Literary Spaces

BIEA Graduate Conference

November 3rd and 4th 2017

BIEA, Nairobi, Kenya

This year’s BIEA Graduate Conference is on the theme of (Re)framing Narratives of Africa.

The narratives used to describe ‘Africa’ have had profound impact on how Africa has been positioned in the World. Yet when it comes to narratives there is a need to question whose voices prevail and when.

How and why do different narratives develop and change at regional and local level? And how do these narratives influence our perception of Africa today?

Narratives are powerful and can shape discourse. At the regional level, the continent was for long described as poverty ridden and war plagued yet more recently the narrative has shifted to the other extreme of that of ‘Africa rising’. Local narratives also form our perception of Africa. For example, out of the recent ‘Unga crisis’ new narratives…