Seminar Crossing the Black Atlantic Anglophone Poetry in a Global Age Do 12.30

Global processes of migration have deeply entangled lived experiences the world over and have rendered processes of translation a central characteristic of everyday life. In the context of anglophone literatures, it is Paul Gilroy's concept of the Black Atlantic that provides a model for theorising diasporic entanglements and translations between Africa, the Caribbean and Great Britain. Interweaving historical trails from the forced migrations of transatlantic slave trade to post-WWII migrations from Caribbean colonies to the British Isles, the Black Atlantic accommodates diverse aspects of history and memory, alterity and ethics, as well as translation and aesthetics. In this seminar, we will explore the concept of the Black Atlantic within a broader context of world literatures, particularly anglophone poetry from Africa, the Caribbean and Great Britain. Foregrounding the Black Atlantic's inherent dynamics, our explorations will emphasise movement and transformation in processes of translation from one context into another, be they linguistic, historical or spatial. All in all, we will be guided by such milestones as 1) aesthetics of anglophone poetry, 2) ethics and poetics of relation and translation, 3) postcolonial ecologies, and 4) entangled memories. We will be reading excerpts of the following long poems dealing with these entanglements: • Berardine Evaristo's Lara • Jackie Kay's Adoption Papers • Grace Nichols' i is a long memoried woman • Derek Walcott's Omeros Theoretical texts will soon be added to the -literature--section of this homepage and will be available on ILIAS. Englisch (MA, PO 2013) Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2015/16 Dr. Frenzel Sonja