Conviviality as Diasporic Knowledge
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Abstract
Based on my time with im/mobile West Africans in Senegal and Spain since 2007, I propose conviviality to conceptualise the complexity of my interlocutors’ local and diasporic tactics and views of living with difference. Simple everyday encounters such as greeting and dwelling in urban spaces serve to disentangle their various levels of reflection, habitual expectations and tactical action. They had local to global reference frameworks at their disposal. Not pretending to represent their knowledge, I discuss the inspirations I received from trying to understand what they shared with me non/verbally regarding living with difference. To start from this decentred set of premises challenges established Western/Northern politics of living with difference. Through conviviality, I show a distinct way of engaging multiple and overlapping ways of differentiating and homogenising practices and raise awareness for the importance and feasibility of minimal socialities in diasporic configurations, transnational migrations and the respective local urban contexts.
Résumé
Me basant sur le temps passé, depuis 2017, en Espagne et au Sénégal, avec des personnes de l’ Afrique de l’ Ouest mobiles et immobiles, je suggère que la convivialité permet de conceptualiser la complexité des tactiques diasporiques et locales de mes interlocuteurs ainsi que leur point de vue sur le fait de vivre dans la différence. De simples rencontres de la vie de tous les jours telles que se saluer ou occuper l’ espace urbain permettent d’ analyser les différents niveaux de leurs réflexions, leurs attentes ordinaires et leurs actions tactiques. Ces personnes avaient à leur disposition des cadres référentiels globaux. Sans prétendre vouloir représenter leurs connaissances, j’ aborde les inspirations que j’ ai pu collecter en essayant de comprendre ce que nous partagions dans le verbal et le non verbal quand il s’ agit de comprendre ce que signifie vivre dans la différence. Pour commencer, cet ensemble de prémices décentrées vient défier les pratiques politiques de l’ ouest/nord de la vie dans la différence. Au travers de la convivialité, je montre qu’ il existe une manière distincte de mettre en œuvre des modes multiples et croisés de différencier et d’ homogénéiser des pratiques et d’ améliorer la prise de conscience de l’ importance et de la faisabilité de socialités minimales dans des configurations diasporiques, des migrations transnationales et les contextes urbains locaux respectifs.
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Conviviality as Diasporic Knowledge
In: African DiasporaSearch for other papers by Tilmann Heil in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Based on my time with im/mobile West Africans in Senegal and Spain since 2007, I propose conviviality to conceptualise the complexity of my interlocutors’ local and diasporic tactics and views of living with difference. Simple everyday encounters such as greeting and dwelling in urban spaces serve to disentangle their various levels of reflection, habitual expectations and tactical action. They had local to global reference frameworks at their disposal. Not pretending to represent their knowledge, I discuss the inspirations I received from trying to understand what they shared with me non/verbally regarding living with difference. To start from this decentred set of premises challenges established Western/Northern politics of living with difference. Through conviviality, I show a distinct way of engaging multiple and overlapping ways of differentiating and homogenising practices and raise awareness for the importance and feasibility of minimal socialities in diasporic configurations, transnational migrations and the respective local urban contexts.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1078 | 161 | 23 |
| Full Text Views | 67 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 107 | 10 | 0 |