BIGSAS Festival of African and African-Diasporic literatures:
- Date: June 8th -10th, 2017
- Location: D-95444 Bayreuth | Maximilianstr. 6 | Altes Schloss Bayreuth
Greeting by Thomas Krüger,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests, Dear contributors to the Festival for African and African-Diasporic Literatures 2017,
People from all parts of the world are arriving in Europe. It can be called a crisis, a reality – or an opportunity and chance. Suddenly, aspects of our globalized cohabitation become obvious that have been neglected by the spotlight of the newspapers and textbooks. In doing so, they keep reminding us that wars, hunger, poverty and natural catastrophes cannot be seen in isolation in this entangled world.
The number of citizens from sub-Saharan Africa who have applied for asylum in the EU in recent years is negligibly low in comparison to the number of the refugees from other parts of the world. But it is increasing. And with this, people with a history of escape and migration from this region are also becoming more visible in our society. The reasons for migration to Europe are also becoming increasingly visible. They are visible because African intellectuals employ their knowledge, their stories, and their art forms to renegotiate what has long been considered in Europe to be – politically, economically and historically – »true«.
The texts of the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie show how important representatives of the African diaspora are for a common reflection on identity and history. In her remarkable lecture on »The Danger of a Single Story« she says: »Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity...«
Education is an effective instrument against racism and xenophobia. Our task now is to shift education into a new direction. Education must be resituated postcolonially and has to be decolonizing in effect. It cannot be thought of differently in a globalized context. Education must help to promote aspects such as uncertainty, utopia, diversity or ambiguity, which are fundamental to the openness for different futures in democratic societies.
For this we need credible intermediaries and exciting stories. Turn on the spotlights for: »Africa: We(l)come to Europe. Afrofictional In(ter)Ventions and the Future of Migration«.
I wish you an inspiring festival!
Thomas Krüger
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Willkommen! Welcome!
In 2017, the BIGSAS Festival of African and African-Diasporic Literatures will devote itself to the situation in Europe, widely known as a »refugee crisis«. In its very core, though, it is rather about an identity crisis in Europe and Germany. In order to engage with this identity crisis and to protest against populist threat scenarios that want to stir up fear, hatred and violence, this festival holds a clear, future-oriented message: »We(l)come to Europe.« Yes, refugees will continue to come to Europe and will keep becoming Europeans: Welcome. Willkommen.
Needless to stress, migration is a primordial experience. People, ideas and goods have always been interwoven into new, dynamic and multifaceted societies – although, unfortunately, rarely without conflicts. This historically shaped diversity has been challenged and whitened by »Schengen-Europe«. At times, this attempt to sort people into cultures and nations is just as obsessive as striving to »sort« the faces of a Magic Cube into the right colors or shapes. This is narrated by this year’s festival’s artwork: homogenization is about being in power and securing privileges. Conversely, bereft of such power and privileges, people who wish to overcome borders are endangered. Udo Lindenberg’s song »Keine Staaten« claims: »You fall from heaven, sometime, somewhere – and that’s what they call homeland« and fair. Yet this is not about fairness. To be at home and be able to stay is not about fortune or fate but is as much about power and privileges as about responsibility and solidarity.
The 2017 BIGSAS Festival is an invitation to follow this thought and to think migration as future – as a multitude that celebrates Édouard Glissant’s »unity in diversity«. This is performed most consistently and critically in imaginary worlds in general and literature in particular. The 2017 Festival will discuss such visions on diversity and future featuring dialogues between art, science and politics while keep insisting: Welcome to Europe and Welcome to visions that share more equitably futureS in Europe and all over the globe.
For the festival team, Susan Arndt Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard
-> open festival program as pdf (750 KB)
You are on the site optimized for smartphones and tablets. Click here for the mainpage (Flashplugin and a screen resolution from at least 800 px (width) required).
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- Date: June 8th -10th, 2017
- Location: D-95444 Bayreuth | Maximilianstr. 6 | Altes Schloss Bayreuth
Greeting by Thomas Krüger,
President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Guests, Dear contributors to the Festival for African and African-Diasporic Literatures 2017,
People from all parts of the world are arriving in Europe. It can be called a crisis, a reality – or an opportunity and chance. Suddenly, aspects of our globalized cohabitation become obvious that have been neglected by the spotlight of the newspapers and textbooks. In doing so, they keep reminding us that wars, hunger, poverty and natural catastrophes cannot be seen in isolation in this entangled world.
The number of citizens from sub-Saharan Africa who have applied for asylum in the EU in recent years is negligibly low in comparison to the number of the refugees from other parts of the world. But it is increasing. And with this, people with a history of escape and migration from this region are also becoming more visible in our society. The reasons for migration to Europe are also becoming increasingly visible. They are visible because African intellectuals employ their knowledge, their stories, and their art forms to renegotiate what has long been considered in Europe to be – politically, economically and historically – »true«.
The texts of the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie show how important representatives of the African diaspora are for a common reflection on identity and history. In her remarkable lecture on »The Danger of a Single Story« she says: »Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity...«
Education is an effective instrument against racism and xenophobia. Our task now is to shift education into a new direction. Education must be resituated postcolonially and has to be decolonizing in effect. It cannot be thought of differently in a globalized context. Education must help to promote aspects such as uncertainty, utopia, diversity or ambiguity, which are fundamental to the openness for different futures in democratic societies.
For this we need credible intermediaries and exciting stories. Turn on the spotlights for: »Africa: We(l)come to Europe. Afrofictional In(ter)Ventions and the Future of Migration«.
I wish you an inspiring festival!
Thomas Krüger
-- top --
Willkommen! Welcome!
In 2017, the BIGSAS Festival of African and African-Diasporic Literatures will devote itself to the situation in Europe, widely known as a »refugee crisis«. In its very core, though, it is rather about an identity crisis in Europe and Germany. In order to engage with this identity crisis and to protest against populist threat scenarios that want to stir up fear, hatred and violence, this festival holds a clear, future-oriented message: »We(l)come to Europe.« Yes, refugees will continue to come to Europe and will keep becoming Europeans: Welcome. Willkommen.
Needless to stress, migration is a primordial experience. People, ideas and goods have always been interwoven into new, dynamic and multifaceted societies – although, unfortunately, rarely without conflicts. This historically shaped diversity has been challenged and whitened by »Schengen-Europe«. At times, this attempt to sort people into cultures and nations is just as obsessive as striving to »sort« the faces of a Magic Cube into the right colors or shapes. This is narrated by this year’s festival’s artwork: homogenization is about being in power and securing privileges. Conversely, bereft of such power and privileges, people who wish to overcome borders are endangered. Udo Lindenberg’s song »Keine Staaten« claims: »You fall from heaven, sometime, somewhere – and that’s what they call homeland« and fair. Yet this is not about fairness. To be at home and be able to stay is not about fortune or fate but is as much about power and privileges as about responsibility and solidarity.
The 2017 BIGSAS Festival is an invitation to follow this thought and to think migration as future – as a multitude that celebrates Édouard Glissant’s »unity in diversity«. This is performed most consistently and critically in imaginary worlds in general and literature in particular. The 2017 Festival will discuss such visions on diversity and future featuring dialogues between art, science and politics while keep insisting: Welcome to Europe and Welcome to visions that share more equitably futureS in Europe and all over the globe.
For the festival team, Susan Arndt Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard
-> open festival program as pdf (750 KB)
You are on the site optimized for smartphones and tablets. Click here for the mainpage (Flashplugin and a screen resolution from at least 800 px (width) required).
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