MERLIT-associated researchers Tola Ositelu and Tiago Silva will be presenting at the African Studies Association of the UK (ASAUK) conference at the University of Durham, 10-12 September 2026. The theme of this year's conference is Narrative, Power and the making of African Worlds.
Tola will present her paper: Problematising Concepts of Achievement, Exceptionalism and the 'Heroine' Trope in Narratives of 'Windrush', Migration and Care as part of the 'Histories of Women at Work' morning stream on Friday 11 September. The paper examines how themes of exceptionalism, intertwined with tropes of heroism and saviourism, pervade narratives by and/or about post-War Migrant nurses and midwives from Africa and the Caribbean.
On the afternoon of 11 September, Tiago will present his paper: Afro-Diasporic Memory and Speculative Worldbuilding: Reframing Brazil's Heteroimages as part of the 'Reimagined Pasts and Imagined Futures from Africa and the African Diaspora' stream. Tiago’s paper analyses how Gayl Jones’s novel Palmares uses strategies of oral literature, as well as Indigenous and Afro-diasporic knowledges, to reinvent Brazil, complicating hegemonic archives and repositioning non-hegemonic experiences.
For further information on ASAUK 2026, please visit the conference website.
