This session would benefit from preliminary reading, since it is structured around a complex body of theoretical knowledge. Depending on the ability of the group, consider including 3-5 short excerpts in the VLE environment; these should range between original writings in French, translations into English, and a literature review by another academic – see references below for specific suggestions. If this is not possible, consider splitting the session in two.
Exercises
– Start the session by asking students about their perceptions of these preliminary readings. What do they think of Glissant’s writing style? Do they think his work is more theoretical or literary? Do they think we can apply his work to textual analysis? This should lead into a discussion around theory and poetics, as well as practical examples on how to articulate theory in case studies;
– Once this is done, formally introduce the Francophone Caribbean author Édouard Glissant and briefly speak about some of his main concepts/notions. We suggest créolité, Relation, his perspective on poetics, and the right to opacity as starting points to contextualise his work as grounded on the archipelago, as well as to draw links to Bouchra Khalili’s The Mapping Journey Project;
– Based again on the preliminary reading, ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs or small groups:
– Can you describe what Glissant means by archipelagic thinking?
– What is the relationship between archipelagic thinking and place (lieu)? What about archipelagic thinking and language (langage)?
– Does Glissant’s idea of archipelagic thinking help us interpret The Mapping Journey Project? If so, how?
– Elaborate on the notion of archipelagic thinking, in particular in opposition to ‘continental thought’, and offer a few examples of how Glissant’s work can inform the analysis of the artwork. Focus on borders, plurality and positionality, making sure to also address how most exhibition formats for The Mapping Journey Project also follow an archipelagic structure in the gallery space.
Secondary sources and additional reading
– Jonathan Pugh, ‘Island Movements: Thinking with the Archipelago‘;
– Michelle Stephens, ‘What is an Island? Caribbean Studies and the Contemporary Visual Artist‘;
– Asad Raza & Hans Ulrich Obrist, ‘Mondialité: Or the Archipelagos of Édouard Glissant‘.
– Sam Coombes, Édouard Glissant: A Poetics of Resistance (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018), pp. 39-41.
Selected excerpts from Glissant
– Édouard Glissant, Traité du Tout-Monde (Poétique IV), (Paris: Gallimard, 1997), p. 31 and/or its version in English (Édouard Glissant, Treatise on the Whole-World, trans. by Celia Britton (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020) p. 18);
– Édouard Glissant, Philosophie de la Relation (Paris: Gallimard, 2009), pp. 45-47;
– Édouard Glissant, Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity, trans. by Celia Britton (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020), p. 26.