AFROPEMOTIONS: Rethinking Emotions, Inequality, and Resistance through Afropean Women's Fiction

ongoing

AFROPEMOTIONS investigates how the emotional entanglements depicted in 21st-century Afropean women’s fiction in English enable discussions of emotional encounter, inequality, and resistance. The project analyses selected novels (2005–2024) set in different European contexts and depicting the experiences of Afro-descendant (im)migrant women exposed to multiple forms of oppression. Emerging studies reveal how prejudices and discriminatory attitudes/practices stem from the proliferation of negative emotions produced by specific habits or patterns of judgment in predominantly white Western/European societies. By combining an affective approach with gender, intersectional and postcolonial critical perspectives and literary and empirical analysis, the project: 1) proposes the first extensive comparative study of 21st-century Afropean women’s fiction in English with a focus on emotions and their socio-cultural and political implications; 2) aims to raise readers’ awareness about the multiple forms of discrimination faced by African (im)migrant women in Europe, in both fictional narratives and real-life contexts; 3) uses Afropean women’s fiction as a critical site to engage in broader conversations about emotions, inequality, and resistance that move beyond mere literary debates. This two-year action will be undertaken under the supervision of Prof. Elisabeth Bekers at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and includes two short secondments in Berlin: at Freie Universität (FU), supervised by Prof. Jan Slaby, and at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur-und Kulturforschung (ZfL), supervised by Dr. Gianna Zocco. The project will comprise transversal training, the acquisition of transferable skills, and targeted dissemination and communication activities, including the organisation of focus groups with VUB’s international students, aimed at discussing innovative ways to engage European citizens in the ‘‘Gender Equality’ and ‘Reduced Inequalities’ goals of Agenda 2030.