PCI Conference ‘ Postcolonial Cinema Studies’ and’ Doing Gender Lecture’ by Ella Shohat/ Robert Stam
Postcolonial Cinema Studies
7 June, 2012
Utrecht University
Organised by Sandra Ponzanesi
In collaboration with:
Postcolonial Studies Initiative, Centre for the Humanities,
Culture & Identities and the Gender Studies Programme
What is, or what might constitute, ‘Postcolonial cinema studies?’ This one-day conference does not propose ‘postcolonial cinema’ as a genre or wish to essentialise it by fitting it into a taxonomy. It envisions instead ‘postcolonial cinema’ in relation to dynamic departures from colonial paradigms of knowledge and power. The participants in this conference focus on the elaboration and deployment of a postcolonial lens and on the nature of cinematic engagement with audiences through that lens. It explores ‘postcolonial cinema’ as constituted by and within a conceptual space in which making connection and drawing inferences, specifically those that are occluded by national and colonial frames, is encouraged. The conference is organized to celebrate the publication of Postcolonial Cinema Studies edited by Sandra Ponzanesi and Marguerite Waller (London and New York, Routledge, 2011).
“Postcolonial Cinema Studies is an essential book that orchestrates an enriching dialogue between postcolonial studies and cinema studies, in ways that mutually illuminate both fields. Interdisciplinary and transnational, the volume goes beyond the usual Anglo-phone boundaries. Not only does it stretch the corpus of films to be studied, it also productively counterpoints theories, methodologies, and regions.”Ella Shohat, New York University, USA and Robert Stam, Tisch School of the Arts, USA
Programme- Morning: Drift 21 (Sweelinckzaal, room 0.05)
9.00-9.30 Coffee
9.30-9.40 Welcoming words
Prof. Frank Kessler (Director Research Institute for History and Culture/ Prof. of Media History, Utrecht University)
9.40-10.20 Introduction to Postcolonial Cinema Studies
Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University) and Marguerite Waller (University of California, Riverside, USA)
10.20-10.40 Response
Ella Shohat (New York University, USA) and Robert Stam(Tisch School of the Arts, USA)
10.40-11.20 Unpeople: postcolonial reflections on terror, torture and
detention in Children of Men
Shohini Chaudhuri (University of Essex, UK)
11.20-12.00 Postcolonial relationalities in Philippe Faucon’s Dans la vie
Mireille Rosello (University of Amsterdam)
12.00-12.40 Spectral postcoloniality: lusophone postcolonial film and the
imaginary of the nation.
Paulo de Medeiros (Utrecht University)
Lunch break
Programme- Afternoon: U-Theater, Kromme Nieuwegracht 20
14.00-14.40 The postcolonial circus: Maurizio Nichetti’s Luna e l’altra
Marguerite Waller (University of California, Riverside, USA)
14.40-15.20 Postcolonial adaptations: gained and lost in translation
Sandra Ponzanesi
15.20-15.50 Presentation of the Film: Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection (Dir. Samir, 2003)
Ella Shohat (New York University, USA)
15.50-17.45 Screening Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection
17.45-18.00 Q&A
18.00-19.00 Closing & Drinks
Free of charge, for registration and information please mail:s.ponzanesi@uu.nl
DOING GENDER Lecture Series ~ PCI PUBLIC LECTURE Spring 2012
Friday June 8, 2012: Prof. dr. Ella Shohat and Prof. dr. Robert Stam: Race in Translation: Culture Wars around the postcolonial Atlantic
Time: 14.00 hrs - 16.00 hrs
Location: Utrecht, Drift 21: room 0.05
Lecture: The lecture will be on the jointly written book by Stam/Shohat, which will come out in May 2012: Race in Translation: Culture Wars around the Postcolonial Atlantic. The book covers many debates in three different languages/nations/cultures–Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone. The book is at once a report from various fronts in the culture wars, a discussion of the relevant literature in three languages/spaces, and a polemic advancing our own views arguing with figures such as Bourdieu/Wacquant, Zizek, and many others attacking such fields of studies as multicultural/postcolonial studies and to a lesser extent feminist studies.
Professor Ella Shohat teaches at the departments of Art & Public Policy and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at New York University, and is also affiliated faculty with NYU Abu Dhabi. She has lectured and written extensively on issues such as Eurocentrism and Orientalism, as well as with Post/colonial and transnational approaches to Cultural studies. Her award-winning publications include: Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices (2006), Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (1989); Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age (1998); Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation and Postcolonial Perspectives (1997); and with Robert Stam, Unthinking Eurocentrism (1994);Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality and Transnational Media (2003); Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism (2007); and Culture Wars in Translation (2011)
Professor Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University. He has lectured and published widely on Literature, Film and Muliticulturalism. Among his many publications are Literature through Film: Realism, Magic, and the Art of Adaptation (2004);Film Theory: An Introduction (2000); Francois Truffaut and Friends (2006); Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Culture (1997); and Subversive Pleasures: Bakhtin, Cultural Criticism, and Film (1989).
The Doing Gender Lecture Series take place in Utrecht and is free of charge.
For more information: www.graduategenderstudies.nl
Registration is not compulsory, but highly appreciated: nog@uu.nl or 030 - 253 6001