Intersections and Trajectories. Francophone Studies and Postcolonial Theory

Our purpose is to query France's long and complex relationship with Africa, and to highlight the African components and contributions to Francophone studies. We will stress the importance of African theoretical models and explore (as well as challenge) the way French and postcolonial research has shared, contested, and even enjoyed, a close discursive terrain in the United States under the aegis of a vast range of disciplinary combinations. This framework will enable us to describe new orders and intellectual trajectories in these areas and evaluate their use and relevance to the process of unravelling a number of cultural issues.