Tuesday, October 5, 2010

YSN Inaugural Workshop: Transcending Diaspora: Whiteness, Performativity and the Politics of the Body

The inaugural workshop of the DFG Young Scholars Network “Black Diaspora and Germany“ will take place in Muenster, Germany on December 3-4, 2010. It will address the potential and limitations of current conceptualizations of diaspora as a category of analysis and identity construction in the German context.
It is the two-fold aim of the workshop to, first, question and re-evaluate the suitability of the terminology of a ‘Black diaspora’ in the case of Germany and to determine the factors that differentiate the Black diaspora from other collective identities. Second, theoretical approaches in current Black diaspora scholarship that have so far been neglected will be further developed and empirically substantiated. Based on specific case studies, the concept of diaspora will be located within the force field of nationality, transnationality, and ethnicity and interrogated as to its transgressive potential. Exemplary studies dealing with the interdependencies of the body, politics, ethnicity, culture, the territorial state and deterritorialized identities will illuminate transnational parameters and transcultural practices and deconstruct essentializing definitions of diaspora.
The thematic spectrum of the workshop participants ranges from counterhegemonic approaches rooted in critical whiteness studies over analyses of the performativity of diaspora to aspects of body history that understands physical as well as imagined bodies as arenas of power and discursive conflict.

The Workshop is organised jointly
by Christina Oppel, Silke Stroh, Holger Droessler and Frank Mehring

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

Prof. Dr. Tina Campt (Associate Professor of Women's Studies, History and German, Duke University; Visiting Professor of Women's and Africana Studies , Barnard College, Columbia University)

Prof. Dr. Alexander Weheliye (Associate Professor of English, African American Studies, Northwestern University)


Network Participants Presenting at the Workshop

Christina Oppel (English Seminar, WWU Muenster)

Dr. Frank Mehring (JFK Institute, FU Berlin)
Holger Droessler, MA (Harvard / LMU Muenchen)

Dr. Silke Stroh (English Seminar, WWU Muenster)

For further information and conference registration contact the workshop organizers at bdg[ad]uni-muenster.de

Inaugural Workshop Program "Transcending Diaspora"

Friday, December 3    
2.30pm      Workshop Opening
                  Maria I. Diedrich (Münster)
                  Silke Stroh (Münster)
                  Christina Oppel (Münster)
3-4pm        Workshop Paper 1
Christina Oppel (Münster): Transcending Diaspora? Relations of Power, (Dis)identification and the Human
4-4.30pm   Coffee Break
4.30-5.30   Workshop Paper 2
Frank Mehring (Berlin), Performing Anthropological Authenticity: Franz Boas, Zora Neale Hurston, and the Transatlantic Blues
5.30-6pm   Break
6-7.30        Keynote 1  
                  
                  Alexander Weheliye (Northwestern University)
Without Comparison: W.E.B. Du Bois's and Walter Benjamin's Modernities

(H19, Englisches Seminar, Johannisstrasse 12-20, 48143 Münster)
8pm           Dinner
Saturday, December 4
9.00-10.30 Keynote 2  
                  
                  Tina Campt (Duke/Columbia)
                  Diaspora and/in Stasis 

                        (H19, Englisches Seminar, Johannisstrasse 12-20, 
                   48143 Münster)

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11-12am    Workshop Paper 3
Silke Stroh (Münster), Transperipherality as a Model for Diaspora Studies? Interfaces of Race, Class and (Post)colonialism
12-1pm      Workshop Paper 4
Holger Drössler (Harvard),
Resistant Bodies: Towards an Analytics of the Body in African Diaspora Studies
1:30pm      Lunch: Schlossgarten Café
                  Schlossgarten 4, 
                  48149 Münster (hinter dem Schloss)

2:30-3:30  Roundtable Discussion
Transcending Diaspora? Concepts and Contexts
            (Schlossgarten-Café)
3:30-4:30 Discussion of Organisational Matters
(Network Members only)
4:30pm      End of Workshop

Accomodation in Muenster

We Recommend the Following Hotels,
Please check availabilities and prices for December 3 and 4, 2010. Due to Muenster's popularity during its Christmas-Market season prices may increase.

HOTEL ÜBERWASSERHOF

Fine hotel with an ambitious restaurant. Quiet location but near lots of pubs, restaurants and shops.
Überwasserstraße 3 (5 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 417 70; fax: +49 (0)251 – 417 71 00
info@ueberwasserhof.de
Single room, shower/WC: 91 €
Breakfast included

AGORA: das Hotel am Aasee
Bismarckallee 5 (15 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 484 26 0; fax: +49 (0)251 – 837 97 26
hotel@agora-muenster.de
Single room, shower/WC: 60 €
Double room, shower/WC: 90 € (as single room: 70 €)
Breakfast included

AGORA: das Seehotel
Good value for money. Newest hotel in town (2008). Great lake views. WLAN available (2 €/4 hours).
Bismarckallee 47 (20 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 - 484 26 88 8; fax: +49 (0)251 - 484 26 86 0
hotel@agora-muenster.de
Single room, shower/WC: 70 €
Double room, shower/WC: 100 € (as single room: 80 €)
Breakfast included
Guesthouse:
Single room with own wash basin, shared bathroom: 40 €; students 30 €
Double room with own wash basin, shared bathroom: 48 €; students 40 €
Breakfast: 9,50 €

ibis HOTEL Münster
Engelstraße 53 (15 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 - 481 30; fax: +49 (0)251 - 481 33 33
Single room, shower/WC: 76.26 €
Breakfast included

Hotel INTERNATIONAL Am Theater
Neubrückenstraße 12-14 (15 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 - 899 78 0; fax: +49 (0)251 - 899 78 29
Single room, shower/WC: 62 €
Breakfast included

MAURITZHOF Münster
Eisenbahnstraße 12 (15 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 - 417 20; fax: +49 (0)251 - 417 29 9
Single room, shower/WC (look onto the road): 104 €
Single room, shower/WC (look onto the "Promenade"): 119 €
Studio: 116 €
Breakfast included

Hotel MARTINIHOF
Hörsterstraße 25 (10 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 - 418 62 0; fax: +49 (0)251 - 547 43
Martinihof.Muenster@t-online.de
Single room, shower/WC: 69 €
Double room, with own wash basin, shared bathroom, two single beds: 69 €
Double room, with own wash basin, shared bathroom, one double bed: 69 €
Breakfast included

HOTEL INTERNATIONAL AM THEATER
Neubrückenstraße 12-14 (5 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 899 78 0; fax: +49 (0)251 – 899 78 29
info@hotel-international-am-theater.de
Single room, shower/WC: from 62 €
Double room, shower/WC: from 88 €


HOTEL JELLENTRUP
Hüfferstraße 52 (20 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 981 05 0; fax: +49 (0)251 – 981 05 40
hotel@jellentrup.de
Single room, shower/WC: 64 – 74 €
Double room, shower/WC: 94 €
Breakfast included


HOTEL MARCO POLO
Bremer Platz 36 (20 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 960 92 00 0; fax: +49 (0)251 – 960 92 00 13
info@hotel-marcopolo.de
Single room, shower/WC: from 71 €
Double room, shower/WC: from 86 €
Breakfast: 9 €

HOTEL WINDTHORST
Windthorststraße 19 (10 min walk to the conference venue)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 484 59 0; fax: +49 (0)251 – 408 37
info@hotel-windthorst.de
Single room, shower/WC: 68 €
Double room, shower/WC: 77 €
Breakfast included

SLEEP STATION – Backpacker Hostel
Wolbecker Straße 1 (central location; direct bus connection to the conference venue: 10 min ride; walk to the conference venue: 15 min)
phone: +49 (0)251 – 482 81 55
Single room: 32 – 34 €
Double room: 44 – 52 €

How To Get There

By plane:


Münster is well served by these four airports:

FMO Münster/Osnabrück

European & domestic flights, incl. budget carriers
(Journey time between airport and Münster city: 30 mins.
Via a shuttle bus to Münster train station)

DTM Dortmund
European & domestic flights, incl. budget carriers
(Journey time between airport and Münster: 60 mins.
Catch a train from nearby "Holzwickede" station)

DUS Düsseldorf
Transatlantic, European & domestic flights
(Journey time between airport and Münster: 90 mins.
Catch a train from one of the airport's own train stations)

CGN Köln/Bonn
European & domestic flights
(Journey time between airport and Münster: 120 mins.
Catch a train from the airport train station)

Alternatively you can fly into Frankfurt or Munich and get a short (1 hour) connecting flight to Münster.
From Frankfurt there are also convenient train connections (c. 3 hours, see below).

You could work out your connecting flight with www.skyscanner.net or www.amadeus.net

By train:


Using the train is a convenient way of travelling within Germany. For departure times and fares visit the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) web site and enter 'Munster(Westf)Hbf' as your destination.

To reach the English Seminar from the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in Münster take bus route 1, 12, 13 or 14 (leaving platform B1) or bus route 2 (leaving platform C1) and exit the station "Aegidiimarkt".

By car:


Münster can also be reached via the "Autobahn" A1 and A43. For the fastest access to the city take the Autobahnkreuz Münster-Süd.



Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Young Scholars Network Receives Funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

We are happy to announce that as of July 2010, the Young Scholars Network (DFG wissenschaftliches Netzwerk) is officially funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Over the next three years, we will organize a series of six workshops dealing with various aspects of the Black Diaspora and Germany, that will eventually result in a book publication. The first workshop on Transcending Diaspora: Whiteness, Performativity and the Politics of the Body will be organised Christina Oppel (WWU Münster), Dr. Silke Stroh (WWU Münster), Holger Droessler (Harvard, Cambridge, MA/LMU München) and Dr. Frank Mehring (FU Berlin) and will take place this fall at the University of Münster - so please stay tuned for further information!



Sunday, May 16, 2010

2011 CAAR Conference

2011 Conference of the Collegium for African American Research (CAAR) "Black States of Desire: Dispossession, Circulation, Transformation", Paris, April 6-9, 2011.

"Placing the emphasis on the conditions of social transformation in the black world, it will articulate two main axes of analysis and reflection: the intersection of a socioeconomic approach with a multicultural and identity-focused perspective; the relation between theorizing processes and material transformation, between intellectual activity and political action, and between different communities with specific agendas."

The deadline for paper proposals is 5 September 2010. Please send your proposals by e-mail to Jean-Paul Rocchi, jprocchi@wanadoo.fr

For the Call For Papers and latest conference information visit the CAAR website.