Past Events
NarraMuse Seminar 2023-2024 “Le tournant postmigratoire: enjeux et questionnements d’une mutation socio-culturelle et religieuse annoncée”
In a television talk show broadcast on May 8, 1998, German-speaking writer Feridun Zaimoglu—born in Turkey in 1964 and having moved to Germany with his family at a young age—assumed the role of spokesperson for the new generations of foreign descent. After “forty years of migration history” in Europe, these younger generations no longer wished to be trapped in the identity of “creatures in crisis” (Krisenkreaturen), allegedly torn between the cultures of their origins and those of their host societies.
Twenty-five years later, following the publication of her book Die postmigrantische Gesellschaft (2019), political scientist Naika Foroutan defines the issues at stake in the “postmigrant society,” extending the discussion beyond the ongoing debates surrounding migration itself. In a much broader sense, the “core conflict” (Kernkonflikt) of postmigrant societies, she argues, only superficially concerns the issue of migration. It revolves much more around the “negotiation and recognition of equality as a central promise of modern democracies, which call for plurality and parity as foundational principles.”1 This includes, for instance, the relationship to populations of Muslim descent
Recent studies, such as those by Moritz Schramm and his research center at Syddansk Universitet(University of Southern Denmark), which specializes in the in-depth study of postmigration, emphasize the need to expand this concept. They advocate moving beyond the idea of (migrant and post-migrant) “generations” and integrating it into a broader postmigrant “perspective” that operates within societies as a whole.2
This transversal inter-university seminar of the F.R.S.-FNRS Thematic Doctoral School of Languages and Literature aims to define the contours of this postmigrant perspective in relation to several key issues, a non-exhaustive list of which is presented here:
- Identities and genders
One of the strengths of the concept of post-migration lies in its ability to encompass the complexity of modern societies, including ambivalences, ambiguities, antagonisms, and the emergence of new alliances and solidarities that transcend traditional notions of ethnicity, gender, or cultural heritage (Foroutan 2019). Regarding “feminine” and non-binary identities, the focus appears to be on the desire to assert and make visible a multifaceted identity within both a “host” society and the “home” society, often structured around dualistic frameworks (Aydemir & Yaghoobifarah 2022). Within the many facets of the “plural man’s” identity (Lahire 2016), various expressions of masculinity emerge. Perceptions and expressions of masculinity engage with dynamics of domination (Delphy 2008), the transmission of “legitimate” emotions and ways of being in the world (hooks 2021), the division of roles (Bourdieu 1990), and social and economic inequalities (Delphy 2016)
- Relationship with the body
The question of the body is central to the postmigrant experience. While the postmigrant subject may have been born and raised in Europe, their body—or more precisely, its appearance and active visibility, which is seen as a prerequisite for existence (cf. Göle, 2015)—often becomes categorized as “other.” This perception arises both within European society (Aydemir & Yaghoobifarah 2022) and within the framework of the first-generation migrant family. Without resorting to pathologizing, the corporeality of the postmigrant subject does not conform to the formal or informal norms of European society, nor to those of the “country of origin.” It is particularly through the emergence of this “fluid” appearance that the postmigrant perspective challenges binary oppositions that have traditionally defined hegemonic norms (Yildiz 2022).
- Reassessing the modes of belonging
The concept of belonging is often problematic for the postmigrant subject, both on a personal level—linked to struggles with “leaving behind, without abandoning,” or “anchoring, without remaining imprisoned” (Fleury 2020)—and in relation to societal stances. Indeed, the postmigrant individual is confronted with discourses that marginalize and “migrantize” them within the society in which they were born (Petersen, Schramm & Wiegand 2019). More broadly, postmigrant subjects expose the limitations of belonging models based on the nation-state, which continue to privilege attachment to a particular territory, culture, or country (Nouss 2015). Nouss advocates for a reassessment of these models in order to rethink plural belonging. This reassessment is all the more pressing in highly secularized societies, where religious indifference has become predominant (Donégani 2015). In these contexts, integrating the religious dimension into identity construction proves difficult: as a form of “otherness,” religion is often questioned, minimized, or marginalized, unless it is initially framed as a problem.
- Trauma Studies and issues of memory
Trauma studies have demonstrated that, in the case of migration, trauma does not end with the journey itself but has a lasting impact on the individual, often affecting their life in the host country (de Rogatis 2023), as well as that of their children—especially when cultural transmission seems insufficiently ensured. This process unfolds across time (from one generation to the next) and space (from the communities of departure to those of arrival). Marianne Hirsch defines postmemory as the relationship of second-generation individuals to powerful, often traumatic experiences that preceded their birth, but were passed down to them with such intensity that they seem to constitute their own memories. Although Hirsch initially conceptualized postmemory in relation to the Holocaust, she notes that this inter- and transgenerational structure (Hirsch 1996) can be applied to many contexts of traumatic transference (Hirsch 2012), including migration and, therefore, postmigration.
- Connections to postcolonialism
Postmigration and postcolonialism both require a reading that extends beyond a purely chronological framework—the period after colonization, the period after migration. They both embody a critical perspective aimed at transcending binary oppositions between cultures—colonizer/colonized, native/migrant (Yildiz 2022). In both cases, this perspective addresses phenomena of domination and resistance to that domination. It identifies strategies within postcolonial and postmigrant works that highlight and deconstruct dualistic worldviews. In turn, both postcolonialism and postmigration converge in their reflections on the conditions of cultural diversity.
- Ethics of recognition
In the work conducted notably by philosopher Axel Honneth, reflections on the ethics of recognition highlight the fundamental human desire to be acknowledged in one’s individuality—whether through love, rights, or solidarity (cf. Honneth 1992). However, these quests for recognition often confront various forms of contempt. While individuals in democratic and postmigrant societies seem to increasingly have the right to demand egalitarian recognition (Foroutan 2019), this desire paradoxically becomes more insatiable. This is partly because recognition appears to depend more on how others perceive us (Fukuyama 2018) and is often tied to symbolic recognition. As a result, feelings of resentment may develop, stemming from what is perceived as humiliation or a lack of recognition. Nevertheless, such feelings can be mitigated through education, what Foucault refers to as the “government of the self,” or even through a capacity for sublimation (Fleury 2020).
- Multimedia narrative forms and alternative distribution networks
Postmigrants are often digital natives who leverage new technologies to convey the realities of their experiences. This engagement with digital platforms allows them to bypass conventional modes of literary and artistic communication. Many began their careers writing for websites, social networks, or sharing their work on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, or Vimeo. This has enabled them to cultivate writing skills—such as language, artistic strategies, narrative techniques—that effectively convey their unique lived experiences. The phenomenon of rap in Europe, profoundly influenced by migrant and postmigrant communities, is particularly noteworthy. The stories told by rappers resonate with a broad, often urban audience, including young people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Postmigrant rappers, in this context, are forging alternative pathways to recognition, challenging traditional literary conventions.
- Postmigrant literature and intersectionality
The post-migrant perspective aims to move beyond framing “migration” merely as a disguised marker of racist exclusion. Instead, it positions migration as a societal norm (Foroutan 2019). This critique aligns with the intersectional approach, initially developed by African-American feminists, which asserts that different forms of social exclusion are interconnected and mutually reinforcing (Crenshaw 1989). Much like intersectionality, the postmigrant perspective examines the intersection of various systems of domination and seeks to deconstruct them by recognizing migration as part of social normalcy.
- The idea of ordeal and negotiation
In a political society structured around the imperative of individuality, can postmigration not be considered a privileged lens for analyzing how society systematically shapes a particular kind of individual? Drawing from the stories and (self-)biographies of postmigrants, what “ordeals” stand out, and what meanings are attributed to them? Danilo Martuccelli (cf. Allouani 2007) defines “ordeals” as “shared historical structural challenges” that affect society as a whole, challenges that “individuals are compelled to confront” with the resources at their disposal. How do postmigrants articulate these struggles? Furthermore, how do the ways in which these ordeals are narrated reflect the varying embodied dispositions and often contradictory relational contexts through which individuals negotiate their paths to a just existence, while simultaneously striving to contribute to the common good?
Bibliographie
ALLOUANI, Zakia. 2007 D. Martucelli. Forgé par l’épreuve. L’individu dans la France contemporaine. L’orientation scolaire et professionnelle, 36(2). http://journals.openedition.org/osp/1425. Mis en ligne le 08 décembre 2009, consulté le 17 février 2014.
AYDEMIR, Fatma, & YAGHOOBIFARAH, Hengameh. (2022). Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum. 5. Auflage. Berlin: Ullstein.
BOURDIEU, Pierre. 1990. La domination masculine. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 84(1), pp. 2-31.
CRENSHAW, Kimberlé. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1, pp. 139-168.
DE ROGATIS, Tiziana. (2023). Homing/Ritrovarsi: Traumi e translinguismi delle migrazioni in Morante, Hoffman, Kristoff, Scego e Lahiri. Università per Stranieri di Siena.
DELPHY, Christine. (2008). Classer, dominer: qui sont les «autres»? Paris: La fabrique éditions.
DELPHY, Christine. (2016). Close to home: A materialist analysis of women’s oppression. Londres: Verso Books.
DONEGANI, Jean-Marie. (2015).La sécularisation du croire: pragmatisme et religion. Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 169, pp. 229-261.
FLEURY, Cynthia. (2020). Ci-gît l’amer – Guérir du ressentiment. Paris: Gallimard.
FOROUTAN, Naika. (2019). Die postmigrantische Gesellschaft: Ein Versprechen der pluralen Demokratie. Bielefeld: transcript.
FUKUYAMA, Francis. (2018). Identity – Contemporary Identity Politics and the Struggle for Recognition. Londres: Profile Books Ltd.
GÖLE, Nilüfer. (2015). Musulmans au quotidien – Une enquête européenne sur les controverses autour de l’islam. Paris: La Découverte.
HIRSCH, Marianne. (1996). Past Lives: Postmemories in Exile. Poetics Today, 17(4), pp. 659–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/1773218.
HIRSCH, Marianne. (2012). The Generation of Postmemory : Writing and Visual Culture after the Holocaust. New York: Columbia University Press.
HONNETH, A. (2008). La lutte pour la reconnaissance. Paris: Cerf.
HOOKS, Bell. (2021). La volonté de changer: les hommes, la masculinité et l’amour. Paris: Divergences.
LAHIRE, Bernard. (2016). L’homme pluriel. La sociologie à l’épreuve de l’individu. In Catherine Halpern (éd.), Identité(s): L’individu, le groupe, la société (pp. 57-67). Auxerre: Éditions Sciences Humaines.
NOUSS, Alexis. (2015). La Condition de l’exilé. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme.
PETERSEN, Anne Ring, SCHRAMM, Moritz, & WIEGAND, Frauke. (2019). Introduction: From Artistic Intervention to Academic Discussion. In Moritz Schramm et al., Reframing Migration, Diversity and the Arts: The Postmigrant Condition (pp. 3-10). New York/Londres: Routledge.
YILDIZ, Erol. (2022). Vom Postkolonialen zum Postmigrantischen: Eine neue Topografie des Möglichen. In Ömer Alkin & Lena Geuer (éds.), Postkolonialismus und Postmigration (pp. 71-98). (HG.) Münster: Unrast Verlag.
- “Der Kernkonflikt in postmigrantischen Gesellschaften dreht sich nur an der Oberfläche um Migration – tatsächlich ist der Konflikt jedoch angetrieben von der Aushandlung und Anerkennung von Gleichheit als zentralem Versprechen der modernen Demokratien, die sich auf Pluralität und Parität als Grundsatz berufen” (Foroutan, pp. 13-14; Italics in the original). ↩︎
- Cf. https://www.europenowjournal.org/2023/05/01/the-politics-of-postmigration ↩︎
Program
Day 1
February 9, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Salle Oleffe (Bâtiment des Halles universitaires, Place de l’université 1)
9:30 AM — Welcome and Coffee
10:00 AM — Moritz Schramm (University of Southern Denmark), “Postmigration and the reflexive turn in Migration Studies”
11:30 AM — Arvi Sepp (VUB), “On the Dynamics of Exchange and the Permeability of Borders: Conceptual Reflections on Literary ‘Transculturalism’”
12:30 PM — Lunch Break
2:00 PM — Núria Codina (PI), Marialena Avgerinou, Anna Sofia Churchill, Joana Roqué Pesquer, Sonja Ruud(KULeuven), “Presentation of the COLLAB ERC Starting Grant Project: Making Migrant Voices Heard Through Literature: How Collaboration is Changing the Cultural Field”
3:00 PM — Hubert Roland, Costantino Maeder, Brigitte Maréchal, Gloria Coscia, Amaury Dehoux, Naïma El Makrini, Serena Finotello, Letizia Sassi (UCLouvain), “Practicing interdisciplinarity between humanities and social sciences on a daily basis: the case-study of the NarraMuse-project (Writing the Self and the Other: Identity and Societal Issues in Post-migration Literatures of Muslim descent in French, German and Italian)”
4:00 PM — Roundtable and discussion with PhD students (FR/ENG)
5:00 PM — Closing remarks
Day 2
May 10, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Salle Oleffe (Bâtiment des Halles universitaires, Place de l’université 1)
9:30 AM — Welcome and Coffee
10:00 AM — Tiziana De Rogatis (University for Foreigners of Siena), “Postmigration, translingualism and homing in Igiaba Scego and Jhumpa Lahiri”
11:00 AM — Gabriele Marino (University of Turin), “Migrant words and sounds in Italy — Between rap, trap, and afrobeats”
12:00 PM — Lunch break
2:00 PM — Anita Rotter (Universität Innsbruck), “German Rap and Slam Lyrics in the Postmigrant Society”
3:00 PM — Discussion with PhD students (FR/ENG) and closing remarks
Day 3
May 13, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
ULB (AY2.114)
9:30 AM — Welcome and Coffee
10:00 AM — Ibrahima Diagne (Université Cheikh Anta DIOP), “Postmigration, Decolonial Experiences, and Transnational Poetics”
11:00 AM — Justine Feyereisen (Universiteit Gent), “What Migration? Utopia and Parrehsia with Soeuf Elbadawi”
12:00 PM — Myriam Geiser (Université Grenoble Alpes), “The Notion of Post-migration as a Literary Category from a Franco-German Perspective”
1:00 PM — Lunch break
2:00 PM — Lily Climenhaga (Universiteit Gent), “A Postmigrant Theatre of the Future: Migratory Aesthetics, Globalized Realism, and Intercultural Interlocutors in the Theatre of Milo Rau”
3:00 PM — Discussion with PhD students (FR/ENG) and closing remarks
Research Day “Identités, appartenances et productions culturelles à l’aune de la postmigration” — June 7, 2023
The research day, the 3rd session of the ARC NarraMuse spring seminar, will take place on Wednesday, June 7, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, in the Salle Ladrière (Collège Mercier, 1er étage, Place Cardinal Mercier).
Program
9:00 AM — Welcome
9:30 AM — Valentina Schiavinato (Università di Padova): “La double présence: jeunes italo-marocain·e·s entre processus d’altération et valorisation des compétences”
10:00 AM — Discussion
10:10 AM — Younes-Yohan Van Praet (Université Aix-Marseille): “Religiosités musulmanes: entre continuité et ruptures”
10:40 AM — Discussion
10:50 AM — Break
11:00 AM — Lionel Remy-Hendrick (UCLouvain): “Le principe d’authenticité. Refonder le groupe par la co-énonciation dans la pratique du rap”
11:30 AM — Discussion with the three speakers
12:00 PM — Closing remarks
Research Day “La littérature européenne de la postmigration: théorie et cartographie” — May 23, 2023
The study day, the second session of the ARC NarraMuse spring seminar, will take place on May 23, 2023, from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM at MORE54.
Program
9:30 AM — Welcome
Session 1: postmigration et théories
10:00 AM — Myriam Geiser (Université Grenoble Alpes): “Positionnements théoriques à l’ère des “post”: Corrélations entre les concepts de post-mémoire et de post-migration“
10:45 AM — Discussion
11:15 AM — Coffee break
11:45 AM — Dagmar Reichardt (Latvian Academy of Culture): “Transculturalism – Heading for a New Postmigration Era”
12:30 PM — Discussion
1:00 PM — Lunch break
Session 2: littérature de la postmigration en Italie et en Allemagne
2:00 PM — Dagmar Reichardt (Latvian Academy of Culture): “Transcultural Labs & Italophonia: Selected Case Studies of Fluidity and Viscosity in Postmigration Literary Discourses”
2:30 PM — Hubert Roland (FNRS/UCLouvain): “Ethos et reconnaissance dans les productions littéraires des autrices de la postmigration de langue allemande”
3:00 PM — Discussion
3:30 PM — Coffee break
Session 3: littérature de la postmigration en France et en Belgique
4:00 PM — Naïma El Makrini (UCLouvain) et Amaury Dehoux (UClouvain): “Quelques tendances de la production littéraire postmigrante en France”
4:30 PM — Laurence Pieropan (Université de Mons): “La littérature migrante en Belgique francophone: un sous-champ littéraire?”
5:00 PM — Discussion
5:30 PM — Closing remarks
Conference by Martina Kopf — April 26, 2023
The first session of the ARC NarraMuse spring seminar will take place on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in the MORE 56 auditorium (Place Montesquieu, 2).
The seminar will open with a lecture by Martina Kopf (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz/Université Paris Nanterre), titled: “Désintégrez-vous!” Projets de société dans l’essai-manifeste postmigrant
In recent years, a number of essays and essay collections—often presented as manifestos—have emerged in which authors critique societal and political structures while envisioning projects for a postmigrant society. Notably, these works have been published in both Germany (e.g., Max Czollek, Fatma Aydemir, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Ilija Trojanow, Navid Kermani) and France (e.g., Patrick Chamoiseau, Michel Le Bris, Édouard Glissant). This lecture aims to adopt a comparative approach to these essays, focusing on their respective societal projects through the lens of the concepts of “postmigrant society” and “postmigrant perspective.”
Launching Event — December 13, 2022
The NarraMuse research team is pleased to invite you to the inauguration of its interdisciplinary research project (ARC 2022-2027).
Tuesday, December 13, 2022, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
UCLouvain
Sénat académique, Halles Universitaires
Place de l’université 1
5:00 PM: Welcome
5:10 PM: Presentation of the project
6:10 PM: Selected text excerpts: reading and commentary
6:45 PM: Reception