CFP: Evolutions of Oceanic Traversal: from Slavery to the Present

For a session at "evolutions" conference,Edinburgh,U.K,Sept: 22-23.

Evolutions of Oceanic Traversal: from Slavery to the Present

Within a chronological gamut that spans from the Middle Passage to the
present, the vast, much traversed, space of the Atlantic basin defines
the geographical and cultural extent of people from across its three
corners: Africa, Americas and Europe. Literary trajectories of Atlantic
traversal are as diverse as (hi)stories of departures, crossings and
arrivals; deprivations, losses and traumas; master narratives,
forgetfulness and counter memories. Paying tribute to the heterogeneity
and polyphony of these experiences, this panel welcomes papers that
examine African and Afro-diasporic narratives of/on the Atlantic
passage in relation to the following questions: what sort of
political/historical/symbolic sensibilities are affixed to the literary
(re)creations and (re)interpretations of the aforementioned
experiences? In what ways do these experiences encourage us to cross
over borders formulated by the local/global, centre/periphery,
home/diaspora dichotomies? How do these literary narratives challenge
stereotypical representations of womanhood such as domesticity,
motherhood, sexuality, mythological women, displaced women? How has the
literary imagination of Atlantic passage evolved across time and space?
Papers that address these questions from the perspective of African
writers are welcome.

Applicants who are interested in submitting a paper for this panel
should send a title and abstract of no more than 300 words accompanied
by a short CV to the following e-mail address:
<evolutions.conference_at_ed.ac.uk>. The deadline for submission is 15
July, and speakers whose proposals have been accepted will be notified
shortly after that. Papers delivered at this panel are expected to
be approximately 20 minutes long.

Selected papers from this conference will be collected and published in
a special issue of Forum, Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the
Arts,University of Edinburgh.For more information please visit the
conference website at
<http://forum.llc.ed.ac.uk/evolutions/>

If you have any questions concerning abstract submission to this panel
please send an e-mail to: G.Axiotou_at_sms.ed.ac.uk

This conference is being generously co-sponsored by Forum and the
University of Edinburgh.

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Received on Mon May 15 2006 - 12:34:19 EDT