ÌÇÐÄTV

Our annual colloquium where our postgraduates come together for a day-long conference to share our work.

For full information on the event, please visit the Colloquium web pages

This event is running as part of the Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Research Festival.

‘Translating African Thought and Literature’

Institute of Advanced Studies, University of ÌÇÐÄTV, 25 May 2016, IAS Seminar Room (F204), first floor, Milburn House

Location:

Abstract

The workshop – which will open with a key-note lecture by Prof. Grant Farred (Cornell) on ‘Ngugi wa Thiongo and Dwelling’ - will focus on the way in which African and European languages, and the question of multilingualism, have contributed to the development of African thought and literature until today. The workshop is meant to be open-ended and analyse how ‘translation’, in the ‘real’ but also more metaphorical meanings of the term, has shaped African literary and intellectual productions in Africa and in the African diaspora. The fact that most African literature and thought is published in global languages such as English and French is intriguing because it seems to run counter to various attempts on the part of Africans to ‘decolonise the mind’. Indeed, African intellectuals and novelists have often advocated the practice of vernacular forms of knowledge and an active rejection of the Eurocentric legacies of imperialism. This attempted indigenization of knowledge was invariably predicated on the assumption of an innate link between linguistic deep structures and autochtonous worldviews and thought procedures: ‘A man who has a language consequently possesses the world expressed and implied by that language’ (Fanon). This workshop will approach these questions and explore the various linguistic, cultural, and epistemological factors responsible for the enduring use of the former imperial languages in African literature and thought. It will also examine the resources (linguistic and otherwise) called upon by Africans – in French, in English and perhaps also in other (African) languages – to overcome intellectual and conceptual dependency and reflect on the present and future of African cultures.

A roundtable discussion for PG students and Early Career Researchers.

With IAS Visting Fellows, Prof. John McNeill (Georgetown University) & Prof. Prasanna Parthasarathi (Boston College).

A Lecture by Prof. John McNeill, (Georgetown University, IAS Visiting Fellow).
Discussant: Prof. Prasannan Parthasarathi (Boston College, IAS Fellow)

The talk will be followed by a reception.