Conceptualising Archipelagic Memory

Taking place on the 187th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Mauritius, this seminar brings together three eminent scholars working on questions of memory, islands and archipelagos to initiate a discussion on practices of memory-making in archipelagic spaces and through archipelagic structures, and on the meanings and possibilities embedded in the notion of "archipelagic memory".

As the Archipelagic Memory interdisciplinary collaborative project prepares for its conference "Archipelagic Memory: Intersecting Geographies, Histories and Disciplines" that will take place in Mauritius from 2-4 August 2022, this online seminar is intended as a first step in the creation of an intellectual forum to trace fresh trajectories in archipelagic thinking in the light of memory studies and novel forms of discourse, activism, justice and solidarity in the Global South. We welcome scholars and cultural practitioners working on connected histories across seas and oceans to attend the seminar and join us in exploring and sharpening our understanding of "archipelagic memory".

Guest speakers:

• Michael Rothberg, Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies at UCLA. He works in the fields of Holocaust, trauma and memory studies, postcolonial studies, and contemporary literature. In his works, he developed the concept of multidirectional memory and the figure of the implicated subject.

• Vijaya Teelock, Vice-President of the International Scientific Committee of the Indentured Labour Route Project and member of the International Scientific committee of UNESCO’s Slave Route Project. Formerly Associate Professor of History at the University of Mauritius, she founded the Centre for Research on Slavery and Indenture.

• Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Professor of English Literature at King’s College London. She researches the intersection of the written text with other forms of cultural expression within acts of collective memorialization and forgetting. She currently works on creolisation as a historical process and cultural theory, and its applicability to India.

Organisers: Sraddha Shivani Rajkomar (University of Mauritius), Luca Raimondi (King’s College London/University of the Witwatersrand) and Linganaden Murday (King’s College London/University of Mauritius).

Please register by 30th January 2022. The seminar link will be provided via email to registered participants on the day before the event.

For more details on the Archipelagic Memory project and conference, please visit our website: https://archipelagicmemory.wordpress.com.

The event is supported by: