Call for Abstracts:
Northern Darkness: Engaging Blackness in Scandinavia
What is the history of Black Scandinavia? What are the experiences, negotiations, and community building strategies of peoples of Scandinavians of African descent living in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland? In what ways have specific national, as well as our own gendered, sexual generational and/or migrational, histories presented us with specific ways of understanding and negotiating the meaning of blackness on regional, national and/or everyday personal levels? This anthology aims to begin the process of writing this heretofore almost invisible history – to mark our specific presence and strategies of survival in what is globally often called “The North”.
We, the editors, are seeking abstracts for an English anthology on Afro-Scandinavians. The abstract, written in English, should be less than 500 words, and include a preliminary title, your professional affiliation and contact information. Email it to northernblackness@hotmail.com no later than November 15, 2008. By the 30th of November 2008, we will have chosen about 15 abstracts to include in the anthology.
Northern Darkness will be geared towards an academic audience, aiming to address some of the specific contexts and experiences of Afro-Scandinavians. We are mainly looking for essays with some theoretical import, but also want to include references to personal experiences and current social issues from various contexts.
Furthermore, we welcome different forms of creative writing, such as short stories and poems. We are currently looking for a university press interested in publishing the anthology. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss ideas, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Suggested topics:
African Diaspora in Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland.
* “Race” and “Race” relations in Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland.
* Afro-phobic discourses in Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland.
* Questions of identity and belonging.
* The Color of Gender in Swedish/Norwegian/Danish/Finnish gender research.
* Black masculinity/femininity and social space.
* Race and Sexuality in Sweden/Norway/Denmark/Finland.
* African Diasporic links and cultural production.
* Diasporic hegemonies.
These keywords and topics are of course not exhaustive, but are offered as suggestions.
Editors:
Ylva Habel, Department of Film Studies, Stockholm University.
Victoria Kawesa, Department of Gender Studies, Linköping University.
Michael McEachrane, Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, USA.
Lena Sawyer, Department of Social Work, Mid Sweden University.