news
Annual GAPS conference 2026
The 2026 annual GAPS conference, titled “Postcolonial Transfers – Translation, Transition, Transformation”, will take place at the University of Osnabrück, Germany, from 14 to 16 May 2026. Relevant information will be published here in due course.
Project fund now accepting applications on a rolling basis
Starting in 2024, GAPS provides up to € 2000 each year to non-tenured GAPS members to support academic events in the field of postcolonial studies (anglophone literary studies, cultural studies, linguistics, and/or didactics). To make the project fund more accessible, there is no specific application deadline. Interested members can apply anytime. Find out more about the project fund here.
The open call for applications to the GAPS project fund has been very successful. As a result of the high number of proposals, this round of applications is now closed. We will review new applications in 2026. Check back here in the fall for more details on how to apply.
Winner of GAPS 2025 Graduate Award announced!
GAPS is proud to announce that Daniel Fernandez (University of Bonn) has been awarded this year’s GAPS graduate award for his M.A. thesis entitled “Decolonizing Cosmic Horror: An Analysis of Contemporary Lovecraftian Fiction through a Postcolonial Lens”. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp and Prof. Dr. Marion Gymnich. The award was presented during the society’s annual conference 2025 in Bielefeld. Congratulations on this achievement!
New board elected!
We are pleased to announce the election of our new board during our annual conference “Neoliberal Global Capitalism – Challenges for Postcolonial Studies”, held in Bielefeld (GER) from 29-31 May 2025. The newly elected board members will serve a two-year term.
We extend our gratitude to the outgoing board members for their dedicated service and contributions, and warmly welcome the new members as they begin their terms.
GAPS impulse and discussion series: guest lecture by Alyosha Goldstein cancelled
Due to a medical issue, the last installment of our “Violence Demands Translation” series, the guest lecture “Decolonization Is Not Enough: On the Geopolitics of Settler Colonialism” by Alyosha Goldstein, Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, scheduled for 16 May 2025, 5-7 pm, had to be cancelled.
GAPS impulse and discussion series 2025: “Violence Demands Translation”
We would like to extend a warm invitation to GAPS’ upcoming impulse and discussion series (January – April 2025). Including different perspectives on language, Anglophone literatures, and postcolonial theory in relation to ongoing struggles, the series aims to facilitate our association’s continued efforts to contribute to the processes of differentiation, discussion, and dialogue. Each session will consist of impulses provided by a guest speaker followed by an open discussion. All events are for members only. We will send out more details and the links to the meetings before the events.
Introducing a new format: reading groups!
Organised by active members of our society, we hope that reading groups encourage engagement on academic topics and create richly collaborative spaces for members and interested non-members alike to discuss works in progress, contemporary trends in their field and more. To begin with, Priyam Goswami Choudhury has initiated the two following groups: The Poetics of Édouard Glissant Reading Group and Postcolonial Environmental Humanities Working Group. Please visit the new webpage for more information.
First volume of Anglophone Postcolonial Studies published!
GAPS is proud to share that the first volume of our new yearbook series Anglophone Postcolonial Studies has been published with heiUP under the title Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions, Heterogeneities, Knowledges, Materialities. We would like to thank the editors Sukla Chatterjee, Joanna Chojnicka, Anna-Katharina Hornidge and Kerstin Knopf and all contributors for their work. For a detailed abstract and the table of contents click here.
Free GAPS memberships available
We invite applications by students who find it difficult to pay the membership fees. The fee will be subsidized by the Sustained Members of GAPS. Applicants should write to the president as well as the treasurer of GAPS, briefly explaining why they wish to be considered under this category.