Author: Teanu Reid

New World Migration Lecture Series

5:00pm – 7:00pm
30 November 2018
History Lounge Room 5114
CUNY Grad Center

“The African Origins of Racial Capitalism”
Peter James Hudson
Associate Professor of African American studies and History
University of California, Los Angeles

Among the most urgent questions animating recent writing on the global history of modernity
concerns the entangled relationship between the rise of capitalism with the origins of racism and the resulting structuring of global inequalities through hierarchies of racial difference. Some of the most exciting work in this regard has been done under the banner of “racial capitalism,” a phrase largely associated with the work of Cedric Robinson. This talk is part of a larger project that explores the history and historiography of racial capitalism through an emphasis on its origins, not in Europe, but in African and the African diaspora. In the larger project, Hudson will argue that racial capitalism has been reordered as a response to Black challenges to white racial hegemony; racial capitalism, Hudson will suggest, has adapted to Black claims for political sovereignty and economic independence – especially those claims made within the registers inter-state relations and international law. This claim will be examined in the context of the revolution in Saint-Domingue that led to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti in 1804. And in particular, there will be an emphasis on the links between the slave economy of Saint-Domingue and the expansion of Philadelphia merchant-capitalism – and the aborted plans of Toussaint Louverture to end the slave trade via a military expedition to Dahomey.

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*UPDATED* 44th Annual Conference, Caribbean Studies Association (CSA)

The Caribbean in times of Tempest. Ethnicities, Territorial Resistances and Epistemic Poetics

3rd to 7th June 2019
Santa Marta, Colombia

*EXTENDED* CFP Deadline: 15 December 2018

As if amidst a great marine storm, the Caribbean endures times of Tempest. We seem to be the target of ever-growing devastating hurricanes from the south; sacking and pillage from the extractivism of the global north; measures of austerity derived from the neoliberal agenda of the financial “north”; natural and social disasters; drug dealing; and ongoing forms of human trafficking, slavery and feminicide. Expressions of racism, patriarchy, homophobia and xenophobia worsen. In response to such times of Tempest, it is necessary to give visibility to the diversity of the Caribbean world, its ways to imagine liberation; and to think and understand its life experiences from its own narratives and arguments. In addition, to analyze and apprehend the multiple resistances that take place at the local level against policies of plunder and death. Following our Caribbean tradition, the Tempest invites us to poeticize the future, producing critical theories that allow us to think of models of society that give priority to life.

Major themes of the conference:

Continue reading *UPDATED* 44th Annual Conference, Caribbean Studies Association (CSA)

CSAAD-ASWAD Medial Meeting

Black Internationalism and New York City

2nd to 3rd May 2019
New York University

CFP Deadline: 14 January 2019

This conference seeks to promote mechanisms by which academics, activists, policymakers, and other stakeholders enter into greater dialogue and collaboration in areas of conjoined interest. In partnership with the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) – for which NYU serves as the institutional home – NYU’s Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora (CSAAD) will convene every two years, alternating with ASWAD’s biennial conference.

(ASWAD’s 10th Biennial Conference will be held from 5-10 November, 2019 at the College of William & Mary. For more information, please consult the website.)

CSAAD welcomes the participation of communities, organizations, and individuals from across the whole of Africa and its Diaspora, in seeking to foster cross-cultural and cross-spatial engagement. The CSAAD-ASWAD Medial Meeting endeavors to serve as a venue within which communities hailing from the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia might continue to explore connections and identify mutual projects.

To this end, CSAAD issues a Call-For-Proposals, from all interested parties, to participate in the CSAAD-ASWAD Medial Meeting, May 2-3, 2019, on the campus of NYU. The CSAAD-ASWAD Medial Meeting will be on a smaller scale than the biennial ASWAD gathering, and will therefore be much more selective.

We welcome scholarship and presentations on topics that may address, but are not limited to: Continue reading CSAAD-ASWAD Medial Meeting

Recent Publication – Caribbean Quarterly: “Doing it for the Culture”

Caribbean Quarterly
Volume 64, Issue 2
June 2018

In this issue of Caribbean Quarterly authors relish the potential, aesthetics and meaning of culture with a capital ‘C’ (215). This issue has thus been dubbed “‘Doing it for the Culture’, a reference to the popular internet saying, and a re-instatement of CQ’s decades-long commitment. It’s a sort of Janus face, gesturing towards then and now.” (216)

Caribbean Quarterly (CQ) is one of the oldest periodicals in the English-speaking Caribbean. Regarded as the flagship publication of the University of the West Indies (UWI), it was launched by the then Department of Extra Mural Studies, UWI, in 1949, to be a platform from which research findings and general knowledge could be effectively disseminated within the campus and non-campus territories. Professor Rex Nettleford served as editor of CQ for forty years, until his death in February 2010. CQ is now produced under the umbrella of the Vice Chancellery.

CQ concerns itself with all aspects of Caribbean culture, in all its interdisciplinary ramifications. It is an outlet for the publication of results of research into, considered views on, and creative expressions of matters Caribbean. CQ publishes scholarly articles, personal and critical essays, public lectures, poetry, short fiction and book reviews – a lively diversity of types of writing reflecting the diversity of Caribbean culture.

Table of Contents

Continue reading Recent Publication – Caribbean Quarterly: “Doing it for the Culture”

The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowships

Application Deadline: 4 February 2019

Since its inception in 1980, the collection of materials on Cuba and the Cuban diaspora that today comprise the Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) of the University of Miami Libraries has grown to become the most important and expansive repository of materials on Cuba outside the island. Researchers and visitors have access to the wide range of materials that make up the collection, which include books; periodicals; archival materials such as personal papers, organizational records, photographs, manuscripts, and ephemera; and born-digital and digitized collections.

The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowship Program provides assistance for supporting doctoral research at the CHC. The goal of the Goizueta Graduate Fellowships is to engage emerging scholars with the materials available in the CHC and thus contribute to the larger body of scholarship in Cuban and Cuban diaspora studies. Applicants with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Cuba and its diaspora, of any time period are encouraged to apply.

Additional information about the fellowships, eligibility requirements, and application process is available here. The deadline for applications, which should be submitted electronically on Interfolio, is Monday, February 4, 2019.

Questions about the fellowships program or application instructions should be directed to chc@miami.edu.

Continue reading The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowships

Migration, Mobility, and Sustainability: Caribbean Studies and Digital Humanities Institute

Application Deadline: 1 February 2019

Partners in the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) are pleased to invite applications to an NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities entitled “Migration, Mobility, and Sustainability: Caribbean Studies and Digital Humanities Institute.” This Institute is designed for anyone who teaches or supports Caribbean Studies courses or sections dealing with Caribbean Studies in courses. This Institute is also aimed at people who are interested in learning ways to utilize digital collections and implement digital tools and methods into their teaching and collaborative practices. We seek participants who are looking to create new resources for teaching Caribbean Studies in multiple fields and varying types of institutions, as well as enhance the community of practice for engaging with DH. We welcome applications from professors, instructors, graduate students, and library faculty and staff.

Participants will gain DH teaching experience and in-depth knowledge of how to utilize digital collections in teaching. The Institute will provide training in tools (Scalar, TimelineJS, StoryMapJS, Mapping), processes, and resources for developing lessons, modules, and/or courses. Twenty-six participants will acquire concrete digital skills and DH approaches for teaching and research utilizing Open Access digital collections. Through participation in an enhanced community of practice for DH, they will also learn to create Open Access course and teaching materials that blend DH and Caribbean Studies.

Program:

Comprised of introductory readings, a week-long in-person session – held May 20-24, 2019 at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and virtual sessions and online communication in the year following through August 2020, the Institute is structured to give participants the time and space to learn new approaches as well as integrate them into research and teaching. The overall goals of the Institute include gaining expertise in digital tools, with digital collections, and as part of a community of practice. Over the course of the program, participants will be supported in collaborating together and in developing teaching materials to be shared as Open Access.

Continue reading Migration, Mobility, and Sustainability: Caribbean Studies and Digital Humanities Institute

Coasts in Crisis: Art and Conversation in the Aftermath of Hurricanes

Application Deadline: 15 January 2019

The Environmental Resilience Institute at the University of Virginia seeks artists to participate in Coasts in Crisis: Art and Conversation in the Aftermath of Hurricanes. This event is open to artists from any region affected by hurricanes in 2017 and 2018. The event will take place in Charlottesville in 2019. Invited artists will present their work made in the aftermath of the storms, and will have a public dialogue about the role of the arts in hurricane resilience. Invited artists will receive a $1,000 honorarium, travel and lodging in Charlottesville for two nights and three days.

Continue reading Coasts in Crisis: Art and Conversation in the Aftermath of Hurricanes

Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) 2019 Conference

Shifting the Geography of Reason XVI: Resistance, Reparation, Renewal

6th to 8th June 2019
Brown University

CFP Deadline: 15 January 2019

Caribbean philosophy arose out of the crucible of colonialism, racism, and slavery. As such, it has never skirted social and political questions, whether practical or theoretical, about the nature of the modern Caribbean, the relationship between the Caribbean and the wider world, dynamics of global capitalism, commitments of justice, and how agents who have been subject to domination and arbitrary interference respond to their condition in order to create visions of alternative futures.

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Anthropology Colloquia: Archaeologies of Whiteness from the West Indies to the West Africa

4:15pm – 6:00pm
9 November 2018
CUNY Grad Center
Room C415A
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY

“Archaeologies of Whiteness from the West Indies to the West Africa”
Matthew Reilly
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
City College, CUNY

Dr. Matthew Reilly is an anthropological archaeologist interested in race formation processes, whiteness, and colonial modernity in the Atlantic world. His work on the Caribbean island of Barbados, the subject of his forthcoming book, Archaeology below the Cliff: Race, Class, and Redlegs in Barbadian Sugar Society, explores how a group of poor whites known as the Redlegs fit within the social matrix of a system of sugar production and slavery. He is currently working on two related projects in Barbados and Liberia. His work in Barbados focuses on heritage management and the process of building futures with the material remains of the dark histories of plantation slavery. He is also collaborating on a project in the West African nation of Liberia investigating a small village established by Barbadian settlers in 1865. The project uses archaeological and ethnographic approaches to explore the process of “reverse diaspora” and settler-native interactions. At the heart of his research is a critical exploration of the complex relationships between slavery and freedom, colonialism and sovereignty, race, class, and capitalism, the social construction of race and structural racism, and the past, present, and future.

Above text adapted from webpages. Click here and here for more information.

Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation

6:30pm – 8:30pm
6 November 2018
Martin E. Segal Theatre
CUNY Grad Center

Manthia Diawara’s film Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2009, 48 min) follows Édouard Glissant, thinker of Relation and the All-World, on a transatlantic journey as he discusses his philosophies of creolization, relation, and history. Following the screening will be a discussion with the director and artist Asad Raza, co-curator of the exhibition Lydia Cabrera and Édouard Glissant: Trembling Thinking at the Americas Society (October 9, 2018 to January 12, 2019).

This event is free and open to the public, but to attend, please click here to RSVP.

This screening is in tandem with the exhibition Lydia Cabrera and Édouard Glissant: Trembling Thinking at the Americas Society (Oct. 9, 2018–Jan. 12, 2019), and the symposium “Édouard Glissant’s Tout-Monde: Transnational Perspectives” at the Graduate Center, CUNY (Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 12:45 PM – 7:00 PM).

Co-sponsored by the Americas Society, New York, and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY. 

Above text and image adapted from webpage.

Recent Publication – Slavery & Abolition: Special Issue on “Africa’s Sons Under Arms”

Slavery & Abolition: Special issue on “Africa’s Sons Under Arms”
Volume 39, Issue 3
August 2018

This issue of the journal Slavery & Abolition focuses on the theme “Africa’s Sons Under Arms,” exploring “various historical themes around the creation and deployment of armed units of men of African descent by European empires and their successor states” (451). The special issue grows from a two-day conference on “Armed people of African descent: Africa and the Americas, 1750–1900” held in 2017 at the University of Warwick, funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council.” 

Slavery & Abolition is the only journal devoted in its entirety to a discussion of the demographic, socio-economic, historical and psychological aspects of human bondage from the ancient period to the present. It is also concerned with the dismantling of the slave systems and with the legacy of slavery.

Table of Content

Continue reading Recent Publication – Slavery & Abolition: Special Issue on “Africa’s Sons Under Arms”

Édouard Glissant’s Tout-Monde: Transnational Perspectives

12:45pm – 7:00pm
16 November 2018
Elebash Recital Hall and The James Gallery
CUNY Grad Center

The year 2018 marks what would have been the 90th birthday of Édouard Glissant (1928-2011), the eminent thinker of Relation and the All-World (Tout-Monde) who taught for sixteen years at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. Since Glissant’s passing, the influence of his thought continues to grow as his works are now taught not only in Europe and the Americas but also in India and China. This symposium, organized by the Henri Peyre French Institute and co-sponsored with Americas Society, the Center for the Humanities and the Ph.D. Program in French at the Graduate Center, CUNY celebrates the transnational reach of Édouard Glissant’s ideas and the continued sustenance they provide to activists, artists, scholars and writers world-wide. It underlines his call for all people to abrogate the walls, real or imaginary, that separate them for all communities to achieve equality and solidarity and embrace the “Poetics of Relation.”

Édouard Glissant’s humanist project influenced and engaged colleagues and students alike during his years as Distinguished Professor of French at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (1995 to 2011), a city in which diverse ethnic and religious groups share a space that allows “Relation” to thrive, be reformulated and constantly rediscovered. The symposium includes academics whom Glissant mentored as well as those who have been inspired by reading him and have applied his thought to their own work and in teaching their own students.

The symposium brings to the fore scholars and artists who apply Édouard Glissant’s theories to shed light on inter-communal relations, expose the power dynamics of the privileged versus the marginalized, advocate against boundaries while acknowledging difference, contest dominant hierarchies of race, ethnicity, and gender, and show how texts normalize some groups and make others “other.” The symposium celebrates the many perspectives of the Tout-Monde and brings the “periphery” back to the center of discourse, mindful of the powerful Glissant-inspired motto “Les Périphériques vous parlent!” (The Periphery is speaking to you!).

Free and open to the public, but to attend, please click here to RSVP. 

Speakers include: Mohit Chandna, Nathalie Etoke, Emmanuel Bruno Jean-François, Jarrod Hayes, Sylvie Kandé, Cilas Kemedjio, Barbara Webb, Christopher Winks, Pedro Zylbersztajn, and others.

SCHEDULE:

Continue reading Édouard Glissant’s Tout-Monde: Transnational Perspectives

Seminar Series on Édouard Glissant

1:00pm – 4:00pm
9th to 30th  November 2018
French Department Thesis Room
CUNY Grad Center

This Fall semester, the Henri Peyre French Institute, the PhD Program in French, and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY will host a series of seminars honoring the legacy of Édouard Glissant, who taught here from 1995 to 2011. Each of the informal seminars—held in the French Department thesis room where Glissant taught––will be led by one of his former students on a topic of their choosing, ranging from their personal experience with Glissant to the themes in his work and its ongoing influence across disciplines. Offering an intimate at-one-remove experience, these one-hour seminars will be open to 10–15 participants. To attend, participants must RSVP on Eventbrite (see links to RSVP below). Maximum capacity is 10–15 persons due to the size of the seminar room.

Weds, October 24, 2-3pm: Paul Fadoul, Lecturer in French, Queens College, CUNY [FULLY BOOKED]

Friday, November 9, 3-4pm: Led by Chadia Chambers-Samadi, Assistant Professor of French, University of the Bahamas. Click here to RSVP for this seminar.

Tuesday, November 27, 1-2pm: Led by Hamid Bahri, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, York College, CUNY. Click here to RSVP for this seminar.

Friday, November 30, 1-2pm: Led by Eric Lynch, Assistant Professor of French, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX. Click here to RSVP for this seminar.

These seminars are in tandem with the exhibition Lydia Cabrera and Édouard Glissant: Trembling Thinking at the Americas Society (Oct. 9, 2018–Jan. 12, 2019), and the symposium “Édouard Glissant’s Tout-Monde: Transnational Perspectives” at the Graduate Center, CUNY (Fri, Nov 16, 2018, 12:45 PM – 7:00 PM).

Co-sponsored by the Henri Peyre French Institute, the PhD Program in French, and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY. 

Above text adapted from webpage. Above image adapted from email.

9th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Interdisciplinary Conference

21st to 22nd February 2019
James Madison University

CFP Deadline: 15 December 2018

The African, African American, and Diaspora Studies program at James Madison University invites proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference, to be held on the campus of JMU in Harrisonburg, Virginia on Feb 21-22, 2019. This year’s theme is “Bodies in Motion.” Ranging across topics from the politics of migration to the aesthetics of black embodiment, from action films to political activism, the conference will bring together a group of scholars from a wide variety of overlapping and intersecting fields. We welcome proposals from scholars in all relevant disciplines at any point in their scholarly careers. Topics for 20-minute presentations or 60-minute panels could address topics such as these:  Continue reading 9th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Interdisciplinary Conference

The Postcolonial Contemporary: Political Imaginaries for the Global Present

6:00pm – 7:30pm
30 October 2018
NYU Center for the Humanities, Fifth Floor
RSVP here

In twelve essays that draw from a number of disciplines—history, anthropology, literature, geography, indigenous studies— and regional locations (the Black Atlantic, South Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Australia, Argentina) The Postcolonial Contemporary (Fordham UP, 2018) seeks to move beyond the habitual oppositions that have often characterized the field: universal vs. particular; Marxism vs. postcolonialism; politics vs. culture. The essays reckon with new and persisting postcolonial predicaments, doing so under four interrelated analytics: postcolonial temporality; deprovincializing the global south; beyond Marxism versus postcolonial studies; and postcolonial spatiality and new political imaginaries.

Join us to celebrate this new volume and to reflect on the project with the book’s editors, Jini Kim Watson and Gary Wilder, and several contributors.

Featuring:

Continue reading The Postcolonial Contemporary: Political Imaginaries for the Global Present