BIGSAS Festival of African and African Diasporic Literatures

From May 24th to 26th 2011 Bayreuth will host the first “BIGSAS Festival of African and African Diasporic Literatures” under the theme “African Conceptualisations of Europe”. The festival, which is open to the interested public, is intended to explore the world of words in an age witnessing a transition from hard books to soft books available on the internet. The authors and artists invited will engage in readings and performances between prose and poetry, drama and short story, music and politics. In doing so, the festival will connect artists from Harare and Berlin, London and Ibadan, Djibouti and Paris, Yaoundé and Bayreuth. This year’s festival will focus on conceptualisations of Europe both within African and African diasporic literatures. These fictional wordings will be framed and supplemented by lectures, round tables and open debates. The aim is to contribute to a public debate about current conceptualisations of Africa and Europe which are often biased and carry distorted notions of ‘Self’and ‘Other’, still heavily informed by colonialist fantasies. A major question of interest is: what positions do African intellectuals hold of these conceptualizations of processes in Europe and the stances taken by people living in the African diasporas in Europe and the Americas? Basically, how do they challenge, subvert and reconstruct notions of Europe as a white Christian entity? The readings, round table talks, podium discussions and lectures will throw light on these questions. Given the range of topics and the expertise of the invited authors and speakers, this festival promises to be entertaining, interactive and stimulating.

Entry is free

Check out http://www.bigsas.uni-bayr
euth.de/literaturfestival/ for more info. Or grab the flyer somewhere. Or get in touch.


Iwaletwa-Haus, Bayreuth & BAT Campus Galerie, Bayreuth

PROGRAMM
EINTRITT FREI

DIENSTAG, 24. MAI 2011 | IM IWALEWA HAUS
17:00 – 19:00 Festival-Eröffnung
Dr. Michael Hohl (Oberbürgermeister Bayreuth)
Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible (Vize-Präsident Universität Bayreuth)
Prof. Dr. Dymitr Ibriszimow (BIGSAS)
Dr. Ulf Vierke (Iwalewa-Haus)
Prof. Dr. Susan Arndt (Für das Festival-Organisationsteam)
Keynote Speech
Rinaldo Walcott (Canada): Spoken Word and Afrodiaspora Performances of Race Memory
Moderation: Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard

19:00 – 20:00 Empfang durch die Stadt Bayreuth

20.00 – 22:00 Slam Poetry & Music
Chirikure Chirikure (Zimbabwe), Philipp Khabo Köpsell (Germany) & SäB (Martinique/France) feat. Auriel, Dapo Dina & Patrick Martin
Moderation: Katharina Fink and Ricarda de Haas

MITTWOCH, 25. MAI 2011 | IM IWALEWA HAUS
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote Speech
Frank Schulze-Engler (Germany): Bordercrossings: Representations of “Old” and “New” Europe in African Literature
Moderation: Susan Arndt

11:30 – 12:30 Africa ↔ Europe: Histories, Entanglements and Gazes
Mariam Popal (Germany): Postcolonial (Theory in/and) Europe? - flows and flinders
Anna Weicker (Germany): Postcolonial (Theory in/and) Africa? – routes and rhizomes
Moderation: Susan Arndt

13:30 – 15:00 Round Table
Africa ↔ Europe: Entanglements and Fiction
Susan Arndt (Germany), Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), Frank Schulze- Engler (Germany), Patrice Nganang (Cameroon/USA), Femi Osofisan (Nigeria), A.A.Wabéri (Djibouti/France)
Moderation: Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard

15: 30 – 17:30 Reading
Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) Biyi Bandele (UK/Nigeria)
Moderation: Henriette Gunkel

UMZUG ZUM UNIVERSITÄTSCAMPUS

18:00 After-Work-Führung des Künstlers Nabil El Makhloufi
In der BAT CampusGalerie im Foyer des Audimax der Universität
In dieser kostenlosen Führung öffnet der Künstler den Besuchern einen ganz persönlichen Zugang zu seinem Werk

19:15 – 20:15 Keynote Speech
In der BAT CampusGalerie im Foyer des Audimax der Universität
Patrice Nganang (Cameroon/USA): What Does Writing Mean Today? From Book to Facebook
Moderation: Ulf Vierke

20:30 – 22:30 Lesung mit anschließendem Open Air Empfang
In der BAT CampusGalerie im Foyer des Audimax der Universität (Universitätsstr. 30)
Jean-Luc Raharimanana (Madagascar/France)
A.A. Wabéri (Djibouti/France)
Moderation: Viviane Azarian

DONNERSTAG, 26. MAI 2011
10:00 – 11:00 Reading for Children
Ort: International School Bayreuth (Kerchensteiner Str. 6)
Wir bitten um Voranmeldung unter: 0173/3965302
Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium)
Moderation: Renzo Baas

Iwalewa Haus
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote Speech
Sabrina Brancato (Germany/Italy): Where Europe Fears to Tread: Identity, Politics and Conviviality in the Literatures of the African Diasporas
Moderation: Christine Matzke

11:45 – 13:15 Round Table: African Diasporas and/in Europe
Cristina Ali Farah (Somalia/Italy), Biyi Bandele (UK/ Nigeria), Sabrina Brancato (Germany/Italy), Philippa Ebéné (Germany), Jean-Luc Raharimanana (Madagascar/France), Rinaldo Walcott (Canada)
Moderation: Mariam Popal

14:00 – 16:00 Reading
Cristina Ali Farah (Somalia/Italy)
Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium)
Moderation: Ute Fendler

16:30 – 18:30 Reading
Patrice Nganang (Cameroon/USA)
Femi Osofisan (Nigeria)
Moderation: Eckhard Breitinger

18:45 – 19:45 Reading
Sénouvo Agbota Zinsou (Togo/Germany)
Moderation: Georg Klute

20:00 Konferenzende und Konzert »1884«
Ort: Stadtparkett auf dem Marktplatz in Bayreuth