(RE)THINKING CARIBBEAN CULTURE

June 4 - 8, 2001

CALL FOR PAPERS

Believing . . . that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of a law but an interpretive one in search of a meaning--Clifford Geertz (The Interpretation of Cultures)

>Caribbean culture= is a term bandied about both within and without academe with ever increasing frequency.  For example, at the bidding of the Vice Chancellor, the University of the West Indies has recently undertaken what has come to be called the >Cultural Studies= initiative.  But what exactly do we understand by terms such as these? 

This international and interdisciplinary conference will attempt to both specify and assess the dominant ways in which Caribbean culture in its various manifestations has historically been conceptualised.  Given that much research on the Caribbean has been largely empirical in thrust, we are of the view that a conference devoted to the precise theoretical / philosophical frameworks which inform the study of particular aspects of Caribbean culture is both timely and necessary.  The old adage that the answers one gets depends on the nature of the questions posed is one that has arguably not been sufficiently explored in the region up to now.  The overriding question motivating this conference is, accordingly, the following: how can we effectively make use in both our research and teaching of concepts such as ‘race’ or ‘gender’ or ‘class’ or ‘diaspora’ or ‘nation-state’ or ‘realism’ or the ubiquitous ‘identity,’ to cite just a few examples, if we are not clear in our own minds what exactly these mean for us in this field?  

Some of the issues which will hopefully, therefore, be addressed include:

• what do we understand by terms such as >race,= >racism,= >gender,= >misogyny,= >nationhood,= >Africanness= or >Europeanness,= >Afrocentrism,= etc.?
• What is the nature of the relationship which exists between language and the >world= and how does this impact upon our study of Caribbean literature?
• What exactly is >nation language= and how does it accord with recent research in linguistic theory?
• Is logic culturally-specific or is it a universal phenomenon?
• Can truth-claims about the Caribbean past be >objective= or >scientific=?
• What are the major ways in which the Caribbean social formation has come to be conceptualised and are these satisfactory?

Equally importantly, therefore, where particular orthodoxies may arguably have become enshrined or even stale or disproved, this conference will also seek to explore alternative perspectives from which Caribbean culture might / ought to be rethought.

Although the emphasis will be on the precise theoretical / philosophical frameworks which inform the study of particular aspects of Caribbean culture, theoretically self-aware contributions which seek to apply particular concepts (e.g. close readings of literary or other texts or discussions of specific historical controversies) are also welcome.

The panels presently envisaged include:

• Defining Caribbean cultural identity
• Diasporas involved in the making of the Caribbean
• Africa and the Caribbean
• India and the Caribbean
• The Caribbean diaspora
• The Caribbean nation-state and nationalism
• Gender in the Caribbean
• Sexuality in the Caribbean
• Ethnicity, race and racism in the Caribbean
• Haiti
• Nature, race, and culture in Caribbean discourse
• Defining Caribbean cultural studies
• Epistemic shifts in the study of Caribbean culture
• Caribbean historiography
• Caribbean language issues
• Caribbean critical theory
• African philosophy
• Caribbean philosophical perspectives
• Afro-Caribbean political philosophy
• Education in the Caribbean
• Religion in the Caribbean
• Anglophone Caribbean literatures
• Francophone Caribbean literatures
• Hispanic Caribbean literatures
• Caribbean theatre
• Caribbean film
• Caribbean popular culture I: carnival
• Caribbean popular culture II: music
• Caribbean visual arts
• Caribbean sports

We are, of course, open to further suggestions for panels.

The ultimate goal of this conference is the production of a peer-reviewed collection(s) devoted to the theorisation of Caribbean culture in its various manifestations which will assemble the most important contributions.

We will be able to announce shortly the names of the scholars who will deliver keynote addresses in the following areas:

• Caribbean Cultural Identity
• Diaspora and Migration
• Caribbean Nationalism
• Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean
• Gender in the Caribbean
• Caribbean Historiography
• Creole Linguistics
• African Philosophy
• Afro-Caribbean Political Philosophy
• Caribbean Literature
• Caribbean Literary Theory

Dates:

The week of Monday June 4 - Friday June 8, 2001

Venue: 

Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Barbados, West Indies.

Deadlines:    

Abstracts (300-500 words) due: February 28, 2000 (there will be no more extensions);

Completed essays due: April 30, 2001.

Limits:    

Presentations must not exceed 20 minutes (5-7 pages single spaced)

Mrs. Grace Franklin gfranklin@uwichill.edu.bb