New York History: A Quarterly Journal of the New York State Historical Association, invites submissions for an issue devoted to race and New York in the twentieth century.

Submission deadline: 15 November 2013. Submissions to be submitted electronically to c.miosek@nysha.org

All papers based on the general topic of race and New York in the twentieth century will be considered. Especially welcome are essays examining understudied histories of race and New York, articles complicating the black/white dichotomy, studies on race outside of New York City, emerging and exciting historiographies, including whiteness studies, black power studies, and civil rights activism before Brown, as well as histories shedding light on pressing social issues in our time, such as immigration, mass incarceration, institutional racism, affirmative action, to name a few. Essays analyzing shifts in conceptions and applications of race and racism are also desirable. Continue reading Race and New York in the twentieth century

National Council for Black Studies
38th Annual Conference

March 5-8, 2014
Miami, FL

CFP deadline: 11 January 2014. Submissions accepted electronically here.

NCBS is accepting abstracts for individual paper, poster, panel, session, roundtable discussion, workshop, town hall meeting that explore the Black experience locally, nationally, and/or globally from a variety of perspectives. Of particular interest are presentations that comparatively explore these experiences, as well as those that examine the discipline of Africana/Black Studies using multi-layered frameworks and methodologies. Papers that incorporate various combinations of race/nationality, class, gender, and sexuality, through the lens of but not limited to Afrocentric, cross and multicultural, diasporic, feminist, post-colonial, post-modernist or transnational interpretative schemes are welcomed. Send a 150-400 word abstract for a panel (one for the panel subject and one for each panelist), and/or individual paper and poster presentations. For roundtable discussions submit a 500 word abstract that explores the discussion topic.

Audio-visual needs (e.g. powerpoint, monitors, TV, etc…)–presenters have to contract equipment from their institution or the hotel –NCBS will not be responsible for supplying presenters with equipment.

Submissions due by 11 January 2014

All conference presenters must pre-register for the conference.

Information taken from NCBS website. Please see the full CFP for more details and contact information.

 

The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) has been awarded a grant from the Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Fund to develop a mobile augmented reality project called “Mi Querido Barrio” or “My Beloved Barrio.”

“Mi Querido Barrio” is an exhibition with both physical and virtual components, mapping an historic and cultural tour of El Barrio to foster greater awareness of the cultural history of the area’s (NYC) long-standing residents. The works of intergenerational artists in both traditional media and augmented reality will explore the concept of home/community in a global reality.

The physical exhibition will document the lives of 5 families with a generational history of living in El Barrio. The virtual exhibition will place virtual computer graphic artworks and environments throughout the neighborhood of Spanish Harlem as a means to reflect upon El Barrio’s past, present and future in cultural memory, history, fantasy, and reality.
CALL FOR ARTISTS
No deadline for submission stated. Full CFP available here.

The CCCADI will be identifying four artists to participate in a workshop to learn the new technology of augmented reality and use these new skills to create site-specific virtual artworks and environments landmarking the history and culture of East Harlem/El Barrio. Continue reading Mi Querido Barrio: An Augmented Reality Art Project

Language Speaks Us: Language(s) and Identity
The College English Association—Caribbean Chapter Conference
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
14-15 March 2014

CFP deadline: abstracts (100-200 words) due by 30 September 2013 to cea.cc.conference@gmail.com

The College English Association—Caribbean Chapter welcomes proposals for presentations in English (20-minute papers) for their 2014 conference, which will be held at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, on 14-15 March 2014. This event will be an opportunity to discuss the ways in which texts are conceived, nurtured and produced, and received by the public, in both historical and contemporary contexts. “Text” is to be interpreted broadly and comprises literature, nonfiction, essays, advertisements, maps, music, film, poetry, tweets, visual and performing arts, facebook posts, SMS and IMs, and many other tracts. Conference papers will be considered for publication in a volume of essays.

Possible topics, among others: Continue reading Language Speaks Us

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies is seeking book reviewers for two issues scheduled to be published in 2014.  The journal covers topics on imperialism, neo-imperialism, postcolonialism, transnationalism, and globalization from gendered perspectives.

Interested reviewers may suggest freshly published books or may contact the journal for book assignments. Reviews would be due by December 2013.

Please contact the book review editor directly with questions or review queries:

Nandita Ghosh
nghosh@fdu.edu
Associate Professor of English
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Madison, NJ 07940

The 46th Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians (ACH)
Fort-de-France and Schœlcher in Martinique
11 May – 16 May, 2014

CFP Deadline: Proposals due by 1 October 2013.

The ACH Executive Committee is accepting paper and panel applications for The 46th Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians.  Members suggested a number of themes at this year’s Annual General Meeting in Belize.  While papers on these ideas are encouraged, please note that applicants are welcome to submit proposals about other subjects or ideas.

Suggested themes include: Continue reading Association of Caribbean Historians Annual Conference

Multiple Textualities: Imagining the Caribbean Nation
College of the Bahamas
10-12 October 2013

Deadline EXTENDED: 50-100 word abstracts due by 4 August 2013. 

From the Call for Papers:

Charles V. Carnegie in his multimodal text, Postcolonialism Prefigured: Caribbean Borderlands, argues that “nationalism both presumes and demands a fundamental sameness, whether through a common pledge of loyalty to a set of civic principles or through supposedly shared primordial characteristics such as language or ethnicity.” His text urges Caribbeanists to question the inflexibility of nationalist dialogues that construct West Indian identities. This and other recent critiques of nationalist discourse draw attention to the limitations of nationalism in conceiving and constructing individual and communal West Indian experiences. Continue reading West Indian literature Conference 2013 – deadline extended

CULTURE/IDENTITY/POLITICS: ÉLOGE DE LA CRÉOLITÉ, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON
International Conference, 21-23 October 2014
Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies
Florida State University

CFP in both English then French below. Deadline for proposals is 1 March 2014.

Confirmed Speakers: Dominique Chancé (University of Bordeaux), Françoise Lionnet (UCLA), H. Adlai Murdoch (Tufts University), Richard Price (College of William and Mary), Sally Price (College of William and Mary) 

Since its publication in 1989, Éloge de la créolité has had decidedly mixed fortunes: generally received with enthusiasm on its first appearance, it rapidly became very controversial and has subsequently been widely critiqued to the extent that one wonders whether it retains any capacity at all to illuminate the cultures of Caribbean and Creole societies.

To mark the 25th anniversary of its publication, this conference poses that very question, and foresees three broad areas of discussion: first, the fortunes of the Éloge itself and the subsequent work of its authors; second, the ways in which the Éloge has been received by and influenced other “Creole” authors and cultures; third, other theorizations of Caribbean identity and culture that have developed over the past 25 years.  Continue reading Éloge de la créolité, Twenty-five Years On

The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff), in association with RBC Royal Bank, invites applications for the third annual RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion.

Deadline for applications: 12 July 2013

From the circulated announcement:

Mission and objective
RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion is an intensive development programme that provides ten selected filmmakers from the Caribbean and its diaspora with the opportunity to learn from film professionals. It will be held over four days during the ttff/13 (17 September–01 October 2013). Focus will include group discussions on a range of topics concentrating on the artistic side of narrative filmmaking, sharpening the skills and abilities of participants. There will be a particular emphasis on enhancing the filmmakers’ creative voice and storytelling capabilities.
Each filmmaker will enter Focus with a concept for a feature-length narrative film, from which they will be expected to develop a detailed treatment.

Pitch session and competition
At the end of Focus, the facilitators will choose their top five participants. These five participants will be given an opportunity during the ttff/13 to pitch their project to a jury at a public event. The participant with the best project and pitch, as determined by the jury, will win a cash prize of TT$20,000.

Eligibility
Focus is open to Caribbean filmmakers (citizens of Caribbean countries living and working in the Caribbean); filmmakers of the diaspora (persons of Caribbean descent resident outside of the Caribbean who intend to shoot at least part of their prospective project in the region); and international filmmakers living and working in the Caribbean. Applicants must have completed at least one narrative film (short or feature-length), but no more than two narrative features.

Applications
All applicants must submit a maximum five-minute excerpt of a previous film (narrative short or feature) on DVD, stating their role(s) on the film (writer, director and/or creative producer). They must also submit their résumé and a cover letter stating, in 100 words or less, the concept of the project they would be bringing to Focus and what makes it unique. Participants will be determined based on the strength of all three of these items.

Applications should be sent via email to hello@ttfilmfestival.com

The deadline for applications is 12 July, 2013. Successful applicants will be notified by 01 August.

Expenses
All selected participants will be provided with the materials for the immersion, lunch, a festival pass (which provides access to all film screenings and industry events), and invitations to festival-related activities. Participants not residing in T&T will be allocated accommodation (inclusive of breakfast), and local transport to and from festival-related activities.
Photo caption: Participants in the 2012 RBC Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion

The University of Texas Africa Conference
African Diasporas: Old and New
April 3-6, 2014

CFP deadline: Abstracts due 31 November 2013

From the organizers:

We are now inviting scholars to submit conference papers and full panel
proposals for the 2014 conference on African Diasporas: Old and New. The
goal of this conference is to create an interdisciplinary dialogue
concerning Africa and Africans throughout the world from both historical
and contemporary approaches. This conference seeks to bring together a vast
array of scholars on a variety of academic levels to discuss the complex
experiences of African descended peoples across the globe.

What is the African Diaspora? How are old and new diasporas discussed in a
variety of disciplines? How can we conceptualize the African Diaspora? What
is the role of the African Diaspora in modern politics? How do various
groups within old and new African diasporas conceptualize themselves in
relation to others? How do diasporic voices shape conceptualizations of
individual and collective identities? What will the African diaspora look
like in the future?

Some potential topics may include: Continue reading African Diasporas: Old and New

 

Radical Caribbeans / Los Caribes Radicales: Repositioning Caribbean Life

Conference on Identity, Culture and Social Practices
October 3-5, 2013
Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute, Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

CFP deadlines: Abstracts due by 15 June 2013; Notification by 5 July 2013.

(From The Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute at Tulane University)

Read the official Call for Papers (PDF) here.

We welcome papers that address any facet of the Caribbean radicalis and radical approaches to Caribbean identity, culture and social practices. Papers may focus on one country or invoke comparative strategies of any regions contained in the greater Caribbean, beyond the confines of the Caribbean sea, northeast of the Florida straits and into the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and south, along the Atlantic coast, past Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Papers may be in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese, though English is preferred.

If you are interested in participating, please send a 250 word abstract as an attachment to either of the email addresses listed below by June 15th, 2013. Include the title of your paper, your name (and the names of any co-presenters), institutional affiliation, phone number, mailing and email address. Papers for presentation should be no more than than 20 minutes and may be considered for publication. If submitting a panel for consideration, please include a top sheet with panel title, participant names and a brief abstract of the panel topic in addition to the individual paper proposals.

Notification of acceptance to the conference will be made by July 5, 2013.

For more information on the conference, location and arrangements, visit the Cuban and Caribbean Studies Institute website for updates.

Submit abstracts by June 15 to:
lopez@tulane.edu
icaballe@tulane.edu

Abstracts due June 10, 2013. Final submissions due by October 30, 2013.

Afrofuturism, is a transnational, diasporic, and cultural aesthetic that interrogates the past, present and future in literature, technology, art, or music, and challenges Eurocentric motifs of identity, time and space. While this approach has grown in the past decade, there has been limited engagement with Afrofuturism’s relationship to the discipline of Africana studies, or Africology.

We are soliciting scholarly research, theoretical essays, and applied studies that explore how the concept of Afrofuturism is related to Africana Studies for an anthology.

Manuscripts addressing the following themes will be given priority:

• The intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and technology in human interaction (i.e., examining identities, in communications and new technologies).

• Afrofuturism as philosophy and its impact on religion among African/Diapora communities (ie., metaphysics, theology, philosophy of science and ethics).

• The confluence between Afrofuturism, the environment, bio-sciences, transhumanism, and cyborg manifestations.

• The interstices of time, place, space, and home as metaphors for an Afrofuturist perspective or politics, especially in relation to neoliberal rhetorics of post-racialism, open data movements, radical transparency, crowd sourcing and other forms of political expression in the age of what some call “zombie” or “disaster” capitalism.

• Afrofuturism in relation to other futurisms; such as Rastafuturism, Chicanafuturism, Occidental futurism or Techno-Orientalism.

• Theories of Afrofuturism that explore aesthetics, literature, music, graphic arts, and performing arts, including graphic novels, sequential art, manga and anime.

Authors are to submit a 250-300 word abstract for consideration by the editors by June 10, 2013. Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by July 10. Final submission will be due by October 30, 2013. Final submissions may not exceed 25 pages and must include: (1) detachable title page with names of author(s), academic position, institutional affiliation, full address, telephone number, fax number, and email address. All manuscript submissions must conform to the current Chicago Style format.

Queries and abstract submissions should be addressed to: Reynaldo Anderson, co-editor, Department of Arts and Sciences Room 208, Harris-Stowe State University, Saint Louis, MO, Email: andersor@hssu.edu Office: 314-340-3691; and Charles E. Jones, co-editor, Department of Africana Studies, 3264 French Hall P.O. 210370 University of Cincinnati, OH, 45221-0730 e-mail: jones3cl@uc.edu 404-435-7429.

Via the Critical Caribbean Studies list-serv from Rutgers University-New Brunswick

 

Caribbean Philosophical Association  2013
ANNUAL MEETING
November 21–24, 2013

CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES ON PUERTO RICO AND THE CARIBBEAN
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Deadline for Submissions: 1 July 2013

Shifting the Geography of Reason X: Exploring Decoloniality at the Dawn of a Our Second Decade

For its ten-year anniversary meeting, the Caribbean Philosophical Association invites critical inquiries into existing forms of coloniality and the exploration of multiple forms of decoloniality in the areas of knowledge, power, being, and value in the Caribbean and elsewhere. They also welcome individual presentations and panels in each of the areas of emphasis over the past ten years. These are:

2003 (Barbados): Shifting the geography of reason
2004 (Puerto Rico): Gender, science, and religion
2005 (Montreal, Canada): Aesthetics, science, and language
2007 (Jamaica): Intellectual movements
2008 (Guadaloupe): Intellectual movements
2009 (Miami, U.S.A.): Migrations and diasporas
2010 (Cartagena, Colombia): Music, rhythm, and movement
2011 (New Brunswick, NJ, USA): The University, public Education, and the transformation of society
2012 (Trinidad and Tobago): Racial capitalism and the Creole discourses of Native-, Indo-, Afro-, and Euro-Caribbeans Continue reading Caribbean Philosophical Association 2013

Discourse – Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture

Call for Papers
Deadline 15 January 2014

After Glissant: Caribbean Aesthetics and the Politics of Relation

Two recent events have left an undeniable imprint on the critical analysis of Caribbean literary and cultural studies: the February 2011 passing of Martinican writer Édouard Glissant, perhaps the most influential Caribbean intellectual in the last fifty years, and the June 2012 opening of Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, an unprecedented, three-museum art exhibit in New York City that sought to showcase the cultural genealogies of the Antillean region and its diasporic offshoots.  Throughout five theme-based segments that examined aesthetic creation through the frameworks of race, ethnicity, nationality, geography, and popular culture, Crossroads of the World follows a deliberately fragmentary structure that echoes Glissant’s ideas on the Caribbean.  Instead of experiencing the exhibit as what he calls in Caribbean Discourse “the linear, hierarchical vision of a single History,” spectators were confronted with an accumulation of “subterranean convergences” that traced cultural continuities not only between the archipelago and the continental territories that constitute the basin, but also with the metropolis.  Unsurprisingly, the exhibit catalogue’s main chapters conclude with an excerpt from Caribbean Discourse.  This textual fragment, which can be read as a memorial site in honor of Glissant, marks the significance of his vision not only for the curation of the show, but for Caribbean aesthetics as a “whole.”

The spirit of Glissant continues to stimulate creative and scholarly work on the historical fragments and possible futures that constitute the Caribbean’s heterogeneous cultural singularity: from the violent shocks of colonialism and the slave-based plantation system to the also violent dislocations experienced and represented by its peoples under neoliberal capitalism. Yet while scholars and artists carry on creatively appropriating Glissant’s theories, a new generation of cultural producers seeks to interrogate and transform the ways the region has been imagined and represented. Critical voices have also emerged from diverse fields to problematize the historical, cultural, political valence of Glissant’s work, especially his late writings, accusing him of abandoning the politics of decolonization he championed in his younger days and replacing it with an exclusively cultural and poetic vision.

Inspired by this debate and by how it performs ongoing tensions between aesthetics and politics within the field, we invite critical interventions that seek to analyze and explore Caribbean cultural production from the vantage point of this post-Glissantian moment.  What is the relationship of the Caribbean to colonial and post-colonial studies? In what new directions is Caribbean cultural production headed, directions that Glissant could not or did not anticipate?  What new understandings can we bring to the Glissantian understanding of History, or to such terms as “relation,” “filiation” and “diversion” (détour)?

Articles should be no longer than 7,500 words, and should be formatted according to the Chicago Style (Humanities) Format.

Deadline: January 15, 2014

Editors:

Kahlil Chaar-Pérez (Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University) – kahlilchaar@fas.harvard.edu

Emily A. Maguire (Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Northwestern University) – e-maguire@northwestern.edu

CFP Deadline: Abstracts and bios due 29 May 2013

Conference location and date:
The Place of Memory: Anglophone Diasporas in the 21st Century
3-4 October 2013, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie

Conference description:
Diasporic studies have often made diaspora rhyme with nostalgia, focusing on the ways in which the loss of the homeland coincides with a dynamics of reminiscence inevitably triggered by that moment of loss. In this perspective, the diasporic subject is, to paraphrase Emmanuel Nelson, a “fossilized fragment that seeks refossilization.”

A large number of literary works but also of visual artistic creations and films undeniably deal with the difficulties inherent in adjusting to a new land, a fact which often makes it tempting for diasporians to seek to revive the homeland and keep it alive through an active process of re-membering. But there is a lot more to the dynamics of diasporization and remembrance than this rather obvious starting point. In recent years diasporic studies have opened up new areas of investigation which have either confirmed or put into question this link between nostalgia and diaspora. Trauma studies have evidenced the haunting presence of past events and their lingering presence in the lives of diasporians through trauma, and the nature of memory — its making, remaking and sometimes its packaging and “marketing” (Huggan) — has also constituted an area of investigation. Indeed, in the wake of geographer David Harvey’s concept of heritage culture, many critics have interrogated the validation and instrumentalisation of the margins, sometimes through a re-/creation of collective memories.

The conference seeks to position itself in this framework of emerging problematics and reassessment of the role, status and place of memory. Contributions are invited on a variety of topics relating to literature but also to different forms of cultural productions (eg the visual arts from films to installations) in the anglophone world. Continue reading The Place of Memory: Anglophone Diasporas in the 21st Century