Maison Française
The death of the Algerian writer and filmmaker Assia Djebar in February 2015 represents the loss of a major voice of world literature and one of the last great literary representatives of the age of decolonization. For half a century, Djebar explored her country’s past and present in novels, essays and films that combine poignant lyricism with theoretical sophistication. Counter-narratives to official nationalism, her works highlight, above all, the experiences of Algerian women before, during and after colonialism. In this one-day conference an international group of leading scholars reflects on Djebar’s poetics and politics and the legacies of her writing in Algeria, France and beyond.
10 a.m. Opening Remarks
Madeleine Dobie
10:15-11:45 Panel 1: Overtures and Departures
Amr Kamal (CUNY), The Prologues and Epilogues of Assia Djebar
André Benhaim (Princeton), Djebar’s Odyssey
11:45-1 p.m. Lunch break
1-2:30 Panel 2: Memory and Mourning
Erin Twohig (Georgetown University), Investigating a Disappearance: Multilingualism and Linguistic Erasure in La disparition de la langue française
Catherine Rioux-Miklovich (Université de Clermont-Ferrand – CELIS ; Institut d’histoire du temps présent – CNRS, Paris) Les endeuillé-e-s d’Assia Djebar
Kamal Salhi (Leeds), Djebar at the Académie Française: building on the legacy post-canonical memories
2:30-2:45 Coffee Break
2:45-4:15 Panel 3: History and Fantasy
Réda Bensmaïa (Brown), L’Amour, La Fantasia or the Letters of History
Moneera al-Ghadeer (Columbia), The Foreign as an Operatic Spectacle in Assia Djebar
4:30-6 Keynote
Gayatri Spivak, Patterns of Resistance
Introduction by Souleymane Bachir Diagne
