Bigsas Festival of African and African-Diasporic Literatures, Bayreuth 2.99

Willkommen! Welcome!
In 2017, the BIGSAS Festival of African and African-Diasporic
Literatures will devote itself to the situation in Europe, widely known
as a »refugee crisis«. In its very core, though, it is rather about an
identity crisis in Europe and Germany. In order to engage with this
identity crisis and to protest against populist threat scenarios that
want to stir up fear, hatred and violence, this festival holds a clear,
future-oriented message: »We(l)come to Europe.« Yes, refugees will
continue to come to Europe and will keep becoming Europeans:
Welcome. Willkommen.

Needless to stress, migration is a primordial experience. People,
ideas and goods have always been interwoven into new, dynamic
and multifaceted societies – although, unfortunately, rarely without
conflicts. This historically shaped diversity has been challenged
and whitened by »Schengen-Europe«. At times, this attempt to sort
people into cultures and nations is just as obsessive as striving to
“sort” the faces of a Magic Cube into the right colors or shapes. This
is narrated by this year’s festival’s artwork: homogenization is about
being in power and securing privileges. Conversely, bereft of such
power and privileges, people who wish to overcome borders are
endangered. Udo Lindenberg’s song »Keine Staaten« claims: »You
fall from heaven, sometime, somewhere – and that’s what they call
homeland« and fair. Yet this is not about fairness. To be at home and
be able to stay is not about fortune or fate but is as much about
power and privileges as about responsibility and solidarity.

The 2017 BIGSAS Festival is an invitation to follow this thought and
to think migration as future – as a multitude that celebrates Édouard
Glissant’s »unity in diversity«. This is performed most consistently and
critically in imaginary worlds in general and literature in particular.
The 2017 Festival will discuss such visions on diversity and future
featuring dialogues between art, science and politics while keep
insisting: Welcome to Europe and Welcome to visions that share
more equitably futureS in Europe and all over the globe.