Manthia Diawara will focus on de-opacification and the right to opacity of human emancipation, as defined by Frantz Fanon and Édouard Glissant respectively. What did Fanon mean by this notion of de-opacification, as a tool of the liberation struggle and decolonisation? Is Glissant’s demand for the right to opacity, which guarantees the survival of human and non-human diversity, a response to Fanon and other thinkers’ over-reliance on a philosophy of existentialist dialectics?


Manthia Diawara was born in Mali, West Africa. He is a distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Film at New York University. Diawara was educated in Guinea- Conakry, Bamako (Mali) and Paris (France), before migrating to the United States to pursue his studies. Manthia Diawara is a prolific writer and filmmaker. His essays on art, cinema and politics have appeared in The New Times Magazine, LA Times, Libération, Mediapart and Artforum. He is the author of two acclaimed memoirs: ‘In Search of Africa’ (Harvard University Press, 2000) and ‘We Won’t Budge: An African in the World’ (Basic Books, 2008). He has published several books on African and African American cinema. Diawara’s notable films include: ‘An Opera of the World’ (2017), ‘Negritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor’ (2016), ‘Édouard Glissant, One World in Relation’ (2010), ‘Maison Tropicale’ (2008) and ‘Rouch In Reverse’ (1995).


Registration is free, but limited to the number of seats available. Please send an email with a short CV to info@maumaus.org until 06.11.2019. Confirmation of registration will be sent by email. The seminar will be in English.


For further information, please contact:
Tel + 351 21 352 11 55, info@maumaus.org www.maumaus.org

Supported by: Fogo Island Dialogues: Atlantic Codes.