Sexing Empire

CFP for a special issue of Radical History Review #123

Abstract Deadline: 1 February 2014

Abstracts (300 words)  to be submitted electronically as an attachment to [email protected] with “Issue 123 submission” in the subject line.

Full paper deadline: 1 July 2014
From the CFP:

This special issue will contemplate empire as a global process involving sexualized subjects and objects. Contributions from across several disciplines will reconsider the history of sex and (or in) empire, critically engaging scholars’ recounting of those pasts in recent decades. From steam ships to steam rooms and sweat lodges to sweat shops, processes of pleasures and desire shaped the regulation and classification of bodies. On beaches, in boardrooms, from temples to taverns, sexual practices have always shaped imperial power relations. And in the many places and relationships where colonialism still shapes economics (slavery, debt peonage, underemployment, and their legacies), sex and sexuality remain a driving—if sometimes compounding or hidden—force in power relations. Continue reading Sexing Empire

Documentary Film Series – Jamaican Narratives

The Caribbean Cultural Theatre of New York City will present a series of films for Jamaica National Heritage Week on October 25 and 26.

This Documentary Film Series will bring together four narratives, their creators, and commentators in an exploration of the journey of the Jamaican nation from the military exploits of the Maroons, through Marcus Garvey’s international struggle for social justice, to the emergence of the contemporary spiritual and cultural phenomena of Rastafari.

All films will be shown at Medgar Evers College
1650 Bedford Avenue (corner Crown Street), Brooklyn, NY 11225

Bob Marley – The Making of a Legend
Fri, Oct 25 @ 7PM
Directed by Esther Anderson; Gian Godoy
Based on footage shot in the early 1970s that was missing for more than thirty years, Esther Anderson journeys to her youth to see and hear a young Bob Marley before he was famous.
Post screening discussion with jurnalist and Marley biographer, Chistopher John Farley.
Trailer

Marcus Garvey – A Giant in Black Politics
Sat., Oct. 26 @ 2PM
Directed by Mike Wallington
One of the most controversial figures in the twentieth century, the film traces the complex and multifaceted life that catapulted Garvey from organizing West Indian contract labor to the phenomenal status of the preeminent Black Nationalist pioneer.
Post screening discussion with Marcus Garvey’s son, Dr. Julius Garvey.

Akwantu: The Journey
Sat., Oct. 26 @ 4:30PM
Directed by Roy T. Anderson
The struggle for freedom of the Maroons inspires both immense admiration and derision. This personal investigation into heritage and military exploits against the most powerful army in the world in the 18th century to flee plantations and slave ships to gain political auto
Trailer

Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens
Sat., Oct. 26 @ 7PM
Directed by John L. Jackson, Deborah A. Thomas; Junior “Gabu” Wedderburn
As a successor to the history of violence, within a year after gaining independence from Britain, the Jamaican government launched a military-style incursion on the Rasta community of western Jamaica.
Trailer

Above adapted from email announcement from the Caribbean Cultural Center. Contact [email protected] for more details.

Islands in the Mainstream – CFP

Kevin Browne, author of Tropic Tendencies: Rhetoric, Popular Culture, and the Anglophone Caribbean, seeks chapter proposals for an anthology project on Caribbean rhetoric currently titled: Islands in the Mainstream: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Caribbean Rhetoric

Deadlines: 30 Nov 2013 for proposals; 31 August 2014 for full papers.

Call for Papers

Proposals are sought from scholars, teachers, practitioners, and researchers in rhetoric, communication, literature, Caribbean studies, indigenous studies, diaspora studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and the visual and performing arts for contributions that explore aspects of Caribbean rhetorical expression from an interdisciplinary perspective. In particular, original essays are sought that will contribute to and fortify emerging work in the study of Caribbean rhetoric by envisioning the scope and dimension of what such work might entail. Such essays will engage, challenge, and move beyond the traditional perimeter of rhetorical analysis, encompassing the epistemic, pedagogical, and public work that occurs in a broad range of Caribbean texts: oral/aural, visual, scribal, tactile, digital, environmental, supernatural, etc.. Essays about the anglophone, francophone, and hispanophone Caribbean are strongly encouraged, though authors are asked to submit their proposals (and their essays, if accepted) in English, except in the case of specialized terms, phrases, and concepts (annotated accordingly).

The first of its kind to specifically consider the rhetoric of Caribbean cultural production from interdisciplinary perspectives, this collection will provide scholars, teachers, and students with innovative approaches for discussing the range of motives, histories, and social realities that necessitate inquiry and inclusion in rhetorical studies. Similarly, it will contribute to Caribbean studies and other disciplines represented in the volume by providing a dynamic set of robust rhetorical theories for reading Caribbean culture. In addition to defining theoretical parameters for reading Caribbean rhetoric and exploring areas of practice for further research, contributors will be encouraged to consider the pedagogical implications of their ideas. This can include developing curricula (introductory, intermediate, or advanced courses in rhetorical education among undergraduate writing majors, or courses that respond to particular writing-intensive programs, writing centers, or Writing Across the Curriculum), community literacy/publishing initiatives (ongoing or envisioned), or research studies (archival, ethnographic, qualitative, quantitative, etc.) on projects that engage students on matters of Caribbean import. Essays that are collaboratively authored by faculty and students and/or faculty and professionals are particularly welcome.

While the following list is not exhaustive, possible chapters may fall within these broad categories: Continue reading Islands in the Mainstream – CFP

Caribbean Writers at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Below are the panels featuring Caribbean writers at the Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday, 22 September. Events are listed in chronological order, with location noted at the end of each description. Of special note is the “Bookend” event on Thursday, 19 September, 6pm at MoCADA. More information available at the Brooklyn Book Festival’s site.

**Bookend event**

Thursday, 19 September, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

The Best in Caribbean Literature.  Presented by Akashic Books, Bocas Lit Fest, MoCADA, and Caribbean Cultural Theatre. Featuring Robert Antoni (As Flies to Whatless Boys), Montague Kobbé (The Night of the Rambler), Oonya Kempadoo (All Decent Animals), Elsie Augustave (The Roving Tree), Barbara Jenkins (Sic Transit Wagon), Diana McCaulay (Huracan) and Ifeona Fulani (Ten Days in Jamaica).

MoCADA, 80 Hanson Place (btw. S. Portland & S. Elliott)

_________________

Festival events
Sunday, 22 September

10:00 A.M. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: We love to talk about love: new love, old loves and—the worst kind of all—love interrupted. More than that, we love to read about love. Jess Row (The Train to Lo Wu),Colin Channer (Lover’s Rock), and J. Courtney Sullivan (The Engagements) bring us stories about the history of the diamond ring across America, the decline of a marriage in London, and the intimate lives of characters in Hong Kong. Moderated by Rachel Fershleiser.
BOROUGH HALL COMMUNITY ROOM (209 Joralemon Street)

11:00 A.M. Personal Stories, National Memory: Fiction can be as narrow or contained as a single consciousness, or open up and embody something intrinsic to an era or nation. Alexander Maksik (A Marker to Measure Drift), probes the shattered inner world of a Liberian war refugee; Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez (The Sound of Things Falling) captures the dread and violence of his country’s drug war years, and Oonya Kempadoo (All Decent Animals) offers a polyrhythmic, panoramic view across contemporary Trinidadian society. Moderated by Anderson Tepper. Special thanks to the Colombian Film Festival New York.
BOROUGH HALL COMMUNITY ROOM (209 Joralemon Street)

11:00 A.M. Mommy Dearest: Some women would sacrifice anything to have a child. Others consider having a child a sacrifice in itself. The complications of adoption, of lost chances, and of the relationship between past and present are all held together by a mother’s instinct, or lack thereof. Jennifer Gilmore (The Mothers), Claire Messud (The Woman Upstairs), and Jamaica Kincaid (See Now Then) debate the different roles that motherhood plays in their latest novels.  Moderated by Harold Augenbraum, National Book Foundation.
ST. FRANCIS AUDITORIUM

12:00 P.M. Lessons Learned: We all like to think of what could have been. Christopher Beha (What Happened to Sophie Wilder), Paul Harding (Enon), and Robert Antoni (As Flies to Whatless Boys) discuss how their characters look to the past to find peace in the present, whether that means reconnecting with ex-lovers, facing the death of a loved one, or reflecting on decisions could have, should have, would have changed the world. Moderated by Erika Goldman.
BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL STUDENT LOUNGE (250 Joralemon St.)

1:00 P.M. Storytelling: How Do We Tell Our Most Essential Stories?This discussion about narrative and the art of storytelling features a trio of voices from around the globe. With Antiguan-American writer Jamaica Kincaid (See Now Then), Guatemalan writer Eduardo Halfon (The Polish Boxer) and Nigerian writer Chinelo Okparanta (Happiness, Like Water). Moderated by Eric Banks.
BOROUGH HALL COMMUNITY ROOM (209 Joralemon Street)

2:00 P.M. Creating Dangerously in a Dangerous World: How do different forms—fiction, reportage, memoir and essay—capture different realities, especially when the principal subject is the trauma of war and violence? Join three authors whose work explores horrific visions from a variety of angles: Edwidge Danticat (Claire of the Sea Light), Courtney Angela Brkic (The First Rule of Swimming) and Dinaw Mengestu (How to Read the Air). Moderated by Bhakti Shringarpure, editor of Warscapes.
BOROUGH HALL COURTROOM (209 JORALEMON ST.)

3:00 P.M. Real People, Imagined Stories: These novels are so fascinating that it’s easy to forget they’re based on the lives of very real historical figures. Amy Brill (The Movement of Stars), Colum McCann(TransAtlantic), and Montague Kobbé (The Night of the Rambler) examine the lesser-known stories of the first female astronomer, a fifteen-hour revolution in Anguilla, and three generations of Irish women whose stories of hope and survival are played out against a century and a half of Irish-American history. Moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf (CLMP)
ST. FRANCIS AUDITORIUM

3:00 P.M. Rolling the Dice: These characters are doing some risky business. A woman leaves behind a life in New York City to return to Jamaica as an outsider. A man ditches an unfulfilling but innocent life of cab-driving to steal a Nigerian artifact. A woman terrorizes another woman’s wedding with a wedding dress, a gas mask, a shotgun and a bomb trigger. Okey Ndibe (Foreign Gods), Lisa Zeidner (Love Bomb), and Diana McCaulay (Huracan) discuss what drives us to risk everything—love, honor, or the greater good? Moderated by Jon Fine (Amazon).
ST. FRANCIS MCARDLE (180 Remsen Street)

3:30 P.M. Idols, Gods, and Kings: Literary forces Teddy Wayne (The Love Song of Jonny Valentine), Tom Wolfe (Back to Blood) and Cristina García (King of Cuba) explore the concept of power with three very different casts: an eleven-year-old superstar’s road to fame; the varied, shady folks running an election in Miami; and a fictionalized Fidel Castro and his vengeful exile. Moderated by Greg Cowles (The New York Times).
ST. ANN & THE HOLY TRINITY CHURCH (157 Montague Street)

5:00 P.M. Something to Hide: Writers Against the Surveillance State.  Recent leaks have revealed the breathtaking reach of the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programs. Should writers and readers be concerned? Brooklyn Book Festival authors Edwidge Danticat,Francine ProseAndre Aciman, and radio host Leonard Lopate join an NSA whistleblower, Tom Drake, and others for a reading to provoke reflection on the dangers surveillance poses to the freedom to think and create, and to celebrate the role writers have played in defying those dangers. Presented by PEN American Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the New York Civil Liberties Union)
ST. ANN & THE HOLY TRINITY CHURCH (157 Montague Street)

5:00 P.M. Visitors and Intruders: Talented writers A.X. Ahmad (The Caretaker), Jessica Hagedorn (Manila Noir) and Robert Antoni (As Flies to Whatless Boys) remind us of the thin line between visitor, intruder, and citizen in these tales about immigration, lost homelands, and, always, the power of location. Moderated by Karolina Waclawiak (The Believer).
BOROUGH HALL COURTROOM (209 JORALEMON ST.)

 

Association of Caribbean Historians Conference 2014

46th Annual Association of Caribbean Historians Conference,
Martinique, 2014
11 May – 16 May 2014

CFP Deadline: 1 October 2013

Call for Papers and Advance Information

The Executive Committee is pleased to receive paper and panel applications for next year’s conference. 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:

New issue of sx salon

Introduction and Table of Contents from sx salon, issue 13

Our discussion section in this summer issue of sx salon focuses on a genre of Caribbean writing that does not receive nearly enough attention: children’s literature. As noted in the three essays included in this issue, there has been a significant increase in Caribbean children’s literature in the past decade; there has not, however, been a concurrent increase in reflections on this body of work—or even much of an acknowledgement of it as a body of work. The importance of children’s literature is not simply commercial. As Joanne Johnson declares in her discussion essay,

As a member of a small but growing community of published Caribbean children’s book authors, I recognize that we are not solely wordsmiths. Our published works are collectively and potentially a codex for cultivating an audience of readers for West Indian writers, and more.

The cultural implications of Caribbean children’s literature for generational development and for the larger Caribbean literary tradition cannot be overstated. Along with Johnson’s essay, we publish Curdella Forbes’s historically informed discussion of reading material for children in the Caribbean and Summer Edward’s consideration of the import of illustrations and overall aesthetics of Caribbean children’s literature.

Included in this issue are reviews of recent scholarly works on Jamaica and Haiti. We also carry an interview with Port-au-Prince-based artist Andre Eugene. Rounding out the issue are poetry selections from Monica Minott, 2009 first prize winner of the Small Axe literary competition, and Anton Nimblett, author of Sections of an Orange (reviewed in our June 2011 issue). Our prose selection for August features fiction by Jonathan Bellot, whose previous sx salon work may be found here.

We hope you enjoy this close-of-summer issue.

Kelly Baker Josephs

_______________________________________________________________________________

sx salon 13 (August 2013)

Introduction and Table of Contents—Kelly Baker Josephs

Reviews
Higglers in Kingston: Women’s Informal Work in Jamaica by Winnifred Brown-Glaude—Danielle Phillips
Tectonic Shifts: Haiti since the Earthquake, edited by Mark Schuller and Pablo Morales—Mariana Past
Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica, by Deborah A. Thomas—Tami Navarro

Discussion: Caribbean Children’s Literature

Jamaican Children Reading: A Reflection—Curdella Forbes
Cultural Authenticity in the Emerging Caribbean Picturebook Aesthetic—Summer Edward
Codex Legacy: The Soul Profit of a People—Joanne Johnson

Poetry
Monica Minott
Anton Nimblett

Prose
Jonathan Bellot

Interviews
The Visual Language of Resistance: A Conversation with André Eugène—Christopher Garland

Migration by Boat: theories, politics, and memories

CFP deadlines: abstracts due 30 September; accepted papers due 30 May.

Dr. Lynda Mannik (see bio below) is seeking original chapters for a collection tentatively titled, Migration by Boat: theories, politics, and memories, which will explore ocean travel undertaken by refugees, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants as a space and place where cultures intersect, and national boundaries and identities are reshaped, both in painful and creative ways. Migration by boat can symbolically be aligned with notions of deterritorialization that often support fears, yet also allow for renegotiations of identity, memory and feelings. Contributions from a multidisciplinary cohort are welcome. Authors are encouraged to submit provocative original writing (conceptual, empirical or theoretical) that emphasizes how migration by boat is remembered and represented; effects individual and social or cultural identity; and challenges or reinforces cultural or social structures.  Continue reading Migration by Boat: theories, politics, and memories

The Meaning of Blackness / Significance of Being Black

The Meaning of Blackness / Significance of Being Black

University of Costa Rica
San Pedro, Costa Rica
3-6 February 2014

Keynote addresses by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sir Hilary Beckles, Toyin Falola, and Paul E. Lovejoy

CFP deadline: Not noted. Please contact Paul Lovejoy <[email protected]> for more information.

Proposals for papers will only be considered if they fit within one of the themes. Proposals must be accompanied by an abstract and short c.v. Continue reading The Meaning of Blackness / Significance of Being Black

Poetry Editor for Ananseem

Anansesem, an ezine for Caribbean children’s literature is currently seeking a Volunteer Poetry Editor.

The Poetry Editor will be someone who genuinely cares about Caribbean children’s literature. The Poetry Editor will be an ambassador not only for Anansesem, but for Caribbean children’s literature. Editors are expected to take ownership of what they bring to the ezine and to the cause of promoting Caribbean children’s literature. Sustained interest is an important part of this role.

To apply, please contact Anansesem here.

Qualifications

• Must reside in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, or New York. Continue reading Poetry Editor for Ananseem

Aimé Césaire/La Négritude

Aimé Césaire/La Négritude: Poetics, Africana History/Identities, and Political Thoughts
October 16-17, 2013
Howard University (Washington, DC)

CFP deadline: Proposals due electronically by 30 September 2013

On 16-17 October 2013, Howard University will host an international and interdisciplinary symposium on the centenary of the birth of Aimé Césaire, one of the founders of the movement of Négritude. The organizers invite individual papers or group proposals from the various disciplines that contribute to Césaire’s paradigm shifts in black poetics, black aesthetics, and political thoughts/theories, as well as from individuals and groups engaged in artistic, political, and intellectual work outside the academy, including writers, artists, and community activists.

Suggested topics for proposals include:

Save A Museum Exhibit/Sale for the Musee d’Art Haitien

Tuesday, Sept. 17 – Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013

Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba
219 East 2nd Street
New York, NY 10009
(212) 674-3939

Haitian Fine Art donated by artists and collectors from around the world to raise funds for the repair of the Musée d’Art Haïtien du Collège St.
Pierre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The museum was severely damaged by the 2010 earthquake and has been closed to the public since then. In an unprecedented effort, 88 original artworks donated by Haitian masters, emerging artists and collectors will be on display for sale.

Tuesday, Sept. 17 – Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013
Hours: 11 am – 6 pm

Opening event: Thursday, Sept. 19, 4 – 6 pm
Closing event: Saturday, Sept. 21, 3 – 7 pm

You don’t need to be present to purchase artwork or contribute. Contact
the organizers at [email protected] or (718) 253-0215 for any
information.

Adapted from email announcement.

Celebrating the Life and Work of Kamau Brathwaite

“A Splice of Space and Time”: Celebrating the Life and Work of Kamau Brathwaite
Critical Caribbean Symposium 2013
College of The Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas
November 22-23

CFP Deadline: Abstracts due 4 October 2013. Submit electronically to [email protected]

“A Splice of Space and Time”: Celebrating the Life and Work of Kamau Brathwaite

Since the early 1950s, Kamau Brathwaite has been one of the leading producers of Caribbean cultural and intellectual discourses. Not just an award winning poet, the richness of Brathwaite’s verse is paralleled only by the depth of his scholarly essays in literary criticism, cultural theory, and history. With groundbreaking works including Four Plays for Primary Schools (1964), Rights of Passage (1967), Black + Blues (1976), Roots (1993), The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (1971), and History of the Voice (1986), Braithwaite’s place as a major contemporary poet, philosopher and original literary voice of the Caribbean has been well-established. Continue reading Celebrating the Life and Work of Kamau Brathwaite

Race and New York in the twentieth century

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 [email protected]

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 2014 Conference

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.