well as an  idea? Why is it important today to understand and acknowledge the role  of marginalized communities in transforming the idea of Europe? How do  past and present migration policies and other governmental practices  shape the idea and geography of Europe, or rather of “multiple  Europes” (Boatca 2013)?


We welcome papers which engage with but are not limited to the  following areas of interest and research:

●    New perspectives and approaches in post-/decolonial studies
●    Representations of Europe and its ‘Others’ in different media
●    Narratives of European identity in and beyond the EU
●    Legacies of European colonialism in the 21st century
●    Post-/decolonial/ Critical Migration Studies
●    Afro-European Studies
●    Critical Race Studies
●    Memory Studies
●    Narratives of Displacement
●    Diaspora Studies
●    Transnational and transcultural Studies
●    Queer and intersectional approaches
●    Political, legal, and human rights perspectives
●    World Literature / World Anglophone Studies
●    Tourism/Travel Media
●    Performing Arts

There will also be an opportunity to present projects and work in  progress in the form of a digital poster session. If you are  interested in contributing, please send an abstract (300-500 words for  a 15-minute presentation; 150-200 words for a poster presentation), a  short biographical note and the topic of your current project,  preferably as one pdf file, to postcolonialnarrations@g-a-p-s.net no  later than November 15, 2020.

The postgraduate forum Postcolonial Narrations brings together young  scholars (MA students, Doctoral candidates, Postdoctoral fellows) to  foster an exchange of ideas in the field of postcolonial literatures  and cultures. For more information, go to  https://postcolonial-narrations.net/. The present conference is  organized as a digital event in cooperation with GAPS (Gesellschaft  für Anglophone Postkoloniale Studien) and the GCSC (International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture).


The Organizing Committee
Nadia Butt, Theresa Krampe, Johanna Munzel, Jeannette Oholi, Nadiye Ünsal
International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)
Alter Steinbacher Weg 38
35394 Gießen

Kontakt

Nähere Informationen

postcolonialnarrations[ at ]g-a-p-s.net