El Museo’s Simposio

Caribbean: Crossroads of the World
El Museo del Barrio, New York
October 2012

Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2012.

El Museo del Barrio seeks submissions for El Museo’s Simposio, organized in conjunction with the exhibition Caribbean: Crossroads of the World.  The two-day symposium is conceived as an inter-disciplinary public program that enlists a range of fields including art history, history, ethnic studies, visual and performance studies, ethnomusicology, philosophy, religious studies, political science and economics.

The symposium will address four specific themes that are relevant to historic and contemporary discussions of the Caribbean. These are: Languages and Literatures of the Caribbean, Trade and Geography, Religion and Cultural Reflections, and Politics, Identity and Visual Culture. The program will include relevant panels of invited speakers and presentations of graduate student papers selected through an open call.  Our interpretive approach is to explore these major themes through scholarly discussions of works of visual art, some historic documentation, examples of various cultural expressions, such as religious practice and music, and economic factors such as the history of slavery and tourism. The presentations will use various interpretive strategies including comparative studies, visual analysis, analysis of documents, audio recordings, and analysis of performances, among others, to provide audiences with a range of ways in which to understand the complexities of the cultural production and the historic and contemporary realities of the region. The symposium’s thematic framework comprises these interrelated themes in order to illuminate the last 200 years of Caribbean visual and cultural history.

Eligibility is limited to graduate students currently enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program, and recent graduates.

Please include the following in your application:

• Curriculum vitae of no more than two pages
• An abstract (one page, single-spaced, maximum length 500 words)
• One academic reference
• Final papers are desirable but not required. If you are accepted, final papers and supplemental materials (e.g. PowerPoint, video or audio recordings) must be submitted by August 15, 2012.

Send all submissions to:

El Museo’s Simposio Committee
El Museo del Barrio
Education and Public Programs Department, 3^rd Floor
1230 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029

Telephone: (212) 660-7138
Fax: (212) 831-7927
E-mail: simposio@elmuseo.org

Speakers will be notified of acceptance by April 2012.