After World War II and the ensuing decolonisation pro- cesses, Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon wrote some of the most vehement accusations against Europe, Discourse on Colonialism (1950) and the Wretched of the Earth (1961). However, their denunciations and their appeals to a more just world drew on the same theoretical weapons that had been used to turn the indigènes into subaltern populations, transforming those means of oppression into the weapons of the “wretched of the earth.”
Aim of the seminar is to propose a close reading of these texts, considering their historical contexts, as well as their relevance for the 21st century and the dis-orientation of Europe, facing a fatally interconnected world – albeit, increasingly divided by physical and symbolic borders, and the ensuing widespread inequalities.

Manuela Ribeiro Sanches was professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon. Her interest in travel literature and related topics led her to broaden her focus to the field of the history of anthropology, which she articulated with a cultural studies approach from a postco- lonial perspective. Having widely published on these issues, she began to study the transnational processes that also marked anti-colonial movements. Her research interests also include African film, questions of migration and racism in Europe from a compared perspective.

The seminar will be in English and takes place in the context of the exhibition Sarat Maharaj: AAH Room, which runs until 04.06.2017.