African American and Diasporic Research in Europe: 
Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches
 A Conference in Honor of Michel and Geneviève Fabre
 




PARIS CONFERENCE 2004




15 December – 18 December
 

Co- sponsored by the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African 
American Research and the Cercle d’Etudes Afro-Americaines of the 
Universitè de la Sorbonne Nouvelle
 
 

The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
of Harvard University and the Cercle d'Etudes Afro-Américaines (CEAA) of
the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III, are organizing a
conference in honor of Michel and Geneviève Fabre titled African
American and Diasporic Research in Europe: Comparative and
Interdisciplinary Approaches. The conference will be held at the
Sorbonne in Paris between Wednesday evening 15 December and Saturday 18
December 2004.

The conference will examine the salient features of African American
research in Europe and encourage comparative approaches to the diverse
aspects of the field as defined and practiced in Europe, as well as to
the studies and critical works done in the United States and in other
parts of the Diaspora. It will address several questions: 
  

1.      Is there a distinctive European perspective? 

2.      What has been the nature of the interactions between African
American and European scholarship? 

3.      How have individual and collaborative efforts and institutional
structures contributed to defining and developing the field? 

 
By placing these issues in historical perspective, the papers will
highlight the trends and transformations that have characterized the
evolution of the field, with special emphasis on the 1960s to the
present.

Central to this discussion will be the influence of European
philosophers and theoretical works on African and African American
research and the significance of the development of concepts, notions,
or tools for the field, and conversely, the impact of African American
critical discourse on European scholars. Conference presentations
analyzing major scholarly production will emphasize their importance in
enhancing the consciousness and advancement of African American history,
literature, and arts in Europe, and in eliciting further academic and
creative works. In that perspective, participants can explore the
patterns of cultural, intellectual or political leadership that define
access to culture and the humanities.


 

Another important set of questions to be explored has to do with the
factors that may explain the preference and priorities given to certain
authors, artists, historical periods, and to cultural, intellectual, and
political history in different countries at difference moments. For
example: Why do some African American authors benefit from an unequal
interest at home and abroad? Why do some aspects of African American
culture, music for instance, attract a diverse and multicultural
audience and knowledgeable critical approaches? (This implies a
reflection on the role of translation, publications, conferences, art
exhibitions, and the media.) The assessment of scholarly developments
across the Atlantic and the African Diaspora can help frame new
intellectual spaces and enrich  productive interaction and dialogue. 
 
The registration fee for the conference is $100 and $50 for students
with valid college/university I.D. To register on-line and obtain
complete conference schedule and hotel information, please visit
www.fas.harvard.edu/~du_bois and click on Paris Conference. For more
information or to register by mail, please contact Dell M. Hamilton,
Events and Publications Manager, by calling 617.495.3611 or
[log in to unmask] Below are detailed titles and descriptions for
the conference.


Session 1 
African and African American Presence in Europe: Historical Perspective
The opening session will consider the major artistic, political,
historical, and institutional events and their role in influencing and
shaping the field. The interest and research they have elicited among
scholars, writers, and artists can be studied critically and
analytically with a transatlantic and international approach. The
highlight will be reflections by Michel and Geneviève Fabre 


 

Session 2
Framing the Field. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approaches. 
A Roundtable 
 
The purpose of Session 2 is to paint a picture of how research developed
within various European countries (including information on the
archives, libraries, and other resources available internally) and how
scholars were connected to the 
U. S. A., the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. We would be looking
to (1) pinpoint when African American Studies was born in a particular
country; (2) characterize research and work carried out in a given
nation; (3) determine the research agendas pursued by influential
individuals and their colleagues; and (4) identify the first major
papers, books, conference(s), etc., in each.
 
 
Session 3
Languages and Afro-Diasporic Research : From Authority to Diversity. 
 
This panel will (a) explore linguistic diversity in the Diaspora and the
struggle of several languages to assert themselves in relationship to a
dominant tongue and (b) focus on translation from one language to
another and from culture to culture. The scope of this panel also
implies a questioning of the reverberation and re-articulation of
African American research into the extended field of the Diaspora. 
 
Session 4
New Theories and Histories
 
Session 4 will examine challenges to historiography and the role of
specialized studies in changing the approaches to the writing of history
and also in literary and cultural criticism. On the threshold of a new
global history, this panel will question the international connections
and interactions of African American experience. It will also consider
the emergence of certain “schools” and engage in more interdisciplinary
perspectives.
 

Session 5             
Research and/or Popular Culture 
 
This panel will raise issues concerning the relationship between
scholarship and popular culture. Cultural production travels and
resonates across borders and generations: how can we explain and
interpret those moments of linkage and mediation?

Session 6
The Future of the Field
 
“The Future of the Field” will focus on the challenges facing the field
in the twenty-first century. This panel will discuss policies, debates,
and issues concerning strategies, resources, and perspectives in the
world of academia. It will identify ideologies and approaches that have
generated a network of potential research projects and activities.


Dell M. Hamilton 
Manager of Events and Publications 
African and African American Studies Department
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
Harvard University
Barker Center
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: (617) 495-3611
Fax: (617) 496-2871
Email:[log in to unmask]


Dell M. Hamilton 
Manager of Events and Publications 
African and African American Studies Department
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute
Harvard University
Barker Center
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: (617) 495-3611
Fax: (617) 496-2871
Email:[log in to unmask]