Cerpac (Research Centre for Commonwealth Studies)
http://recherche.univ-montp3.fr/cerpac

Novembre 8-9-10, 2007, Université Paul Valéry (Montpellier III)

POSTCOLONIAL GHOSTS
 From Shakespeare to the Gothic novel to Salman Rushdie, the ghost
has always been a recurrent figure in literature. This conference
aims at examining haunting phenomena in the postcolonial world: is
there a specifically postcolonial kind of haunting? Who/What are the
postcolonial ghosts? How do they show themselves? Can they be
conjured or exorcised? How?
To answer these questions, and many others, the presence of ghosts in
the new literatures in English (Africa, India, Caribbean…) can be
examined; issues tackled may include magic realism, neo-gothic
writings, folklore, ghosts (guilty or innocent), and the various ways
in which they manifest themselves. Ghosts may also be more abstract :
haunted texts, literary or cultural ghosts from the past…Writers as
diverse as André Brink, Edwige Danticat, Fred D'Aguiar, Denise
Harris, Wilson Harris, Nalo Hopkinson, Margaret Laurence, Arundhati
Roy or Wole Soyinka, to quote only a few, can be looked at.
Another possible aspect is the presence of colonial "ghosts" in
institutions, politics, historiography, education, museums… The
various "truth and reconciliation commissions" established to deal
with – exorcise? – the ghosts of the past may also be looked at. Many
other examples can of course be dealt with.
Finally, linguistic ghosts also haunt the postcolonial world :
accents, creolization, "englishes" where the colonisers' language is
haunted by the colonised's (and vice versa), etc. It will therefore
be interesting to try and understand how, and to what extent,
postcolonial language(s) is/are haunted.
This conference should then be open to those who deal in literature,
as well as to those interested in cultures, history, techniques or
linguistics, in the British Empire and the Commonwealth, delivering
their paper in English or French.
Please send your proposals (title + abstract of 250 to 300 words) as
well as a short bio to Mélanie Joseph-Vilain (melanie.joseph-
vilain_at_wanadoo.fr) and to Judith Misrahi-Barak (judith.misrahi-
barak_at_univ-montp3.fr) by December 31, 2006.

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Received on Fri Mar 10 2006 - 08:24:41 EST