Conference 3 & 4 June, 2010
ENS –Lyon, France
Keynote speaker : Kathleen Gyssels (Université d’Anvers)

Proposals in French or in English, up to 500 words, bibliography included, are accepted until February 15, 2010 and should be sent to litt.post@gmail.com .

The French exception regarding the Postcolonial Studies has been diagnosed a long time ago: despite the increasing attention paid to the postcolonial theories, a reflex suspicion remains. Is it because of its political implications that this multidisciplinary theoretical trend is so difficult to integrate in France? Postcolonial Studies came out from very different critical conceptions (French Theory, Subaltern Studies from Delhi, intellectual traditions from Africa, Cultural Studies born of the West-Indian Diaspora in Birmingham, etc.) as well as from anti-colonial writings which went with the struggles for independences (Frantz Fanon, Chinua Achebe, Aimé Césaire, Albert Memmi, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, etc.). The varied features of this theoretical trend embedded an easy establishment of a unified methodology but it offers nevertheless useful resources. How would it be possible to go beyond the first skeptical observation of profuse epistemological references, in order to learn how to use the Postcolonial Studies’ set of tools better?

Hinged on this important question, this two days conference will be time and place to investigate two main fields:
- an historical, epistemological, sociological approach of Postcolonial Studies’ institutional establishment
- a literary, linguistic, stylistic approach.

Historians, sociologists, political and literary researchers are invited to consider these possible topics:
- relationships between Postcolonial Studies and other theoretical trends (Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Black Studies, Subaltern Studies…), attaching importance to the sociological and intellectual background of their leaders
- theoretical sources of Postcolonial Studies
- gaps between the contexts of elaboration and the contexts of reception of the main postcolonial texts
- writers’ use or refutation of postcolonial references
- the way postcolonial concepts are applied to literary texts or need to be adapted from the reading of these literary texts

Scientific committee : Pascale Barthélémy, ENS Lyon, Charles Bonn, Université Lyon 2, Bruno Gelas, Université Lyon 2, Cécile Van den Avenne, ENS Lyon.

Organizing committee : Florian Alix, Anne-Sophie Catalan, Claire Ducournau, Tina Harpin, Estelle Olivier, Myriam Suchet, Cyril Vettorato.