After Socialism

Forgotten Legacies, Possible Futures in Africa and Beyond

Workshop in Bayreuth 13-14 October, 2017

Socialism informed the political visions and shaped the destinies of people in postcolonial Africa and beyond. The failure of socialist experiments in the 1980s and the demise of socialist utopianism left a big void. This workshop examines how political actors, social groups, intellectuals, students, and artists experienced socialism, reacted to its demise and reinvented themselves. Furthermore, it explores the imprints socialism left on states and its complex legacies within present-day struggles for democracy and human rights, education and economic justice, as well as in the realm of popular culture, literature and arts. The workshop finally explores how socialism is remembered, represented and debated today and examines its afterlives in contemporary social and national independence movements.

Read the program here