The Gibraltarian writer, M. G. Sanchez, has been invited to an academic conference in Switzerland where he will be talking about his article ‘Fifty Years of Unbelonging. A Personal Testimony on the Road to Brexit.’

The conference, entitled In and Out of Europe, will take place between 15 and 17 September at the University of Basel and will examine topics such as Britain's position within Europe, British perceptions of Europe and the socio-cultural implications of the recent Brexit referendum.

Professor Ina Habermann, one of the conference’s main organisers, explained to YGTV: “Our conference aims to shed light on the British-European relationship and Britain's position within Europe. The focus will be on literary and cultural texts (such as travel writing and fiction), because we believe that such texts and discourses provide a rich reservoir for the study of the cultural imaginary, which is too often neglected in favour of quite narrow economic and political considerations - a neglect that appears all the more problematic after the Brexit vote. We are delighted that M.G. Sanchez, one of the best-known writers from Gibraltar, has accepted our invitation to join the discussion.”

The conference is part of an ongoing research project at the University of Basel on the theme of ‘British discourses within Europe.’ The project has been running since 2014 and focuses on ‘sites of projection and exchange’ such as the English Channel, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean’; and also on ‘important strategic points of British involvement with Continental Europe’ such as Cyprus and Gibraltar.

M. G. Sanchez already travelled to the University of Salamanca in May to talk about his work, and in December he will be visiting the University of Turin to deliver a seminar on the theme of ‘English language, identity and power.'

‘Fifty Years of Unbelonging. A Personal Testimony on the Road to Brexit’ can be downloaded in full at:

https://kultop.unibas.ch/conference/programme/

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