HMKK00011U Cultural History: Migration, Postmigration and Contemporary Arts: Visual arts, theatre and literature

In recent decades, migration and postmigration have become perspectives of increasing importance in contemporary arts and studies of art and culture. At the same time, a surge of postcolonial critique has effectively managed to introduce new concerns into art and academia. In this course, we will examine these interconnected perspectives in and on contemporary arts by engaging with theoretical writings and a range of works drawn primarily from the visual arts. Literature and theatre (understood broadly and including performance art) will also be given some consideration.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, a growing number of people have left their homes to cross state borders and settle in another country. No matter whether they have moved in search of a better life or been forcibly displaced by war, destitution, persecution or environmental disaster, they have contributed to the pluralisation and hybridisation of cultures and identities in receiving countries. Adopting migrant and postcolonial perspectives, this course examines how contemporary artists have grappled with these transformations and the conflicts and issues they have brought to the fore. Furthermore, a postmigrant perspective will be introduced as a means of situating artistic interrogations of colonialism and postcolonialism within a more encompassing societal and historical process of transformation. The concept of postmigration does not refer to a societal state of affairs in which migration has ended, but to a set of problematics and struggles over identity, history, belonging and community originating in the obsession with migration, migrants and migrantisising discourses which permeates contemporary European societies. It thus provides a frame for understanding how postcolonial critique ties in with current pluralisation processes in society at large.