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DEVOLVING
DIASPORAS is a three-year project (2007-2009)
investigating the relationship between reading,
location, and migration. By coordinating and
recording a series of reading group discussions
in the UK, Africa, the Caribbean, India, and
Canada, we hope to gain a better understanding
of how different reading communities make sense
of the same texts. Each group will discuss the
following high profile works by contemporary
diasporic writers based in the UK:
» Monica Ali, Brick
Lane (2003)
» Andrea Levy, Small Island (2004)
» Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2001)
» Jackie Kay, The Adoption Papers
(1991)*
*For the rationale behind
this selection, and details of other texts being
considered, click here.
We have chosen Central Scotland
as a key site, and the hubs of our reading group
network are Glasgow and Edinburgh. The work
of Scottish writer, Jackie Kay, reminds us that
to understand diaspora we need to move beyond
the classic metropolitan centres of migrant
cultural production and consumption (London-Bombay-New
York) to produce a DEVOLVED understanding of
diaspora texts. In addition to our Scottish
reading groups, we are recording readers in
locations as diverse as Penzance and Port of
Spain, Newcastle and New Delhi. Through transcription
and careful analysis of the conversation produced
by such groups, we will ask whether the RECEPTION
of the same text differs according to location,
and (if it does) how we account for these differences.
For details of how to GET INVOLVED in the reading
group network click here.
Our other initiatives focus on writing, migration,
Scotland and ideas of ‘cultural devolution’.
From now until the end of 2009 we will also
be working on:
A theatrical adaptation
of Jackie Kay's The Adoption Papers
presenting the macrobert Youth Dance Company’s
adaptation of The Adoption Papers
A database
of diasporic literary and cultural production
in Scotland, 1980-present
cataloguing the presence of ‘devolved’
diasporic cultures, showcasing the work of writers
in Scotland
A
Poetry Competition
inviting submissions dealing with the diaspora
experience beyond London
An
anthology of poetry by writers in Scotland,
Northern England and the Midlands
publishing ‘regional’ diasporic
poetry from Scotland, the North of England,
and the Midlands
Workshops
informing and stimulating ongoing research on
the ‘Devolving Diasporas’ project
all
enquiries: info@devolvingdiasporas.com
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