HCRI Research Seminar - Literary Activism in 21st Century Africa: Notes on Publics, Commons and Networks
| Dates: | 15 October 2019 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 19:00 |
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| What is it: | Lecture |
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| Organiser: | School of Arts, Languages and Cultures |
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| Who is it for: | External researchers, Families, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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| Speaker: | Professor Madhu Krishnan, Dr Roisin Read |
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HCRI's second research seminar of the new term will be with guest speaker Professor Madhu Krishnan.
Event title: Literary Activism in 21st Century Africa: Notes on Publics, Commons and Networks
Event abstract: This talk explores the ways in which literary activism currently functions in specific sites in sub-Saharan Africa to open spaces for creative responses to conflict and crisis. Literary activism itself encodes a double meaning, both referring to the sheer act of opening spaces for creative production and creativity, on the one hand, and the more targeted use of cultural forms as a means of sociopolitical intervention, on the other. In both cases, literary activism serves to engender new horizons through which publics, commons and networks of practice might be forged, enabling lateral and novel forms of solidarity and collectivity to emerge. In this talk, I focus particularly on the ways in which literary activism has functioned in the context of Cameroon's Anglophone crisis through the case study of the Bakwa collective.
Event format: Welcome and introduction by Dr Roisin Read prior, to presentation by Madhu. A audience Q&A session will then proceed followed, by a networking session at 6pm. Free drinks and snacks will be available.
Please note this event is open to members of the public and no booking is required for this event, so simply turn up.
Price: Free
Speakers
Professor Madhu Krishnan
Role: Professor of African, World and Comparative Literatures
Organisation: University of Bristol
Biography: Madhu's research considers contemporary African writing in the context of transnational, world and global literary production. Madhu is particularly interested in the ways in which literary writing contributes to, subverts and is shaped by a broader, a priori image of 'Africa' circulating in a global imaginary, as well as the varied and contested registrations of this process across differing scales of expression and geography.
Dr Roisin Read
Role: Programme Director BSc and Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies
Organisation: HCRI
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
C5.1
Ellen Wilkinson Building
Manchester
