On 5 and 6 February 2019 the conference Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European Publics took place in Utrecht.
Who are the postcolonial intellectuals? Which of them are currently most influential? What kind of intellectual activity do collectivities, networks and movements gathering around issues of race and citizenship perform? How do postcolonial academics, artists, writers, parties and movements respond to current timely issues in the European landscape, such as migration, citizenship and the legacies of colonialism? How do they contribute to a new idea of ‘Europe’ and relate to Western categories of modernity? Are their critical tools effective enough?
PIN
The PIN – Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European Publics network – is a NWO (Dutch Research Council) funded project that brings more than 25 European academic partners together. The PIN not only focuses on postcolonial intellectuals as outspoken individuals, but also challenges the traditional definition of the ‘public intellectual’ by emphasizing the role of artists, writers, activists and social movements in shaping postcolonial publics and knowledge. Postcolonial Intellectuals and their European Publics network brings together an international and interedisciplinary network of scholars to investigate the role of postcolonial public intellectuals as crucial actors in renewing the function of the humanities and of democratic participation in Europe.
Organizer
Prof. Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University, Utrecht)
Keynote speakers
Prof. Kaiama Glover, Associate Professor of French and Africana Studies
Barnard College, Columbia University
Prof. Awam Amkpa, Associate Professor
New York University | Tisch School of the Arts
The full conference programma is available, see here.
For more information, see here.