Zoë Norridge  (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) and
Charlotte Baker (Nottingham University, UK)

Crossing Places? Probing the limits of postcolonialism through interdisciplinary graduate collaboration

In January 2006 a two day conference entitled 'Crossing Places' took place at the University of Nottingham. The aim of the conference was to draw together postgraduates from the UK, Africa, US and beyond with a common research interest in 'African Studies'. The conference programme incorporated a wide range of disciplines including literary studies, film studies, international development, law, anthropology and bioethics.

Many of the papers presented engaged with the legacy of colonialism and the theoretical approaches of postcolonialism to be examined in the 'Boundaries and Limits of Postcolonialism' conference. The 'Crossing Places' topic was also explored thematically in terms of the changing relationships between gender, race, place and power, and the dissolution of boundaries between traditionally discreet disciplines and theories.

The 'Crossing Places' conference was organised by Charlotte Baker and Zoë Norridge, PhD students in Francophone and Anglophone literary studies respectively. We were motivated by a frustration with the artificial division between African literature written in French and African literature written in English, and intrigued by the possibility of a more interdisciplinary approach to contemporary African culture.

In this paper, we will examine the extent to which the conference encouraged a reworking of our conventional disciplinary boundaries and whether this contradicted or re-enforced the dominant trends in postcolonial theory. Reflecting on issues of margin and centre, subject-object crossings and dualist analytical thought raised by the 'Crossing Places' project, we will suggest new ways of thinking about African literature in today's context of internet technology and the increasingly active Diaspora.