Education, Culture and Emancipatory thought in the Caribbean
4th to 8th June 2018
Havana, Cuba
CFP Deadline: 125 word abstracts for individual papers and 250 word abstracts for panels and workshops due 1 January 2018
This annual conference proposes integrating education, culture, and emancipatory thought as the fundamental reflexive axes for furthering the process of decolonisation in the Caribbean. All three concepts deepen our understanding of the re-appropriation and recuperation of memory— be it individual, collective, social or historical— in these territories. Our conference aims to foster dialogue and brainstorm about these three topics in order to rethink and reconstruct paradigms, to relocate margins and excluded spaces, and to understand the diversity and complexity of this region’s peoples.
Caribbean history was forged from many contributors and interferences due to the quantity and diversity of sources, as well as the fragmentary way this history has been told. Methods of recuperation and an analysis of this narrative process are essential in order to decolonize the mind, which poses a challenge to the field of education. In the Caribbean, culture and history are intensely vivid. In such a setting, the seeds of resistance and of emancipatory thought are crucial; this conference will look not only at the present but also to the future.
Major thematic themes of the conference:
- Education, culture and identity. Definitions of Caribbean culture. The Caribbean and education: what is to be taught? what are we teaching? Nation and culture. Caribbean counterpoints: ourselves and others. Cultural connections in the Caribbean region. The silences of history: marginalization and exclusions. Social diversity and its cultural presentation: themes and problems. Collective imagination and knowledge. Education, multiculturalism and linguistic pluralism. Migrations, going and coming back, transnationalism and multiple nationalities.
- Emancipatory thought in the Caribbean. Questions of theory and Caribbean political culture. Foundational figures and texts. Intellectual movements and networks. Caribbean feminist thought. Sovereignty and dependency in an age of globalization: trends and contradictions. Reparations and indemnities, subjects pertaining to historical and social justice in the region. Anti-hegemonic and emancipatory thought: culture, community and knowledge. Territoriality and culture of peace in the region. New emancipatory ideas and horizons in the contemporary Caribbean geo-political context: internal and external challenges. Climatic justice, the people’s rights and ecological resistance. Perspectives and strategies to address the pressing issue of climate vulnerability in the Caribbean. Mass media, hegemony and emancipation in the Caribbean.
- Education and decolonisation of the mind. Educational models and cultural legacies. Epistemological multiculturalism and education. Knowledge, power and production of knowledge. Educational sovereignty, privatisation and neoliberalism. Cultural resistance and popular knowledge. Museums and cultural conservation. Memory archives: archival resources and document collections in diverse catalogues and formats. Caribbean memory constructed through education. Emancipatory practices in education, culture, and art.
- Education for social and cultural transformation. Social innovations in the field of education. Education, emancipation and social justice. Socio-educational and cultural interventions. Ethno-education. The arts and the social dimension. Education and traditional forms of knowledge. Oral narrative, oraliture and community experiences. Popular religion, carnival cultural and Afro-Caribbean spirituality. Cultural industries and education: cinema, music, theatre, literature, art and others. Climate education and sustainable development: reflexions from the Caribbean.
- Education and culture in the training of children and youth. Family and the oral transmission of values (culture, ethic, citizenship). Education for girls and women as an empowering tool for economic and social freedom. Literacy as a way to compensate for historical inequalities of gender, race, and class. Culture and nature: interdisciplinary dialogues. Health and sexuality: models of formation. Education and sexual diversity. Artistic and creative practices to foster the dignity and empowerment of children and youth. Artistic education, intellectual curiosity, and humanitarian Social and emancipatory effects of developing creativity.
The CSA accept individual papers, as well as collective panels and workshops. To make the conference as interdisciplinary as possible, the CSA warmly encourage our members to propose ideas for panels and workshops based on multiple disciplines and languages. This conference welcomes a wide range of participants: researchers, academics, teachers, students, community activists, cultural managers, writers, artists, and creative people of all kinds.
Sending your proposals:
Please submit all proposals online via the CSA’s website (no emails).
The deadline for sending proposals is January 1st, 2018.
- All participants should indicate the thematic thread associated with his or her proposal, according to the numeration listed above.
- The summary of the proposal should be no more than 125 words for individual papers and 250 words for panels and workshops.
- The titles of individual proposals and collective panels should not be more than 70 characters (we reserve the right to edit it if too long).
- The participants should indicate in which language they will present.
- Please send your titles and summaries in at least two languages (Spanish, English, French, Haitian creole, Dutch, Papiamento or other creole languages). Multilingual summaries will be published in the online version of the program.
- In the proposal, please mention in any technological, working and translating support you might need.
- Panels should include at least 3 and no more than 5 people, including the moderator of the panel, whose name should be included in the proposal.
- Panels should include multiple disciplines, institutional affiliations and languages (for example, the inclusion of students, postgraduates and academics, together with senior professors, activists or professionals; academics coming from social sciences, arts and humanities, and other disciplines would be welcome)
- The workshops should focus on practical strategies and dialogue with the three thematic threads of the conference. A clear title and detailed aims and objectives should be provided, as well as the names of the workshop facilitators, the length and the desired outcome.
- We also welcome film presentations, visual art exhibitions and performances related to the paper, panels or workshop proposals. Please consult the 2016 call for film, visual, and performance art to obtain instructions for sending your proposal.
Membership rates are payable by January 1st, 2018(membership rates apply on a calendar year basis and all memberships end December 31st each year)
You should register and pay registration fees by March 1st, 2018 so that all proposals appear in the program. Details about membership rates and registration will soon be published on the CSA’s website.
The CSA offer a limited number of travel scholarships to support its current and future members who are not funded by their institutions and countries and who would not be able to attend the conference without support. Further details on how to apply for the travel scholarships, criteria and deadlines, will be available on the CSA’s website.
For any further inquiries or assistance about the suggested themes of the conference, please contact the Program Director, Gabriela Ramos, at the following address: program.chair@caribbeanstudiesassociation.org
Above adapted from CSA CFP webpage.