The Society for Caribbean Research announces the IXth interdisciplinary and international Conference and invites contributions to the topic and general theme:
GLOBAL FIRE
Music, Literature, Arts and Philosophy out of the Caribbean
The Conference will be held from December the 1st-4th 2005, at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna/Austria.
Global Fire refers to current global crises (new and old forms of political confrontations, economic disparities, as well as ecological threats) which affect the Caribbean region and which urge all of us to ask questions about the power of Caribbean music, literature, arts, and philosophy: Do these art forms and disciplines help shaping a sense of Caribbeanness or not? What is the impact of Caribbean art worldwide?
Caribbean artists, musicians, poets and philosophers have been persistently influencing creative processes in and outside the Caribbean. With its complex socio-cultural matrix Caribbean islands still have a unique power of attraction not just to the so called West. What is this "strange attraction" made of? What does the "Caribbean" represent to Caribbeans and Non-Caribbeans? Is there such a thing as "unity in diversity" (Maryse Condé/ Édouard Glissant/ Peter Tosh)? What are the potential elements of a Pan-Caribbean-Identity?
The active creation of a common cultural/social-political base that justifies to speak about "the Caribbean" has to deal with linguistic barriers and economic disparities. State agencies are therefore challenged as much as civil society institutions. Caribbean music in particular consistently offered provocative new perspectives and suggestive answers that appeal to people within the Caribbean as much as to a global audience. This applies of course to other artistic/literary productions too.
Based on these considerations we propose the following questions for conference contributions:
- What are the codes of Caribbean art in its broad sense and how do they relate to each other and to current local/global crises?
- How do Caribbean arts convey social meaning to self-determination and resistance?
- How are historical experiences represented in actual performances and literary presentations that contest the status quo?
- Do Caribbean narratives (theater/poetry/novel/…) bridge the gap between the local audience and the international readership?
- How are narratives pertaining to the Caribbean reshaped under the pressures of Caribbean crises?
- How do Caribbean communities and individuals deal with new challenges of diaspora (African/Asian/…)?
- How do Caribbean nation states struggle in the postcolonial world of unilateral internationalism?
- How are constructions by intellectuals from outside the Caribbean "about Caribbeanness" put into perspective or criticized?
- How do visual and textual representations invoke reflections on the current state of global intercultural relations?
- What do Caribbean and non-Caribbean authors and critics write on sculpture, painting and music?
We invite you to explore the complexities of various textual and visual, as well as performing arts as textured by larger political and social contexts. Furthermore we are interested how these symbolic expressions in turn reflect, counteract, and indeed occasionally restructure the political sphere effectively. Creolization, transculturation and hybridization are not just processes of a contemporary global culture, but have been formative and often oppressive processes in the heterogeneous societies of the African and Asian diasporas in the Caribbean - a region that experienced a great diversity of colonial histories, political systems and (forced) compositions.
We welcome the presentation of empirical research that takes into account different styles, genres and localities of the circum-Caribbean, by seeking similarities and differences between and among various music and art activities in a broader sense. Papers should consider art practices and cultural representations from and on the Caribbean reflecting the diversity of origins, migrations, and transformations in time and space. We emphatically encourage new and interdisciplinary approaches as well as innovative perspectives on the aesthetic and intellectual productions of a region that persistently and consciously transcends its geographic boundaries.
Abstract/Submission
Proposals for papers (as well as summaries of videos or film documentations) should be submitted no later than August 1st, 2005. Specific panel proposals are welcome. Your contribution can be sent electronically in MS Word format, labeled with the keyword GLOBAL FIRE, followed by your last name and initial of language (E/F/S/ in which your paper will be presented. Please submit a 300 words abstract and 50 words bio-bibliographical note to following contact: conference.anthropologie@univie.ac.at