The BIGSAS Festival of African and African-diasporic Literatures, as an annual tradition, runs for three consecutive days as an entrance free event in the heart of Bayreuth, hosting writers, scholars and activists. Throughout this event, negotiations of wor(l)d making within arts, academia and activism are addressed, while re/visiting the un/making of collective knowledges and respective practices. Readings, performances, lectures, panel discussions, workshops and (street) music are composed to invite an interested audience from all over Bayreuth and beyond to become an intergenerational, transcultural, transregional, multidimensional community where strategies of inclusivism are practiced in a setting fraught with “unity in diversity” (Glissant). The festival opened with a demonstration FridaysForFuture+ on campus of the University of Bayreuth continued to the refugee house at Wilhelm-Buschstraße to arrive in the city center with a manifest through perfromances by BLESZ and Musa Okowonga. Successivly, the festival opened its 9th edition officially at the IWALEWAHAUS to enable a public access to topic centered around anti-racist and feminist discourses of crises and responsibility also in the context of environmental awareness. These issues were expressed in keynotes, readings, music and spoken word performances, an art exhibition and round table discussions. These events were all free of entry to the public domain.
The festival is hosted by the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) which is part of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence (funded by DFG).
https://2019.bigsas-litfestival.com/
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https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/
On 7 November 2024, the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the
University of Bayreuth presented the prestigious ‘BIGSAS
Journalist Award’, which honours outstanding journalistic contributions
contributions to differentiated reporting on Africa in German-language print media. The 2024 award winners are Birte Mensing, Ruona
Meyer and Bettina Rühl.
The ceremony was moderated by Fatima Elmardiya Ahmed and Thierry Boudjekeu and accompanied by a keynote given by actor Eugene Boateng and musical acts by Sona Diabaté.
For more information on the award please visit: https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/1_4-Public-engagement_-engagement1/BIGSAS-Journalist-Award/index.html
“Crises and Responsibilities. kNOWledges in Academia, Arts and Activism”
In 2019 the 9th edition of the BIGSAS Festival of African and African-diasporic literature was dedicated to “crisis” – and respective knowledges and responsibilities. Topics included environmentalism in the context of a Friday for Future demonstration and the so called “refugee crisis”. Readings, performances, concerts, a vernissage, scholarly lectures and panel discussions, workshops framed a dialogue of academia, activism and the arts from Africa, the MENA region, respective diasporas and beyond.
