File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2000/postcolonial.0001, message 47


From: "Pierre-Philippe Fraiture" <PIERRE-PHILIPPE-AT-sol.brookes.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 16:16:58 -0000
Subject: Re: Call for Papers on Racial Ambiguity


It sounds really interesting but would you at all consider writings in 
other languages than English?
Thanks

Pierre-Philippe Fraiture
Oxford Brookes University
French Department


On 12 Jan 00, at 18:01, Teresa Hubel wrote:

Call For Papers

Literature and Racial Ambiguity
Editors, Teresa Hubel and Neil Brooks

We are soliciting essays of 18 - 20 pages for a forthcoming volume,
provisionally entitled "Literature and Racial Ambiguity."  The book will be
part of the series Rodopi Perspectives on Modern Literature, and it will
focus on twentieth-century literature in English from all parts of the world.

Writing that scrutinizes racial identity has been the source of a great deal
of literary scholarship over the past decade, but relatively little
attention has been paid to literature that problematizes the very usage of
terms such as "person of colour, "whiteness," or, indeed,  of  "race" itself.

This volume explores the ways in which socially sanctioned definitions of
race often conflict with cultural and personal understanding.  Literature
has shown itself to be a particularly fruitful site for the exploration of
the shifting boundaries of racial identity.  While addressing topics as
diverse as the effects of South African Apartheid, Indian caste
distinctions, American "one drop laws," or European imperialist policies on
race, many literary works have delved into the clash between prescriptive
definitions of racial identity and individual experience.  In fact,
literature is often the only public forum for the discussion of dilemmas
associated with being "mixed race" because mutable racial categories are
frequently unacknowledged or deliberately repressed in official discourse.

In bringing these essays together, the editors hope to establish a context
where racial categorizations are shown to be arbitrarily constructed and in
many circumstances fluid, though nevertheless profoundly significant.  How
particular racial constructions become codified, such as through
pseudo-scientific analysis of physiological distinctions, is an obvious
subject for examination in this volume, as are the intersections between
race and class and gender.   The ambiguity and richness of literary language
allows for the expression of the many difficulties inherent in transgressing
assigned racial identities.  As we continue in a world where physical and
cultural borders are being constantly re-evaluated, this volume seeks to
help us understand the power and inadequacies of racial borders.

The deadline for submissions of completed essays is July 15, 2000.
Abstracts of no more than one page must be submitted by May 15, 2000, but
decisions regarding inclusion in the volume will be based on a review of the
completed essays.  Essays should be submitted in MLA format, although minor
editorial adjustment may be necessary.  

Inquiries, abstracts, and essays should be sent to
		Neil Brooks
		Associate Professor
		Department of English
		Huron College, the University of Western Ontario
		1349 Western Road
		London, Ontario
		N6G 1H3
		CANADA

		e-mail: nbrooks-AT-julian.uwo.ca
		fax: 519-438-3938



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Pierre-Philippe Fraiture
Oxford Brookes University
French Department
G2.16a
Tel 0044 1865 483949
Fax 0044 1865 483791
E-mail: pierre-philippe-AT-sol.brookes.ac.uk 


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