Postcolonialism Today: Theoretical Challenges and Pragmatic Issues

An Interdisciplinary and International Conference

University of Toronto, Victoria College

September 26-28 2002

Programme

Thursday September 26

6:00 – 7:00 pm Conference Opening and Reception at Emmanuel College Rm 119

6:30- 6:45 Welcome: Professor Paul Gooch, President, Victoria University

7:00- 8:00 Keynote address: Aijaz Ahmad (Delhi University and York University)

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Friday September 27

Registration 8:00-9:00

Session 1A 9:00-11:00 Emmanuel 119

Breaking the Frame: Postcolonialism and the Canon

Chair: Mark Williams

9:00-9:30 Diana Brydon (University of Western Ontario, English)

“The Ends of Postcolonialism: Rethinking Autonomy, Cosmopolitanism and Diaspora”

9:30-10:00 Balachandra Rajan (Emeritus Professor, University of Western Ontario, English Department)

“Globalism and the Post-Colonial”

10:00-10:30 Ted Chamberlin (University of Toronto, English Department)

“Reading and Listening to Postcolonial Literature”

10:30-11:00 Discussion

Session 1B 9:00-11:00 Northrop Frye 205

The Burden of the Past and the Postcolonial Subject

Chair: Ted Chamberlin

9:00-9:30 Paul Bouissac (Prof. Emeritus, University of Toronto, French Department)

"Toward the Construction of Postcolonial Memory: A Postcolonial Reading of Sertorius(1662)”

9:30-10:00 Abrahim Khan (University of Toronto, Trinity College, Divinity)

“Reading Postcoloniality through Kierkegaard”

10:00-10:30 John Noyes (University of Toronto, German Department)

“Postcolonialism’s Negative Dialectic: Hegel and the Fate of Negativity after Empire”

10:30-11:00 Discussion

11:00-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-12:30 Plenary Speaker: Emmanuel 119

Ato Quayson (University of Cambridge, African Studies Centre)

Symbolization Compulsions: Freud, African Literature and South Africa’s Process of Truth and Reconciliation.

Chair: Neil ten Kortenaar

12:30-1:30 Lunch at Victoria College, Senior Common Room (For All Conference Speakers)

Session 2A 1:30 – 3:30 Northrop Frye 332

Asia: Postcolonial Politics and Women’s Voices

Chair: Mary Nyquist

1:30-2:00 Alka Kumar (University of Delhi, English Department)

“Postcolonial Feminism and the Text: Literary Studies in India”

2:00-2:30 Charmaine Nelson (University of Western Ontario, Department of Fine Arts)

“How Black Can She Be: The (Im)possibility of the Black Female Subject in 19^th Century Neoclassical Sculpture”

2:30-3:00 Annette Gomis (University of Zaragoza, Spain, English Department)

“Purdah in South Asian Narrative”

3:00-3:30 Discussion

Session 2B 1:30 – 3:00 Emmanuel 119

Debating Postcolonial Citizenship

Chair: Jacqueline Solway

1:30 – 2:00 Ibrahim Abdullah (Western Cape, South Africa, Department of History)

“The Ambiguities of Colonial Modernity: The Citizenship Question in

Post-Colonial Sierra Leone”

2:00 – 2:30 Michael Lambek (University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology) “The Play of the Past: Popular Postcolonial Perspectives from Madagascar”

2:30-3:00 Discussion

Session 3A 4:00 – 6:00 Emmanuel 119

Postcolonialism, Subaltern Studies and the Subcontinent

Chair: Harish Narang

4:00 – 4:30 Gary Genosko (Lakehead University, Semiotics)

“Wild Cuisine: Cookbooks, Culture and Claims of Authenticity”

4:30- 5:00 Chandrima Chakraborty (York University, English Department)

“Interrogating "Orientalism" and Neo-Orientalism:
 the con(text) of 19th century Bengal” 

5:00- 5:30 Discussion

Session 3B 4:00 – 6.00 Northrop Frye 332

Dislocations and Relocations: Religion, Modernity and Transformation

Chair: Janice Boddy

4:00 – 4:30 Rijk van Dijk (Leiden University, African Studies Centre)

“Localisation Anxieties. Ghanaian Pentecostalism and Issues of

Strangerhood in Botswana.”

4:30 – 5:00 Adeline Masquelier (Tulane University, Department of Anthropology)

“Malam Awal, His Vision in Mecca, and his Encounter with a Spirit”

5.00 – 5.30 Discussion

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Saturday September 28

Session 4A 9:00 – 10:30

Bodies/Power/Medical Knowledge Emmanuel 119

Chair: Gary Genosko

9:00-9:30 Eric Jennings (University of Toronto, History)

“Leisure, Power, Medicine, and French Colonial Hill Stations”

9:30-10:00 Juanita de Barros (University of Michigan, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies

"Dirt and Disease in the Anglophone Caribbean"

10:00- 10:30 Discussion

Session 4B 9:00 – 11:00 Northrop Frye 205

The Marginal and the Mainstream in Canadian Letters

Chair: Chelva Kanaganayakam

9:00-9:30 Sandra Hobbs (Wayne State University)

“Postcolonialism in Quebec: Theorizing Resistance Writing”

9:30-10:00 Harish Narang (Jahwaharlal Nehru University)

“History as Fiction: a Post-WTC Reading of Amrika”

10:00-10:30 Stephanie McKenzie (Memorial University, English Department)

“The March Hare Festival and Literary Canonicity”

10:30-11:00 Discussion

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee

11:30 – 12:30 Plenary Session: Linda and Michael Hutcheon (University of Toronto English Department, Toronto General Hospital)

Emmanuel 119

“Displacement and Nostalgia: Empire and Opera”

Chair: John Noyes

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch at Victoria College (for All Conference Speakers)

Session 5A 1:30 – 3:30 Emmauel 119

Postcolonialism Elsewhere: Shifting Horizons

Chair: Paul Bouissac (University of Toronto, French Department)

1:30-2:00 Mark Williams (University of Cantebury NZ, English Department)

“Empty-hearted Country or Shining Land: On the Discriminations of Postcolonialisms in Australia and New Zealand”

2:00- 2:30 Paulo Lemos Horta (Simon Fraser University, English Department)

“A Short History of Magic Realism: Exotica, Authenticity and Subversion”

2:30- 3:00 Nima Naghibi (University of Winnipeg, Department of English)

“`Getting Behind the Veil’ again: Scopophilic Revelations in National Geographic and CNN Documentaries on Iran”

3:00 – 3:30 Discussion

Session 5B 1:30 – 3:30 Northrop Frye 205

Global Images in Local Places

Chair: Michael Lambek (University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology)

1:30-2:00 Brad Weiss (College of William and Mary University, Department of Anthropology)

“Swahili Sunset Beach: The Cosmopolitan at Home”

2:00- 2:30 Misty L.Bastian (Franklin and Marshall College, Department of Anthropology)

“Terror Against Terror.” September 11^th/October 13^th, 2001 and Their Aftermaths in the Nigerian Electronic Media”

2:30-3:00 Deborah Durham (Sweet Briar College, Department of Anthropology and Sociology)

“Youth in Africa: Crises, Critical Moments and Contests across the Postcolonies”

3:00 – 3:30 Discussion

3:30 – 4:00 Coffee

Session 6 A 4:00 – 6:00 Emmanuel 119

Postcolonialism Today: Practical Challenges

Chair: Diana Brydon

4:00-4:30 Simon Archer (York University , Osgoode Hall Law School)

“Globalization and Neo-Colonialism, or Law’s Empire: First as Tragedy, Twice as Farce?”

4:30-5:00 Chelva Kanaganayakam (University of Toronto, English Dept.)

“Pedagogy and Practice in Postcolonial Literary Studies”

5:00-5:30 Neil ten Kortenaar (University of Toronto, Department of English) “From Generation to Generation: Historical Change in African Literature”

5:30-6:00 Discussion

Session 6B 4:00 – 6:00 Northrop Frye 205

Ideologies, Representations and Pedagogy

Chair: Eric Jennings

4:00-4:30 Kanishka Goonewardena (University of Toronto, Department of Geography)

“National Ideology in Sri-Lanka: A Question Concerning Technology, Modernity and the West”

4:30-5:00 R. Cheran (Centre for Refugee Studies, York University)

“Commodification and Commercialization of Identities: The Case of the Diaspora Postcolonial”

5:00-5:30 Mary Nyquist (Department of English, University of Toronto)

"Going Down: Prostration and Servility from Herodotus to Stargate."

6:30 – 7:00 Closing Remarks TBA Emmanuel 119