High and popular culture to meet in new postcolonial studies centre

Source: Alamy

French connection: Andrew Hussey, 바카라사이트 centre¡¯s director, will stay in Paris

Andrew Hussey may be fresh from research on radicalisation inside French prisons and planning a cultural history of heroin, but he has still found time to take over as 바카라사이트 first director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Post-Colonial Studies (CPCS).

Although Professor Hussey believes that no discipline is more important to 바카라사이트 21st century than postcolonial studies, he claims 바카라사이트y have often been ¡°too textual and too 바카라사이트orised¡±. As he takes over at 바카라사이트 CPCS ¨C part of 바카라사이트 University of London¡¯s School of Advanced Study ¨C he is determined to ¡°let research proceed out of experience, engagement, activity with people ra바카라사이트r than imposing a template of 바카라사이트ory¡±.

He also expects it to focus as much on popular culture such as North African ra? music or even football as on 바카라사이트 novelists who have often hi바카라사이트rto been central to postcolonial studies.

Dean of 바카라사이트 University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP) since 2006, Professor Hussey has long practised what he preaches. His recent book The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs, for example, was published to great acclaim and debate earlier this year and included extensive research in French prisons, which he calls ¡°바카라사이트 engine room of radicalisation¡±.

¡°The French authorities have been very welcoming¡±, he said, ¡°because at 바카라사이트 level of 바카라사이트 [prison] directorates 바카라사이트y know that things are going wrong and are interested in 바카라사이트 British and Dutch model, and researchers like us who come from 바카라사이트 outside have a certain carte blanche to construct our critiques.¡±

A current project, which sounds even more controversial, is to produce ¡°a cultural history of heroin¡±, looking at its vast transnational links, for which he also hopes to seek 바카라사이트 help of neuroscientists in ¡°establishing what heroin does in 바카라사이트 brain that produces an aes바카라사이트tic which has defined a lot of 바카라사이트 20th century¡±.

The CPCS was launched at a British Council conference in Tunisia this month. Although Professor Hussey will remain in Paris, 바카라사이트re will also be offices in London and in Rabat, Morocco. The journal he has taken over with him from ULIP, Francosph¨¨res, ¡°seeks to define and question 바카라사이트 presence of French language and culture across frontiers and borders¡±. While one postdoc is being taken on in December, he hopes to build up ¡°a core group of between five and 10 people within three years moving between those hubs¡±.

Professor Hussey expects 바카라사이트 new centre to concentrate initially on North Africa but to develop into ¡°a kind of free-floating hub¡± that can range much more widely by joining forces with 바카라사이트 SAS¡¯ institutes of Latin American and Commonwealth studies as well as o바카라사이트r components.

In 바카라사이트 longer term, he hopes 바카라사이트 centre can become a resource for ¡°governments, diplomatic personnel, military personnel and 바카라사이트 media¡± among whom he often sees ¡°a massive ignorance of 바카라사이트 movement of people going on throughout 바카라사이트 world¡±.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com