At Home in Empire: Colonial Experiences of Intimacy and Mobility

At Home in Empire: Colonial Experiences of Intimacy and Mobility

Organizer
Hannah Dennett and Liz Egan, University of Warwick
Location
Warwick
Country
United Kingdom
From - Until
13.03.2021 -
Deadline
12.10.2020
By
Connections Redaktion, Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Universität Leipzig

This one-day interdisciplinary conference seeks to approach the home as both a material reality and imagined space, bringing these different conceptualisations together to discuss both the intimacies and mobilities at the heart of the imperial experience.

At Home in Empire: Colonial Experiences of Intimacy and Mobility

Home is a multifaceted, often gendered idea that carries connotations of safety, stability and belonging. However, what did "home" look like to men, women and children across colonial spaces? In his 1997 article 'Not at Home in Empire', Ranajit Guha explored the 'uncanny' experience of empire for white officers in India, proposing that colonial life was one marred by a sense of anxiety. Revisiting this argument, how do we study the contested, complicated meanings of home in colonial contexts? How does centring the home prompt new questions about the family, colonial childhoods, gender, race and belonging?

This conference seeks to approach the home as both a material reality and imagined space, bringing these different conceptualisations together to discuss both the intimacies and mobilities at the heart of the imperial experience. Our core themes are intended to centre the role of relationships and ask how transnational connections are woven into practices of homemaking.

The home could be considered as a site of resistance but also as a space marked by colonial violence and racism. Evoking notions of belonging complicated by mobility and migration, the lived realities of home might challenge dominant discourses and highlight the messiness of everyday life. Developing interdisciplinary discussions on gender, race and migration, At Home in Empire will offer new insights into how homes were made and remade across colonial and post-colonial settings.

We invite proposals of up to 300 words for papers of 20 minutes, submitted with a short biography to athomeinempire2021@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday 12th October 2020.

Contact (announcement)

athomeinempire2021@gmail.com

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/hrc/confs/ceim/
Editors Information
Published on
04.09.2020
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English
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