Convened by Jessica Falconi and Ana Mafalda Leite (Centre for African and Development Studies (CEsA, University of Lisbon))

This roundtable session aims to discuss the relationship that African literatures and arts establish with the current issues brought about by development at a global level. On the one hand, it is intended to address different representations of the multiple impacts of development on literary and artistic creations. On the other hand, it is necessary to reflect and discuss the conditions of inequality in the circuits of production, circulation and reception of African literature and arts in the new neoliberal world order.
In particular, guest speakers will discuss development impacts and consequences in relation to the following thematic axes: 1) Crises (environmental, ecological, political, economic, social) 2) Dissident identities (religious, political, gender) 3) Cultural fractures (new technologies and local knowledge in urban, peri-urban and rural spaces) 4) Itineraries (travels, diasporas and exiles).
While including comparative approaches, the discussion will focus in particular on the literatures and arts of the five Portuguese-speaking African countries.

(Tentative) speakers:
Kamila Krakowska - Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society
Edvaldo Bergamo (online) - University of Brasilia
Sarah Laisse- Catholic University of Mozambique
Fernanda Gallo - University of Campinas (online)
Marta Banasiak - University of Campinas (online)