CALL FOR PAPERS
Alien Geographies: Postcolonialism, Gender and Sexuality
ACCUTE 25-28 May 2002 Toronto
Dennis Lee writes, "To speak unreflectingly in a colony . . . is to use
words that speak only alien space." Literary representations of Indigeneity
in Canada (and elsewhere) have, even when an attempt is made to accurately
portray subjected peoples, often reinscribed "inauthenticity" at the heart
of understanding the other; the result is a geography of "alien space."
If Canada is understood, in part, as a nation of immigrant colonizers, how
have the earlier newcomers, such as the prototypical Susanna Moodie,
constructed images of First Nations peoples, and how have indigenous
peoples--such as Lee Maracle or Sky Lee--written back"? Moreover, how have
recent writers--especially new immigrants from other colonized countries,
such as Dionne Brand with Land to Light On--added nuance to the debate about
authentic voices and their relation to the land(scape), and the constitution
of Canadian Indigeneity and identities? How has the construction of
English- or French-Canadian nationalism depended on the exclusion or
suppression of certain aspects of gender and sexuality seen as inimical to
the continued broadcasting of a masculinist, virile, heterosexual
nationality? Has the land itself--in novels such as Badlands--often been
discussed in this manner? How do literary representations of foreign
lands--in, say, A Fine Balance, or Funny Boy--reconfigure Canadian identities?
Especially welcome are papers which explore such topics with attention to
the relation between the discourses of postcolonialism, gender and
sexuality.
Please send queries and/or 300-500 word abstracts by
25 November 2001
to
Dr Andrew Lesk
318 Albany Ave
Toronto ON M5R 3C9
(More information on my own work can be found at www.AndrewLesk.com)
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