Labnet: Black Diaspora and Germany - Muenster 02/09

[labnet at lists.labourhistory.net]

[Cross-posted, with thanks, from H-Soz-u-Kult. AB]

From:    Christina Oppel <Christina.Oppel at web.de>

CFP: Black Diaspora and Germany - Münster 02/09
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Young Scholars Network "Black Diaspora and Germany"
15.02.2009, Münster
Deadline: 15.02.2009

In recent years, scholarly work on Germany's colonial past and its continuing consequences has stressed the relevance of notions of  Blackness and whiteness to German national identity formation. Afro German feminists conducted pioneering work in exploring the various histories and experiences of People of Color in Germany. The increasing recognition and analysis of the Black presence in Germany has provoked a
critical examination of whiteness as a hitherto largely unexamined category. The complex role Germany plays in Black diasporic thought is also being explored. Furthermore, in public and academic discourse, more recent processes of migration, transnationalism, and the flow of transcultural forms and commodities pose the question whether issues of
race, racialization and racism have to be re-examined and re-conceptualized. Centering around these questions, and aiming at an exchange on current issues in Afro German/Black German and African American, Black Diaspora and Critical Whiteness Studies, a young
scholar's network is currently in the process of being established at the University of Muenster. 

These fields of study often overlap with the self-organization and knowledge productions of People of Color. In this contested space, issues of representation, one's own positionality and the power and authority to define have to be addressed. Building on already existing work in these fields, what conceptual tools can help continue the
ongoing, yet often disparate debates? For instance, can "diaspora" serve as an all-encompassing concept, and if so, how is it being modified, gendered, re-articulated? Within the field, are there tendencies toward an Americanist "hegemony" that should be counterbalanced? Can there be a more fruitful dialogue among scholars of Afro German and African American Studies? Do deconstructivist analyses of race run the risk of obscuring persistent effects of racialization/racism? And, if so, which other ways can be found to tie the world of experience to theorization? 

In order to establish a setting in which to address these pertinent questions and to stimulate an exchange of ongoing projects from a variety of perspectives, we seek to establish a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars. Our collaborative research network will run over an estimated period of three years and will consist in several workshops which will conclude with a publication on the subject. These workshops may center around issues of Black Diaspora and Critical Whiteness Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Authenticity and Performance of Blackness(es), Modernity and  Transnationalism, Anticolonialism and Slavery, and Black Power (and its Reception in Germany).

If you would like to actively participate in the network, please send a short CV with your contact information and a brief description of your research project (250 words) in German or English to bdg at uni-muenster.de. 

The submission deadline is February 15, 2009.

You may want to get in touch personally and meet current participants at the CAAR conference 2009 in Bremen (http://www.caar2009.eu/), where a network workshop will be held. Here, individual projects of network participants will be presented and the general network idea and its concept will be discussed. For further information and a list of associated members, please visit us at http://blackdiasporaandgermany.blogspot.com/.

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Young Scholars Network "Black Diaspora and Germany"
Englisches Seminar 
WWU Muenster
bdg at uni-muenster.de 

Homepage <http://blackdiasporaandgermany.blogspot.com/> 

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages
<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=10660>