ABSTRACTS

Decolonizing France: from National Literatures to World Literatures

Dominic Thomas
(UCLA)

The field of francophone studies has allowed for improved contextualization of the colonial and postcolonial era in France, while also broadening the reception of creative and critical works outside of the hexagon. Yet, in the same way that recent discussions in France on postcolonial studies have often ignored advances made in other cultural and political contexts on these issues, national intellectuals have also tended to obfuscate the significance of existing international contributions and research. A number of important questions therefore need to be further explored: How might a world literature in French serve to re-affirm the centrality of francophonie as a hegemonic/monolithic force? What cultural, economic, political, and social differences/similarities can be located within alternative spheres of linguistic influence (anglophone, lusophone, etc.)? What might the criteria for exclusion/inclusion be in an expanded version of the manifeste des 44? How do the more substantive claims of the 44 correlate with other aesthetic and political conceptualizations of literary production? And finally, to what degree can these debates be situated within the framework of ethnic mobilization, identity formation, and cultural globalization?