PGMAPS Symposium: Decolonised Narratives?

This symposium is hosted by postgraduate researchers of the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies (MAPS) at Manchester Met.

In a climate that sees frequent conflict between decolonial movements and efforts to reinvigorate the colonial projects of past centuries, from Palestine and Sudan to Myanmar and Taiwan, decoloniality as practice has come under increasing public scrutiny. It is more crucial now than ever to consider the possibilities and limitations of efforts to decolonise raised in the critical works of thinkers from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o to Walter Mignolo to Olúfẹ ́mi Táíwò, and the creative projects of artists-activists like Arundhati Roy and Lubaina Himid.

In 2002, world-systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein called on scholars to ‘make our disciplines less dubious’ by abandoning the imperialist logic of dividing academic knowledge into separate disciplines (460). This symposium creates a space for exploring the nuance of decolonisation through the sharing of trans-disciplinary knowledge, in which scholars and practitioners come together to respond to the following key questions:

•To what extent is decolonial thought/practice a useful tool in spaces such as in academia, politics and ideas of nationhood, and how fully can this be realised?

•What happens when there is resistance to decolonisation, evidenced in the scrapping of EDI agendas, the banning of books, the rewriting of historical narratives and ongoing neocolonial efforts?

•How are people across different disciplines reimagining decoloniality and how are they embedding it into their creative and critical practices?

This is an in-person symposium hosted by the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. We will be joined by Dr Sunita Abraham (Lecturer in Decolonisation at Lancaster University) and Anjum Malik MBE (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University) as keynotes. Dr Abraham has worked extensively within the field of decolonisation including researching Lancaster’s connection to the transatlantic slave trade and decolonisation within universities. Anjum Malik is a prolific writer and broadcaster with the BBC and was appointed City Poet for Manchester. She will be discussing her film: We Are Butterflies Forever in Flight.

The keynotes will be followed by a series of short papers and discussions and the day will conclude with an optional conference dinner. Refreshments and a conference lunch will be provided, but the optional conference dinner will be payable by delegates.

The conference will take place in Grosvenor East rooms GE4.07 and GE4.08.