Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies

Welcome to the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies (MAPS), Manchester Met’s centre for the exploration of migration and postcolonial studies from literary and creative practice-based perspectives. The primary aim of MAPS is to expand literary and cultural research in an evolving area of study at the intersection of multiple evolving fields.

Founded in 2021, MAPS embraces the research activities of a large team of scholars working in the fields of postcolonial, migration and diaspora studies, literary and cultural geography, and global testimony studies.

Uniquely, it also incorporates and engages with the work of award-winning writers who explore diasporic experience, all of whom are from the Manchester Writing School, one of the largest postgraduate English and Creative Writing communities in the UK.

The result is a distinctive institutional home for scholars and writers who are actively engaged in interdisciplinary and transnational research relating to South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and South East Asia as well as minority and diasporic cultures in the UK and beyond.

The work of MAPS has never been timelier or more relevant. Some 270 million people live outside their countries of birth. The historical migrations of imperial expansion and decolonisation have been superseded by what has been recently termed a ‘migration crisis’ and Manchester – itself a UNESCO City of Literature and one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe – has its own rich legacy of migration and postcolonial encounters.

This diversity is reflected in our determination to connect the global with the local in our approach to postcolonial studies at MAPS and to generate an inclusive and international culture at the heart of the university by facilitating local and international partnerships. We aim to show the way ahead in exploring how interconnected histories of migration shape and mark literary and cultural landscapes, including the ways postcolonial transnational networks have informed and continue to inform global literary culture. It is an evolving project that connects the histories of colonialism with the mapping of literary and cultural futures.

In addition to our MA English Studies pathway in Postcolonial Studies, we run a MAPS Speakers’ Series, an academic Reading Group, a Film Club and a writers’ forum on Creative-Critical Conversations.

The Centre marked its official launch with a virtual conference, Breaking Boundaries: Reimagining Borders in Postcolonial and Migrant Studies.