RSVP required. Contact Olivia Gunn at ogunn@uw.edu for more information. How, if at all, may speaking of an “African diaspora” in Europe be helpful or otherwise meaningful to understanding and conceptualizing what it means to be “Black” in Europe? How may it be helpful or otherwise meaningful to understanding and conceptualizing “Europe” and its “nation-states”? What does or should the term “African diaspora” mean in the first place? Not least, in African Diaspora Studies, Black/Africana Studies, Black/African European Studies and the like? This workshop will address such questions and will be based on a forthcoming journal article with the same title—that will be shared in advance with workshop participants. The article calls for a reconceptualization of the African diaspora in Europe in terms of socio-political conditions and positions rather than—as is currently usually the case—culture and identity. This includes interests in culture and identity, but places them in a broader context. The workshop will discuss how to conceptualize the African diaspora in Europe and elsewhere and for what purposes. Michael McEachrane is a Visiting Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights. He has a PhD in Philosophy (with distinction, 2006) from Åbo Akademi University in Finland and has held positions at universities in the US, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Germany and the UK. His current research focus is on postcolonial/decolonial perspectives on human rights, structural racial discrimination and reparatory justice. Among his publications are the books Afro-Nordic Landscapes: Equality and Race in Northern Europe (Routledge, 2014) and Sverige och de Andra: Postkoloniala perspektiv (Natur & Kultur, 2001). Michael McEachrane is a regular commentator on issues of race for international as well as Swedish media. He is also a seasoned universal human rights advocate who, among other things, has helped found several CSOs and served as an expert advisor to the UN around the International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024. Organized as part of the Transcultural Approaches to Europe Lecture Series and held in conjunction with McEachrane's lecture. |