Postcolonial Studies Association Convention School of Advanced Study, London 18–20 September 2017
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Postcolonial Studies Association Convention School of Advanced Study, London 18–20 September 2017 CONVENTION ABSTRACTS Abstracts of Individual Papers Akhtar, Rizwan, ‘Fictional Narratives Pre-Empting a Literary Brexit: Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland’ Brexit can be seen as a return to the colonial past. Whether it does or does not herald the disintegration of the spirit of globalisation is yet to be manifested. However, the global North has discovered immigration as a major stumbling block to its economic progression. Either it is a colonial hangover or a conscious effort where the West wants to make up for the loss of hubris of colonial dominance. Paul Gilroy in After Empire: Melancholia or convivial culture? (2004), identifies this as ‘postcolonial melancholia’, a condition which is a blend of guilt and pride, reinforcing ‘hostile responses to strangers and settlers’, so much so that ‘incomers may be unwanted and feared precisely because they are unwitting bearers of the imperial and colonial past’. The reconsolidation of the colonial past is at the cost of the dispersion of immigrant communities and their futures, leading to the emergence of neo-liberal and neo-colonial elements. Therefore, concepts and practices such as ‘hybridity’ and ‘cultural syncretism’, celebrated by the postcolonial West, are now put to a litmus test of colonial nostalgia and amnesia. This development is also anticipated by the postcolonial novel, much before the actual event of Brexit. This paper argues that postcolonial novels such as Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006) and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) predict the return of colonial legacy, a retrospective show of an ego trip, and its attendant crisis, shaping a hostile atmosphere between settlers and power centers of the postcolonial West. Both novels document the cultural and psychological vicissitudes of immigrant communities whose attachment to their adapted home and diasporic base is shaken by a resurgence of political nationalism echoing the hey days of Empire. Biography: Dr. Rizwan Akhtar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Punjab University, Lahore. Anahit, Helin, ‘Are We Running in Circles? Raising Critical Questions about Globalisation through the Lens of Art Practice’ The rapid growth of socio-cultural fusion through economic, political and cultural globalisation has promoted the creation of polarised communities in Britain. In light of the current global geopolitical situation, in which we are experiencing a resurgence of nationalism, my proposed paper aims to stimulate thinking about the current socio-political conjuncture through the relationship between the dynamics of hegemonic power and colonial legacy by examining art projects by transnational artists. Transnational artists deploy their uprooted and hybrid cultural backgrounds and sense of multiple displacements to transcend ideological limitations by creating art, conceptual in essence relating to cultural identity rather than the transcendental. They try to open up new ways to debate and discuss issues concerning our unsettling contemporary global confusions – through enforced or voluntary displacement – encompassing historical, political, economic and socio-cultural factors. They provide an exemplary means of raising critical questions 1 about postcolonial analyses of cultural production with the power to convey multiple meanings through art practice. My proposed paper draws on the participatory practice of the African, Carribean, British artist Sonia Boyce and interdisciplinary practice of the Algerian, French, British artist Zineb Sedira. Through a cross-disciplinary perspective, I shall explore and reframe the complexities of our current sociocultural landscape by analysing a selection of their works through critical reflection. I hope to go beyond the existing psychosocial binaries, offering a new platform for dialogue through artists’ voices as a transnational agency and strategies of resistance against hegemonic powers. Biography: Helin Anahit studied Fine Art Practice and Critical Theory at Middlesex University, London, and received her PhD with her thesis entitled, ‘From Silence to Speech: Tracing Diasporic Journeys through Collective Memory, Visual Culture and Art Practice’. Her cross-disciplinary work, described as ‘eloquently formed, philosophically and critically nuanced’ focuses on the affective responses to trauma and displacement and the function of gender in the transference of cultural memory. Much of this research output to date has been presented in exhibitions, screenings and academic conferences both nationally and internationally, and published in peer-reviewed academic journals and books. Anthony, Swetha, ‘The Strange Case of the Indian Super League: A Study of Renaud Marquot's Documentary Joue-la comme à Kochi (Bend it like Kochi)’ ‘It is the first time in history that there is a professional football league in the land of cricket’- with this statement the French Reporter Renaud Marquot breaks to the French world the launch of the Indian Super League in October 2014. What started off as a curious case mainly because of its being an anomaly led Marquot to go and explore this ‘some seaside town called Koshi’ instigated by the strength of his contact with Raphael Romey, a French citizen who was playing for the team called Kerala Blasters. His journey culminated in the documentary in French, Joue-la comme à Kochi (“Bend it like Kochi”). This documentary as the centre, this paper aims to explore the transformation that has come into an apparent anomalous phenomenon leading to the setting up of football/ soccer Leagues in India and China, two ‘traditionally non-football nations’, occupying problematic transitional/national zones if one is to go by the notion of Bill Ashcroft’s ‘transnation’. Even when the initiation of the leagues in both the nations are beset with its own unique problems, relating to the rules of selection of the members in a team and coaches, sponsorship, ownership, composition and representation particularly with regard to the transnational/national/regional identities, among others, this paper will examine the possibility of Indian Super League(ISL)- which is into the fourth season - as a neoliberal local grand narrative. What problematizes this paper is not just the way in which football has come to define the identity of a nation which was seen largely as a cricketing nation. Through this counter discourse, it could break the colonial hangover but what is problematic is the way in which identities/ discourses surrounding identities and the exploitation of fan base linked to the various teams ( eight in number representing the various regions of India such as Delhi, North East, Kolkata, Goa, Mumbai, Pune, Kerala and Chennai) have come to represent a precarious albeit novel tendency of utilizing football as a tool of the neo-liberal hegemonic discourses which ironically seems to propagate the notions of parochialism or something similar to a vernacular or discrepant cosmopolitanism. By engaging with these threads this paper aims to problematize and possibly engage with the many nuances of transregional history of globalization. Biography: As a scholar, Swetha Antony is fascinated by the poetics of exile that contextualizes the Literature of the Diaspora and theories of Cosmopolitanism. As part of her doctoral work she has explored the elements of Cosmopolitanism in Kamala Das’ poetry. She currently works as Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, India. Arora, Anupama, ‘Globalisation and Labour in Diasporic Asian Women’s Fiction’ 2 In an interview, award-winning writer from Bangladesh who was named one of Granta magazine’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2013, Tahmina Anam states, “Whenever I pass through Dhaka airport, I see scores of young men in uniforms bound for construction sites in the Middle East. I wanted to write a story about these invisible people, men who travel far from home to build cities in foreign lands.” Anam’s short story, “Anwar Gets Everything” (2015) focuses on a Bangladeshi migrant male worker in Dubai who works in construction. In addition to Anam, Mia Alvar (from the Philippines) and Hasanthika Sirisena (from Sri Lanka) have also written short stories on migrant laborers from Asia in the Middle East. Sirisena’s story, “Third Country National” (2016) is about a Sri Lankan war refugee who works as a janitor on an United States military airbase in Kuwait; and Mia Alvar’s collection, In the Country (2015) has many stories that focus on the Filipino diaspora in Bahrain (which consists of maids, gardeners, drivers, engineers). In my paper, I will analyze the short stories to show how these writers offer a critique of the workings of global capital through highlighting the precarious lives of those disenfranchised by the economic processes and operations of globalization. These writers emphasize the material conditions of migrants’ lives and highlight the exploitation of unregulated and informal labor within profit- driven market globalism, all the while not depicting the workers as victims. Through emphasizing the workers’ subjectivity and interiority, the stories invite readers to perform an act of imaginative empathy with them, powerfully emphasizing the connection of literature to social justice. Biography: Anupama Arora is an Associate Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.