Call for Papers

Special issue of Current Writing on Paul Gilroy and The Black Atlantic: Modernity and double consciousness

The publication of Paul Gilroy's The Black Atlantic: Modernity and double consciousness ten years ago made a major contribution to the reconfiguration of the study of black literatures and cultures. Since then several scholars have engaged with the ways in which the Atlantic divides and connects Africa, Europe, and the Americas; with notions of black modernity; and with the intricacies of double consciousness.

Papers are sought for a special interdisciplinary issue of Current Writing commemorating Gilroy's work on the Black Atlantic as well as his more recent global approach to post-racial humanism. Whilst Gilroy's notion of the Black Atlantic constitutes a broad frame of reference for this special issue, the editors welcome contributions which critically engage with his theses or refine, develop and extend them into new directions.

Contributions may also deal with larger theoretical issues pertaining to Black Atlanticism, black modernity, and double consciousness, as well as readings and rereadings of specific texts within the Black Atlantic and the post-racial humanist paradigms. Submissions that emphasise African and especially southern African literatures, cultures and histories from these perspectives are especially encouraged.

Possible topics could include
- Theoretical issues in Black Atlanticism and/or post-racial global humanism
- Black Modernity
- Double Consciousness
- Black Atlanticism from an African perspective
- Southern Africa and the Black Atlantic
- Gender and the Black Atlantic
- Methodologies of the Black Atlantic
- Other aspects of Gilroy's writing

Abstracts of about 500 words should be submitted to the editors by 1 October 2003. Final submissions in the Harvard style, double spaced and not exceeding 7000 words in total (about 45 000 characters including spaces) should be received by 31 January 2004. For further information, please refer to the Current Writing homepage http://www.und.ac.za/und/english/curwrit/ or contact the editors of this issue:

Thomas Olver
Department of English
University of Zurich
Plattenstrasse 47
CH-8032 Zürich
olver@es.unizh.ch

Stephan Meyer
Zentrum Gender Studies
University of Basel
Bernoulistrasse 28
CH-4057 Switzerland
Fax and phone: ++ 41 61 - 681 20 50
stephan.meyer@unibas.ch