Francophone Postcolonial Studies: Past, Present and Future
Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies
Annual Conference, 20-21 November 2009
French Institute, London
A conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of the launch of ASCALF
Postcolonial studies has been marked from its inception as a field of inquiry by a profound questioning of its taxonomy, methodology and even of its very objects of inquiry. This questioning has been particularly acute in the Francophone field, which has enjoyed a complex relationship to postcolonialism, at times sceptical of what is perceived as an ‘Anglo-Saxon' phenomenon, at others embracing the postcolonial turn as central to what Françoise Lionnet has dubbed the ‘becoming-transnational' of French Studies'.
As 2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Association for the Study of Caribbean and African Literature in French (ASCALF), the forerunner of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, the Society would like to take the opportunity provided by its annual conference this year to reflect on the evolution of what has come to be termed over the past two decades the Francophone postcolonial field. This is not the occasion to bask in a process of self-congratulation: on the contrary, we would welcome searching analyses of the ongoing difficulties and interrogations to which the field is subject. The key questions that the conference will explore are: where has Francophone postcolonial studies come from? where is the field now? and where is it going in a context increasingly identified with the emergence of alternative interpretative paradigms? The conference will feature contributions from different ‘generations' of members active in ASCALF/SFPS but we are not seeking solely to study the history of one scholarly association. The organisers aim instead for the conference to represent a much more wide-ranging exploration of the evolution of the field. Consequently, we would welcome papers reflecting upon the past, present and future of the Francophone postcolonial field either from anyone working within this field of inquiry or from those with a comparative/collaborative interest in such work.
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words, plus 50-100 words of bio-bibliography, to SFPS Conference Secretary, Jennifer Jahn (SFPS20@gmail.com).
The deadline for receipt of abstracts is Monday, 30 June 2009.