Compr(om)ising Post-Colonialisms (fwd)

[Kathy Chung]

F.Y.I.  apologies for any cross postings.  --- Kathy.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 16:46:05 -0500
From: ICCS/CIEC <contact at ICCS-CIEC.CA>
Reply-To: Canadian Literature / Litterature canadienne
     <CANLIT-L at INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA>
To: CANLIT-L at INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA
Subject: Compr(om)ising Post-Colonialisms

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COMPR(OM)ISING POST-COLONIALISMS

10-13 February 1999 -- Wollongong, Australia
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Post-colonialism, like any important project of study, is a volatile site
of contesting and contested ideas and practices. The post-colonial has been
understood in the context of colonialist practice, but it has also been
located in the equally ambiguous space of identity politics; it has been
dismissed as a politically correct "methodology" developed by white
cultures as a way of redefining themselves as non-racist and has been seen
as a way for those in positions of power to maintain control over the
definition and representation of oppressed groups. Alternatively, it has
been applauded for creating a space in which the disempowered might speak
and resist, and as a way to shift the boundaries of power to enable a
celebratory gesture of re-writing boundaries and narratives. For some, the
post-colonial has been celebrated for championing the so-called margins,
but for others it has merely allowed for the restoration of "authority" to
traditional key centres.

Precisely because of its fraught nature, the post-colonial is a vital site
for interrogation and enquiry. The conference title suggests the internal
conflict which operates across the field -- the simultaneous act of
constitution and dissolution which marks the project of post-colonialism.

The Centre for Research Into Textual and Cultural Study (CRITACS) invites
offers of 20 minute papers which interrogate the project of
post-colonialism from a range of disciplines and approaches. CRITACS
particularly welcomes papers and/or projects which challenge and redefine
(the boundaries of) the standard debates on post-colonialism. The
conference seeks to bring together the creative and the critical, and to
enter into debates on appropriation, multi- or inter-culturalism, identity
politics, racialization and indigenous responses to post-colonial theory.
The organizers are seeking offers of paper, performances, installations,
and panels which contribute to the debate.

Selected papers and presentations will be collected and published.

Abstracts of 400 words should be forwarded to Dr. Gerry Turcotte, English
Studies Program, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522 Australia by 30
September 1998. Fax: [61] (42) 214-471. E-mail: g.turcotte at uow.edu.au