[URBANTH-L] ANN: Black European Studies in Transnational Perspective (Berlin)

[Angela Jancius]

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

2nd International BEST Conference:
"BLACK EUROPEAN STUDIES IN TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE"

Organizers:
Black European Studies Program at the Johann-Gutenberg-University
Mainz in cooperation with the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut of the Free
University Berlin and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Berlin

Date, Place:

27-29 July
Friedrich-Meinecke Institute/ Free University Berlin
Koserstraße 20, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem

30 July
Heinrich Böll-Foundation
Rosenthaler Str. 40-41, 10178 Berlin


The Center for Black European Studies of the Johann Gutenberg
University Mainz, in cooperation with the Friedrich-Meinecke-
Institut/ Free University of Berlin, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and
ASU Berlin, is pleased to announce the 2nd International Conference
on Black Europe, "Black European Studies in Transnational
Perspective", to be held at the Free University of Berlin, Germany,
July 27 - 30, 2006.

Within Anglophone Postcolonial Studies, the African Diaspora has long
been recognized as an important concept. The history and culture of
African populations violently transported to the "New World" via the
slave trade are the subjects of vigorous scholarly debates. The
history of Black (Continental) Europeans, however, still remains
largely unknown. Over the last two years, the Black European Studies
Project (BEST) has emerged as an international forum of exchange for
scholars of this under-researched subject.

The first BEST conference, "Challenging Europe - Black European
Studies in the 21st Century" was held in November 2005 in Mainz,
Germany. It was conceived as a small, intense workshop, taking
inventory of research on Black populations in various European
nations, including Eastern Europe and Turkey, and exploring the
theoretical and methodological challenges faced by the emerging
interdisciplinary and transnational field of Black European Studies.

The 2nd International BEST Conference will endeavour to continue
these debates in a broader context. This public, interdisciplinary
encounter will facilitate cross-disciplinary discussion of previous
scholarly research but will above all promote the development of new
theoretical perspectives on Black Europe that might potentially
inform both academic and political discourse. It will thus enable
direct exchange among scholars working in the area of Black European
history; it will encourage the formation of on-going scholarly
networks focused on particular research questions; and it will help
to make Black Europeans and their history as well as present visible
beyond the bounds of academic discourse.


CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Thursday, 27 July 2006

(Venue: Friedrich-Meinecke Institute/ Free University Berlin:
Koserstraße 20, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem/ Tel.: (030) 838 53328/
www.friedrich-meinecke-institut.de)

2:00     Registration

3:30     Opening Words and Introduction to BEST

4:30     Keynote:  Lily Golden, Russia:  "New Trends in Movements of
Diaspora"

6:00     Multimedia Presentation:  "Writing Black Austrian History -
Remapping Austria"

6:30     Reception


Friday, 28 July

(Venue: Friedrich-Meinecke Institute/ Free University Berlin:
Koserstraße 20, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem/ Tel.: (030) 838 53328/
www.friedrich-meinecke-institut.de)

9:30         Panels

1.  Visual Encounters - Black Representations in Early Modern Europe I

2.  The Enlightenment and Its Other I - Constructions of Blackness
and Whiteness

3.  Visual Arts I:  Blackness in Film, Music, and Exhibitions

4.  Theorizing Literature I


10:45   Keynote:  Sabine Broeck, University of Bremen:  "Rethinking
Europe:  Slavery and the Constitution of White Modern Europe"


11:30        Panels

1.  Comparing the USA and Europe: Case Studies

2.  Theorizing Black Europe

3.  Theorizing Literature II

4.  Empirical Study of Black European Identities


2:00        Panels

1.  Visual Encounters - Black Representations in Early Modern Europe II

2.  The Enlightenment and Its Other II - Race, Nation, Gender in France

3.  The Black Atlantic:  From the 18th Century to the Present

4.  New Media, Race, and Images:  Visualizing Colonialism


3:45     Panels

1.  Representation of Blackness in (Post)Socialist Europe:  Film and
Media

2.  Representing Blackness after World War II

3.  Visual Arts II:  Blackness in Painting and Religion

4.  Gender Politics


Saturday, 29 July

(Venue: Friedrich-Meinecke Institute/ Free University Berlin:
Koserstraße 20, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem/ Tel.: (030) 838 53328/
www.friedrich-meinecke-institut.de)

9:30     Panels

1.  Variations on Self-Representation

2.  Postcolonial Literature

3.  Blackness in France:  Theory and Practice

4.  Enlightenment and the Present


10:45   Keynote:  Stephen Small, University of California, Berkeley:
"The Empire Strikes Back!  Class, Gender and the Black Presence in
Europe"

11:30   Panels

1.  Colonial Soldiers

2.  Place and Displacement

3.  Nation, Identity, and Race

4.  Body Politics


2:00     Panels

1.  Representation of Blackness in (Post)Socialist Europe:  Public
Discourses

2.  Comparing the USA and Europe:  Theorizing the Diaspora

3.  Text - Identity - Education:  Traditions of Representation

4.  When Governments Fail:  The Black Struggle for Human Rights

5.  African Diaspora Communities:  Places, Positioning and Media
Representation


Sunday, 30 July

(Venue: Heinrich Böll-Foundation/ Rosenthaler Str. 40-41, 10178
Berlin/ Telefon: 030 - 28 534 400/ Internet: www.boell.de)

10:00   Keynote:  Wangui wa Goro, Kenya/UK:  "Power, Identity, and
Knowledge Development in Global Contexts:  Translation as a Tool for
Dialogue"

10:45   Opening, Student Project "Mohrenstr."

11:15   Keynote:  Michelle M. Wright, University of Minnesota:  "Pale
By Comparison: Black European Identity and the African American
Normative"

11:45   Concluding Discussion:  Black European Studies:
Perspectives, Network, and Visions

1:00     Lunch Buffet


FOR INFORMATION ABOUT REGISTRATION, CONTENT OF PANELS, CONFERENCE
PARTICIPANTS AND TITLES OF PAPERS, CONFERENCE LOCATION, AND HOUSING,
PLEASE SEE THE BEST WEBSITE:

<www.best.uni-mainz.de>

OR CONTACT:

Peggy Piesche
Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität
Psychologisches Institut
Staudingerweg 9
D - 55099 Mainz
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 6131 39 22244
Fax: +49 (0) 6131 39 25655
Email: piesche at best.uni-mainz.de


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