Urban generations: Post-colonial cities
Held: 01 – 03 October 2004 in Mohammed V University, Rabat Morocco

This conference is organised by The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, The Open University; The Globalization, Identity Politics and Social Conflict (GIPSC) Project, The Open University; The Faculte des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Mohammed V University, Rabat and The British Council Morocco.

The focus of the conference will be on the ways in which the colonial legacy and indigenous traditions affect and problematise the identity of the post-colonial city. Apprehensions of the city as an ideal type based on dichotomies like the city versus the country are undermined by a continuity between the two in many post-colonial contexts. This continuity has important effects on the construction of local and national identities. Along similar lines, issue may also be taken with the dual characterization of the city: on the one hand, it is a site of encounters, of life, of culture, of citizenship; on the other hand, it is a site of isolation, of misery, of violence, of pollution, of unemployment, etc. While this view is apt for many post-colonial cities, it needs to be re-considered in the context of globalisation where these cities are articulated into global spheres of production, of capital, etc. and where they operate as a site for social tension and political actions. This tension has given rise to numerous attitudes towards the postcolonial city ranging from that which construes it as a territory to be managed to that which views it as a site of struggle for the emancipation of various disenfranchised groups.

For further details, please visit our websites at: The Ferguson Centre:
www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre/index.html
GIPSC Project: www.open.ac.uk/arts/gipsc; Mohammed V University, Rabat:
www.emi.ac.ma/univ-MdV/FLSH.html; and The British Council
www2.britishcouncil.org/morocco

To book a place, please contact Heather Scott.