Session call for papers: Afropeans biennial network conference, University of Tampere, Finland, 6-8 July 2017

Session 28: URBAN CULTURE – RURAL PAROCHIALISM? EUROPEAN CITYSCAPES AND PERIPHERIES IN AFRICAN (DIASPORIC) LITERATURES
Organisers: Janine Hauthal, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & Anna-Leena Toivanen, University of Eastern Finland

European cities frequently figure in African (diasporic) fiction. With their landmarks and suburbs, former colonial metropolitan centres serve as settings in narratives exploring a variety of African diasporic experiences in Europe and contribute to the project of rewriting the continent from a new perspective. While London and Paris are the most popular and most studied loci, other places on the continent have also found their way into African (diasporic) writing as Afroeuropean mobilities keep diversifying.

This session invites contributions that address the question of how different urban and non-urban European spaces have been represented in African (diasporic) fiction. We are particularly interested in papers analysing fictional texts set elsewhere in Europe than the traditional post/colonial metropolitan centres. Such less studied locations may include, for instance, provincial cities; cities in countries with no direct involvement in colonialism; rural areas; or places situated on the fringes of the continent (islands, enclaves, etc.) – in short, locations that easily come across as peripheral and non-cosmopolitan from a (post/colonial) metropolitan perspective. We also welcome papers adopting a comparative approach to African (diasporic) narratives of different European central and/or peripheral locations.

Deadline for online submissions is 24 February 2017.

Link to session description and online submission: http://www.uta.fi/yky/en/6thafroeuropeans/callforpapers.html