news

Registration for annual GAPS conference now open!

The registration for our annual conference under the title “Neoliberal Global Capitalism – Challenges for Postcolonial Studies“ is now open until 19 May 2025. Register by 20 April 2025 to secure the early-bird option.

GAPS impulse and discussion series: reading by Hisham Matar

11 April 2025, 6-7:30 pm (CEST): Last but not least in our “Violence Demands Translation” series, we are happy to announce that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar will read from and discuss My Friends with us (2024; winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction).

GAPS impulse and discussion series: guest lecture by Alyosha Goldstein postponed

Due to a medical issue, the second installment of our “Violence Demands Translation” series, the lecture by Alyosha Goldstein originally scheduled for March 14, needs to be postponed. We will let you know as soon as we have a new date.

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.

Call for Nominations: GAPS Graduate Award 2025

It’s that time of the year again: choose your fighter and honour your students’ hard work! Nominate an outstanding BA, MA or state examination thesis for a chance to receive the GAPS Graduate Award 2025. You can find more information on the nomination process as well as the endowments of the prize on our graduate award page.

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.

New project fund announced!

Members of GAPS recently voted to initiate a new project fund that can be used to finance various event types in the field of postcolonial studies starting this year! Only non-tenured GAPS members are eligible to apply. Deadline: 31st October 2024.

GAPS 2025 Annual Conference: Call for Papers Released!

We are excited to share the call for papers for our next annual conference 29 to 31 May 2025. Organizers Gigi Adair and Ellen Grünkemeier (University of Bielefeld) invite papers on issues related to the title “Neoliberal Global Capitalism – Challenges for Postcolonial Studies“. Visit https://g-a-p-s.net/conference/ for more details and the full CfP.

Winner of GAPS 2024 Dissertation Award announced!

The GAPS Dissertation Award 2024 goes to Anika Gerfer (Universität Münster) for her dissertation “Jamaican Creole in Global Reggae and Dancehall Performances: Language Use, Perceptions, Attitudes.” The dissertation was supervised by Profs. Ulrike Gut, Dagmar Deuber, and Edgar W. Schneider. Anika Gerfer will receive the award during this year’s annual conference in Zurich. Congratulations on an excellent thesis!

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.

Introducing the GAPS Thesis Register

GAPS members do a lot of work supervising BA, MA, Zula and PhD theses. Sometimes, it would be nice to know if others are working with students on similar thesis topics. It might also be helpful for students to link up directly and network with each other for thesis research. We have therefore decided to set up a GAPS Thesis Register to raise the profile of GAPS and its work with undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students, and to foster student research networks in postcolonial studies.

After seeking permission from the student, a student supervisor/GAPS member will need to go to the GAPS website to send a student’s thesis details to the coordinator Dr. Geoff Rodoreda. We have prepared a form to be filled out for this purpose, which you can find here.

Call for Participation: GAPS Diversity Mentoring Strategy

We invite expressions of interest for participation in two projects that form part of the new GAPS diversity mentoring strategy, both of which will be developed over the next 12 months.

A series of masterclass videos on German academia aimed in particular at international students and/or students without privileged access to the inner workings of the academy. Each video will be ca. 5-15 minutes long on a relevant topic, e.g. “how to write an exposé” or “what funding sources are available for a PhD”. We invite expressions of interest to participate in making such a video, which will become part of GAPS’s new digital content that aims at a wide audience well beyond the membership of the organization.
A Mentoring handbook. We invite expressions of interest to assist with and/or consult on the writing of a handbook with mentoring guidelines for GAPS members. The aim is to develop a living document focused on how GAPS members can best nurture diversity in the academy and support international and/or POC students and early-career researchers.

Please write to Priyam Goswami Choudhury and Gigi Adair (diversity@g-a-p-s.net) to indicate your interest in getting involved in one or both of these projects.

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.