Conflict and Commemoration in the Postcolonial Francophone World

CALL FOR PAPERS (The deadline for receipt of abstracts is: 2 June 2014)

Annual Conference 2014

SOCIETY FOR FRANCOPHONE POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES: ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2014

Conflict and Commemoration in the Postcolonial Francophone World

21-22 November 2014

Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Roger Little, Armelle Mabon and Siobhán Shilton

 

2014 is an important year for commemorating conflict, marking as it does the centenary of the beginning of WW1; the twentieth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda; and the seventieth anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre in Senegal. This conference will focus on how wars, battles, massacres and genocides in (post-)colonial history are remembered in the francophone world by considering questions such as: How do francophone postcolonial authors, artists, filmmakers commemorate episodes of violence? Which conflicts do they choose to remember and which have been forgotten? Has postcolonial scholarship succeeded in challenging official colonial and neo-colonial versions of the past? Do processes designed to commemorate past conflicts that have been forgotten or neglected end up sanitizing the violence that took place? And how do cultural forms of remembering conflict relate to national processes of commemoration?

Topics for papers/panels might include, but are not restricted to

 

  • Acts of remembrance
  • Grief and mourning
  • Memorials, museums and commemorative tourism
  • Devoir de mémoire
  • Lieux de mémoire
  • Digital commemoration
  • The politics of conflict and commemoration
  • Individual vs collective memory
  • Multidirectional memory
  • Canon formation
  • Official memory
  • The archive
  • Postcolonial histories
  • Heroes
  • Resistance

 

Please send abstracts of 300 words plus 50-100 words of biography to Conference Secretary, Ruth Bush (sfpsconference2014@gmail.com). Papers can be in English or French.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is: 2 June 2014