NAB VII - ias.uni-bayreuth.de

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BIGSAS Festival of African and African Diasporic Literatures
African Conceptualisations
of Europe was the
theme of the first BIGSAS
Festival of African and African
Diasporic Literatures held from
24 th to 26 th May 2011. The festival
was open to the interested
public and explored the world
of words in an age that has witnessed
the rapid transition from
hard books to e-books and the
accelerated global movement
of people and goods as well as
ideas and information. The invited
authors and artists engaged
in readings and performances
ranging between prose and poetry,
drama and short story, music
and politics.
The festival brought together
artists from Harare and Berlin,
London and Ibadan, Djibouti and
Paris, Yaoundé and Bayreuth.
Spoken fiction was framed
and supplemented by lectures,
round-table discussions and
open debates in which renowned
scientists from both Germany
and abroad took part.
The overall aim was to contribute
to a public debate about current
conceptualisations of Africa
and Europe which are often biased
and still carry distorted
notions of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’, and
which are often informed by colonialist
fantasies. A major point
of interest was: What positions
do African intellectuals hold of
these conceptualisations of processes
in Europe? What are the
stances taken by people living
in the African diasporas in Europe
and the Americas? How do
they challenge, subvert and reconstruct
notions of Europe as a
white Christian entity?
Given the range of topics and
the expertise of the invited au-
NAB Vol. XI - 2011 NAB Vol. XI - 2011
Words and Voices by African and African-diasporic
authors were well received during the first BIGSAS literature
festival. (BIGSAS)
thors and speakers, the festival
fulfilled its promise to be entertaining,
interactive and stimulating,
all at the same time. To
the general delight of visitors,
the festival also featured performances.
On the opening night,
three African/African-diasporic
spoken word artists performed
their poetry accompanied by local
musicians, and on the closing
night the festival hosted the
open air concert of the Afro-diasporic
Berlin-based formation
»1884«. The concert was held
on the Bayreuth market square
in the city centre and was attended
by more than 800 people.
The name of the band, as well as
the textual focus of the songs, al-
ludes to the role Germany played
within the European colonial
project. The band demonstrated
that high quality musical performance
and political education go
well together.
Participating authors were:
Cristina Ali Farah (Somalia/Italy),
Biyi Bandele (UK/Nigeria),
Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe),
Patrice Nganang (Cameroon/
USA), Femi Osofisan (Nigeria),
Jean-Luc Raharimanana (Madagascar/France),
Chika Unigwe
(Nigeria/Belgium), A. A. Wabéri
More than 800 guests followed the open-air concert
given by the band “1884”. (BIGSAS)
www.bigsas.uni-bayreuth.de/literaturfestival
BIGSAS
(Djibouti/France) and Sénouvo
Agbota Zinsou (Togo/Germany).
The festival was organised
through the cooperation of the
University of Bayreuth/BIGSAS,
an Excellence Initiative of the
German Federal and State Governments,
the City of Bayreuth,
the Bundeszentrale für politische
Bildung, various foundations
and many other supporters and
partners. The next literature
festival is scheduled for 14 th to
16 th June 2012.
(N. Ofuatey-Alazard/BIGSAS)
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