This reading group seeks to answer the question “what is African arts” beyond the geographic boundaries imposed on it. From Africas to the Worlds, this reading group will attempt to survey the representations of African arts by Africans from Africa and its diasporas, by Western scholars and artists from slavery to postcolonialism in a bid to find answers to possible delimitations of what African arts is. If it is arts from Africa, then what is Africa? If it is, Arts of African inspiration, what influence does African worldviews have on its arts? What is that worldview all about from the artist to the work of arts as well as from the work of arts to the public? What role does the African diaspora play in shaping what African arts is? Can we think of African arts as a practice? A theory?A specific/shared/global/cosmopolitan cultural heritage? What role does the sociocultural context of the artist play in thinking about his style? What can oral memory/literature/history, audiovisual media and literature tell us about what African arts is?

This reading group will meet once a month and will entail both the reading and the discussion of a proposed monthly reading list.

Contact: Murielle Sandra Tiako Djomatchoua ([email protected])

Calendar of meetings for the FALL SEMESTER 2023 :

September : The atlas of African arts : a Survey of arts from French speaking African countries

October : The patrimonialization of francophone African arts in literature, cinema, traditional
and popular cultures

November : African arts in museums : representations and worldviews

December: Patriarchy and matrimony in African arts: a gendered biopolitical approach