The Society for Caribbean Research in Association with the Jamaica Bicentenary Committee announces the
BICENTENARY CONFERENCE ON: DISCOURSES OF RESISTANCE: CULTURE; IDENTITY; FREEDOM AND RECONCILIATION
MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA, DECEMBER 5-8, 2007
Call for papers
The Society for Caribbean Research (SOCARE) in Association with the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee (JNBC) announces the Xth International Conference of SOCARE to be held in Jamaica from December 5-8 , 2007. The conference venue will be the Half Moon Golf and Spa Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The staging of SOCARE’s tenth anniversary conference in Jamaica is significant for the fact that this is the first occasion on which the Society will be meeting outside Europe; and the Society’s partnership in the staging of the conference with the JNBC is in recognition of the significance of the year 2007 as the Bicentenary of the start of the official process of abolishing the Transatlantic Trade in Africans to the former British-colonized Caribbean.
This conference is one of the major events being planned by the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee in its year-long programme of activities. The Conference will recognize the significance of Maroon communities in the context of slavery and resistance to the trade, and its abolition. Consequently, the conference will include one full day’s session at the Accompong Maroon community in St. Elizabeth. The insertion of Maroon discourses into discourses of resistance and freedom is in keeping with the JNBC’s mandate to facilitate open discussion of controversial issues on Caribbean history and seek reconciliation among contending parties as we go forward on the freedom journey.
The theme of the conference is: Discourses of Resistance: Culture, Identity, Freedom and Reconciliation and the organizers now invite submission of proposals and abstracts for papers and panels on the general theme but with a focus on the transatlantic trade in Africans and slavery; articulations of freedom; cultural expressions; resistance efforts and their global reach. The conference will be multi-disciplinary and we welcome proposals from scholars in all fields including history, anthropology, archaeology, literature and the social sciences. Panel proposals of an inter-disciplinary nature are particularly encouraged.
Among the suggested themes are:
Indigenous Caribbean Cultures
The Transatlantic Trade in Africans: Cultural Impact
1807 and the Meaning of Abolition
Culture and Resistance
Gender, Resistance and Freedom
The Black Intellectual in the Caribbean: Before and after Marcus Garvey
Monuments, Honouring, Memorialization
Apology and Reconciliation
Reparation
Maroons and Marronage
Shame & Pride: Reflections on the Bicentenary
(other suggestions for themes will be welcomed)
There will be updated conference information in later announcements, plus a web link, which will be available by mid-March.
Submission requirements and deadlines:
Please send a one page abstract (for either a single presentation or a panel) and a one page author bio by MAY 31, 2007. These should be sent electronically via attachment to: <jbpc007@yahoo.com>
We intend to post papers on our website, and some may be selected for publication. If you do not wish your paper to appear in either format please indicate this clearly on your abstract. Completed materials should be submitted in publishable form prior to October 31, 2007
Registration Fees (payable in cash only), follow:.
Faculty and Professionals based in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan $100 US.
Faculty and Professionals based elsewhere (non-Jamaican residents) $50 US
Higher Education/Tertiary Students with IDs: JD$200.00
Secondary School Student (in uniforms): No registration Fee
Resident Jamaican Nationals (IDs required) (unwaged exempt): JD$500.00
The JNBC Secretariat
The Secretariat
Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee
Faculty of Humanities & Education
University of the West Indies, Mona
Kingston 7, Jamaica
Tele/Fax: 876-970-4441
Please send this CfP on to everybody, who might be interested in the Conference!