[MGSA-L] ACLA 2013 conference: Postcolonial Mediterranean Subjectivity, April 4-7, U of Toronto

Maria Hadjipolycarpou hadjipol at umich.edu
Thu Oct 11 18:35:02 PDT 2012


Dear colleagues,

I am writing to solicit applications for the 2013 conference of the
American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), which will take place
April 4-7 in Toronto.  This is a great opportunity for those interested in
19th and 20th century Mediterranean Literature and Culture in particular
and in
postcolonial studies in general to propose a paper for a series of panels
with the general title:  "Postcolonial Mediterranean Subjectivity"
(see the description below.)
Comparative perspectives within the Mediterranean or of the Mediterranean
with other regions, are particularly encouraged.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal or have questions about the
conference, please contact me directly (hadjipol at umich.edu)

Yours,
Maria Hadjipolycarpou


Postcolonial Mediterranean Subjectivity


The Mediterranean remains an unexplored region in postcolonial studies for
two reasons: 1) the geopolitical emphasis on Africa, India and Southeast
Asia in postcolonial studies; 2) the emphasis, in Mediterranean Studies, on
the Mediterranean as a space of co-existence and connectivity. The
Mediterranean however, is also a region heavily colonized both by European
empires and by Mediterranean regimes like the Ottoman, the Byzantine, the
Venetian, and others; something that historian David Abulafia calls “the
cataclysm of conquest” (2003).

This seminar explores questions of postcolonial subjectivity and identity
in the Mediterranean in the 19th and 20th century. It explores the ways in
which the subject incorporates imperial and colonial pasts and the ways in
which it (re)claims its individuality in forms of artistic expression such
as literature, film, performance, installation art.

Research questions:

-  What conditions shape Mediterranean postcolonial subjectivity?

-  Could the study of postcolonial Mediterranean subjectivity
refine the existing methodology in postcolonial studies?

-  What new literary and artistic examples the Mediterranean puts
on the postcolonial literary map?



-  In which new ways we can think about the relationship between "self" and
"other;"

Colonizer and colonized.



- What is the role of history in postcolonial mediterranean subjectivity?


Possible Topics:

the self and its relationship to history; autobiography; biography; the
body; layers of the historical past; ruins; archaeology; the palimpsest;
(imaginary) mapping; geography; women and homosexuals as alternative voices
within the nation; stories, storytelling and their embodiment; fascism;
resistance through art; hellenism vs hebraism as the two major intellectual
trends

of the mediterranean; the coexistence of Islam, Christianity and Judaism;

the Balkans; the Andriatic; the Black Sea; the Iberian Peninsula;

transition from Empire to democracy; corruption;

identity and representation in and across the sea; self and other;

political/economic relations between the North and the South.


Key words: postcolonialism; empire; nationalism; history; postcolonial
subjectivity; the body; storytelling; resistance; temporality.



-- 
PhD Candidate
Department of Comparative Literature
University of Michigan
2015 Tisch Hall
435 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1003

ph: 734.763.2351
fx: 734.764.8503

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/meditopos/home
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