The Concept Of The Terms "Afro-Europe"

Introduction

The field of Afro-European studies in itself is certainly not a novelty, but the terms "Afro-Europe" and "Afro-European" are being used increasingly in recent years, parallel to the debates on European identity accompanying the consolidation of the European Union. More attention is being devoted to marginal or marginalized spaces, and more scholarly work is being produced that explores the multifaceted cultural forms emerging within Europe, signaling the need to bridge the gap between the imperialism of postcolonial anglophone studies, on the one hand, and the traditional reluctance of more peripheral academic contexts to move beyond localisms and engage in a constructive debate on the international level, on the other. I am referring here to the importance of comparative perspectives in the study of the new literatures and to the urge of incorporating more linguistic contexts other than the anglophone and the francophone into postcolonial discourse. A comparative approach would signal not so much the emergence of a new field as a systematization of something that had remained nameless and fragmented the coming together of previously isolated efforts to shed light on the African experience and creativity on European soil. The act of naming this field and defining its scope is something that should not be taken for granted and needs to be debated.

From an historical perspective, talking about an "Afro-Europe" means tracing the African presence in Europe, uncovering the silenced histories concerning Africans and their descendants from early modern times to the present. It also means bringing to light the contribution of people of African origin in shaping European culture and thought as well as acknowledging how crucial the existence of Africa was and is to the very notion of Europe. It means, therefore, fore grounding the reciprocal embeddedness of the histories of the two neighboring continents. But what does the "Afro" in Afro-European stand for? If we privilege a geographical perspective, then we are referring to Africa as a continent, and the "Afro" would include all people whose origins are located within the borders of the continent, without distinction between northern and sub-Saharan Africa. The prefix Afro-, though, has traditionally been used to indicate a sub-Saharan African connection, as in "Afro-American" or "Afro-Caribbean," and associated with the black diaspora. If the "Afro" is taken to mean "black," then the question arises of whether one should consider all black people located in Europe to be Afro-European, including diasporas from the Americas and elsewhere. Following this ethnic principle, one would consider Caryl Phillips (black Caribbean, located in Britain) to be an Afro-European writer, although Africa does not feature prominently in his work, but not so Doris Lessing (African-born, white, located in Britain), although her work has all to do with Africa and with European involvement in Africa.

Thesis Statement

In this proposed research I would like to trace out number of critical issues that emerge in research involving the field of Afro-European literary studies. I will attempt to sketch the boundaries of this area of study, defining the historical meaning of Afro-Europe, exploring how different understandings and uses of the term give way to alternative configurations of the field and its scope, and showing to what extent this kind of approach intersects with other fields such as Diaspora Studies and Postcolonial Studies. Also I intend to explore the other’s (other) perception of Europe by analyzing the selected writers and their novels of Afro-European writers. Definitely the perception of Afro-European writers is different from native European writers

Scope of Research

The corpus of texts produced by Afrosporic authors in Europe is characterized in the first place by plurality: plurality of the languages used, of the author’s African heritages, and of their European locations, all this adding to the specificities of individual experience. Moreover, Afrosporic literatures develop in different European countries at different times and follow very different patterns. This proposed thesis seeks to trace commonalities and differences of Afrosporic literary production in different European contexts and argues that a comparative perspective at both a diachronic and synchronie level is paramount to the understanding of new literary configurations across linguistic and national boundaries.

Objectives

My Research would try to discuss the concepts or issues as follows.

• Dislocation and migration of Africans.
• The Evolution of Black Europe.
• Identity and Belonging in contemporary Afro-European writings.
• The Socio-Politics of Black Europe.
• Historical perception of Europe among African people.

Works Selected for Research

For this proposed Research I have chosen contemporary Afro-European writers from four different countries of Europe and their respective novels as I mentioned below.

1. England

a. Zadie Smith- White Teeth

b. Andrea Levy- Never Far from Nowhere

2. France

a. Marie NDiaey- Three Strong Women

b. Alain Mabancou- Black Bazaar

3. Italy

a. Pap Khouma- I was an Elephant Salesman

b. Shirin Ramzanali Fazal- Far from Magadishu

4. Spain

a. Donato Ndango- Shadows of your Black Memory

b. Juan Tomas Avila Laurel- The Gurugu Pledge

Review of Literature

Since I have chosen contemporary Afro-European writers and their novels, not much research has been taken place in Indian Research scenario, except few researches on Black British writers Andrea Levy and Zadie Smith. Not even single research on my research area that is Afro-European writings apart from very minimal research articles on Black Europe and African Diaspora. The proposed Research area is an emerging trend in post-colonial literature, hence I got a chance to answer many issues which surround the African migration to Europe and also traditional use of postcolonial theory.

Theoretical Framework

Postcolonial studies registered an exponential growth in the wake of postmodernism in the last few decades, leading to a re-conceptualization of ‘nation,’ ‘culture,’ and ‘history’. This thesis explores crucial mutation in contemporary postcolonial thought while keeping in mind the challenge of ‘colonization,’ ‘diaspora,’ ‘hybridity,’ ‘creolization,’ and ‘transculturalism’ in the European context. Lately, postcolonial studies came under immense pressure to demonstrate its usefulness by addressing the social, economic, political and academic concerns in the context of the rising challenges of ‘cosmopolitanism,’ ‘transnationalism,’ ‘hybridity,’ ‘creolization,’ and ‘globalization’. The aim of this thesis is to provide a discussion on these issues so as to arrive at insights and perspectives that can lead to meaningful research in the area of postcolonial studies in the European context.

The proposed thesis demonstrates the changes, differences and developments that emerged during and after colonialism. The proposed study also analyses the thematization of the postcolonial processes which came into being as a result of colonialism. The study is justified by a number of cultural processes of the postcolonial situation in the Europe. The theoretical foundation of the study allows the exposition and elucidation of the existence of postcolonial identities in the African cultural life; finally, the processes of hybridity, identity and immigrancy are explained.

The postcolonial theory in the European context looks at or addresses the following:

a. The feminization, marginalization and dehumanization of the ‘Migrant,’

b. The psychological impact of colonialism on both the colonizer and the colonized,

c. Re-visioning of the tragic history like slave trade and indentured labourers, and

d. Transition of ‘new society,’ ‘new identity,’ and ‘new world’ (creole and hybrid).

Burtent says that Postcolonial theory studies the process and the effects of cultural displacement and the ways in which the displaced have culturally defended themselves. Once culturally uprooted and displaced people are inclined to display anomalies stemming from the fact that the adaptation process to the new cultural atmosphere takes some considerable time. Here, ‘adaptation’ implies the existence of a state of being in-between two spheres, without aligning with any of the sides. This state of being in-between two, or at times multiple, spheres in the postcolonial context is most efficiently reflected by the terms ‘hybridity’ and ‘creolization,’ terms which are directly related to the cultural self-definition of the individual or ethnic group.

Readings of postcolonial literatures are sometimes resourced by concepts taken from many other critical practices such as poststructuralism, feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis and linguistics. Such a variety creates both discord and complicity within the field to the extent that there seems on one critical procedure that might identify as postcolonial. In order to bear witness to enabling possibilities of postcolonialism, this thesis concerns itself with specific issues such as colonial discourse, imperialism, diaspora, creole and hybrid identities.

Critics often cannot agree on how to spell ‘post-colonialism,’ with a hyphen (as in post-colonialism) or without (postcolonial). There is a particular reason for the choice of spelling and it concerns the different meanings of ‘post-colonial’ and ‘postcolonial’. The hyphenated term ‘post-colonial’ seems more appropriate to denote a particular historical period or epoch like those suggested by phrases such as ‘after colonialism,’ ‘after independence,’ or ‘after the end of empire’. In the book Post -Colonial Studies: Key Concepts the authors argue:

The interweaving of the two approaches is considerable. ‘Postcolonialism/ postcolonialism’ is now used in wide and diverse ways to include the study and analysis of European territorial conquest, the various institutions of European colonialisms, the discursive operations of empire, the subtleties of subject construction in colonial discourse and the resistance of those subjects, and, most importantly perhaps, the differing responses to such incursions and their contemporary colonial legacies in both pre- and post-independence nations and communities […] focus on the cultural production of such communities, it is becoming widely used in historical, political, sociological and economic analysis…engage with the impact of European imperialism upon world societies.(Ashcroft: 2009, 187) However, for a greater part, this thesis will be referring to postcolonialism without a hyphen, not just in terms to strict historical periodisation, but also as referring to disparate forms of ‘representations,’ ‘values’ and ‘reading practices’ which range across both past and present.

In the 1990s postcolonialism became increasingly busy and academically fashionable. Fanon, Bhabha, Ashcroft, Griffiths, Helen Tiffin, Spivak and Edward Said became the focus for much debate and commentary in postcolonialism. In his essay, “The Politics of Literary Postcoloniality,” Aijaz Ahmad provides an elaborate for usage of the terms ‘postcolonial’ and ‘postcoloniality’: As the term ‘postcolonial’ and ‘postcolonialism’ resurfaced during the 1980’s, this time in literary and cultural theories and in deconstructive forms of history-writing, and as these were then conjoined with newly coined ‘postcoloniality,’ in some usage, the word ‘postcolonial’ still attempted a periodisation, so as to refer to that which came ‘after colonialism’– but this word ‘postcolonial’ was to be used increasingly not so much for periodisation as for designating some kinds of literary and literary-critical writings, and eventually some history-writing as generically ‘postcolonial’ while, other writings in those some domains of literature, literary criticism and history-writing presumably were not. (in Mongia. Contemporary Postcolonial Theory, 281)

Very basically, and in a literary context, postcolonialism involves one or more of the following. John McLeod in his work Beginning of Postcolonialism explains the three elements that postcolonialism entails:

a. Reading texts produced by writers from countries with a history of colonialism, primarily, those texts which are concerned with the workings and legacy of colonialism in the past or the present.

b. Reading texts produced by those who have migrated from countries with a history of colonialism or those descended from migrant families, which deal in the main with diaspora experience and its many consequences.

c. In the light of theories of colonial discourse, re-reading texts produced during colonialism; both those that directly address the experiences of empire, and those that seem not to. (Beginning of Postcolonialism, 33)

As per the above three concepts of ‘postcolonialism,’ the African society and history in Europe can be examined in the writings of Zadie Smith, Andrea Levy, Marie NDiaey, Pap Khouma, Alain Mabancou, Shirin Ramzanali Fazal and Juan Tomas Avila Laurel.