Prof. John Pepper Clark
The first Prof. John Pepper Clark International Conference will hold in July 11 through 14, 2018 at University of Lagos, Nigeria. It has theme ‘Connecting the Local and Global Across Literary Genres.’
In John Pepper Clark’s literary repertoire (unabated from the 1950s to the present), we encounter a plethora of real and imaginative worlds in Kiagbodo, Ibadan, Lagos, Soweto, London, and New Jersey. In this universe, the pristine and unsoiled natural, but human world of the Izon in the Niger Delta of Nigeria is the farthest from modernity and the metropolis, yet it also constitutes constructive space where major global concerns intersect. The rampaging and destructive politics of representation, the actions and inactions of oil and petro-chemical industries, multinationals, and imperialism and capitalism as well as irresponsible governance and the pseudo-modernity of contemporary Nigeria (read Africa) to sites outside the continent are captured in his work across genres. These creative and temporal locales are the real and metaphoric representation of the local-global, socio-cultural and political reach of J. P Clark’s drama, poetry, oral narrative, and prose.
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Proceeding from the immediate to the universal to capture the scope of J.P. Clark’s literary oeuvre across two centuries, the conference will be structured around plenaries on the different genres – drama, poetry, oral tradition, prose, film, music, and virtual realities. This international conference invites contributions plenaries, panels, round tables, and papers that address a variety of themes, ranging from the indigenous and communal, to broader contemporary issues like the African Diaspora, global Africa, the local and global, issues and dimensions across and within the micro and macro aspects of the writings of J. P Clark. Submissions that cut across genres and writers as well as focus on new media and ecocriticism are solicited from experts.
The themes are not limited to the following: ‘Modern African Literature and JP Clark,’ ‘Creativity Influences: Greek, Indigenous, and Oral sources across genres,’ ‘Modernity and African literature, drama, and performance,’ ‘The African Identity, the Self and Outsider in African Performance and Politics Geography and Politics,’ ‘Performance, Ideology and Politics,’ ‘The Indigenous, Cosmopolitan and Modern,’ ‘Ritualizing Experience; Society and Community,’ ‘The Normative in Content and Context, Ritual, Norms and Taboo in Literature and Performance,’ ‘Tradition and Change: Implications for Modern Living,’ and ‘Managing and Marketing Performance in Africa, Translation.’ Others are ‘Transliteration, Orature, Narratology and Adaptation,’ ‘Gender Issues: (De-) Re-Centering Women,’ ‘Masculinity and Manhood, Children and Young Adults across Genres,’ ‘Social and Ethical Issues, Beyond Africa and J P Clark,’ ‘the African Diaspora, and the rest of the World,’ ‘Globalization in JP Clark’s Artistry,’ ‘JP Clark as Artist,’ ‘Teacher, and Conscience,’ and ‘Teaching JP Clark at the Different Levels.’
The conference will yield several publishing opportunities: abstracts, conference proceedings, and an edited book on Perspectives on JP Clark.Send abstracts, panel and roundtable proposals (not more than 250 words) by March 30, 2018, to the Co-Conveners: Dr. G. Oty Agbajoh-Laoye at [email protected] and Professor Hope Eghagha at [email protected] and copy [email protected].
Source: G Entertainment
