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History and Politics of Belonging in African Indian Ocean Island Societies

Second Call for Papers : Third international thematic CRG conference on Africa and the Indian Ocean

The African Indian Ocean islands have histories founded on migrations, be they forced (slavery), semi-forced (indentured labourers) or free (insofar as migrations prompted by social economic or political pressures in the homeland can be described as free). Migrants have come to these islands from the African mainland, South and East Asia, the Arab world and even Europe, where they have either constituted new societies or inserted themselves into older ones. Histories – of the people and of the islands – are deeply intertwined, in official practice, in public texts and in collective memories, and these histories shape social relations and cultural practices in these islands.

This two-day Conference calls for contributions that address the various expressions of historical memories of the past and their impacts upon, for example, social relationships, literary production, cultural practices, heritage issues or political policies. Participants might ask how memories of the past are both produced by and frame relationships between different groups in Madagascar, between people of free and slave ancestry in Mauritius, between islanders in the Comoros or between “Arabs” and “Africans” in Zanzibar. Although we welcome historical papers, “the past” is a relative term and migrations continue today. Participants are therefore encouraged to address the dynamics of contemporary productions of history and of memories of these migrant pasts, and how the narratives thus produced shape contemporary modes of belonging.

Organisation :
The conference will take place over two days, 25-26 June 2018, at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Studies (Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien - ZIRS) Martin-Luther University, Halle (Saale), Germany.

Participants will be expected to make their own travel arrangements but accommodation and meals during the conference will be provided.

Please send abstracts of not more than 150 words with the author’s name, email and institutional affiliation to iain.walker@zirs.uni-halle.de before 31 January 2018. We would expect to advise of acceptance or otherwise by 9 February.

CONTACT :
Iain Walker at iain.walker@zirs.uni-halle.de

Organisers :
 Preben Kaarsholm, Roskilde University
 Didier Nativel, Université Paris Diderot
 Manuel Ramos, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
 Iain Walker, Martin-Luther-Universität