The Thought of New World: The Quest for Decolonization

The Centre for Caribbean Thought, UWI, Mona  presents its 4th Caribbean Reasonings

The Thought of New World: The Quest for Decolonization
Thursday, June16 to Saturday, June 18, 2005
Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, UWI, Mona

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS:

The New World Group (NWG) was established in the early 1960s, when Lloyd Best, Alister McIntyre, and other social scientists at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, UWI, Mona and later with others in Georgetown, Guyana, formed a loose discussion group for the purpose of examining economic and social problems in light of an analysis of West Indian history and society. They were committed West Indian integrationists and before the concept of the "Third World" became fashionable, were radical and innovative in their approach to and rejection of metropolitan intellectual and political hegemony. With an aim to transform the mode of living and thinking in the region, the Group rejected external dogmas while  engendering an "unfettered analysis of the experience and existing conditions of the region" for future development. With the spread of ideas through Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the Windward and Leeward islands, the Group's membership was regional, formidable and made an indelible contribution to the discussions, ideas and activities surrounding nation- and region-building. Many of the ideas generated by the Group found an outlet through the New World Quarterly out of Jamaica, and the New World Fortnightly out of Guyana. The distinguished participants included Lloyd Best, George Beckford, Norman Girvan, David deCaires, Miles Fitzpatrick, James Millette, Owen Jefferson, Roy Augier, Mervyn Alleyne, Kari Levitt, Alister McIntyre, Vaughn Lewis, Havelock Brewster and Sylvia Wynter, among many others.

In recognition of their seminal contribution to Caribbean thought and to stimulate evaluation of the saliency of many of their post-colonial ideas, The Centre for Caribbean Thought announces the call for papers, panels, roundtables and exhibitions related, but not limited to, the following themes:

The origins and structure of the NWG. New World philosophy: The quest for epistemic sovereignty. Theory of change: role of ideas in social change. Political economy: the Plantation school and dependence. Questions of economic methodology. New World and radical politics: Relationship to political movements and the experience of New World members in politics. Doctor politics, crown colony political culture and constitutional reform. New World and Marxism. New World and literature: different ways of seeing and knowing. New World and the Caribbean intellectual tradition. Gender, political economy and change: Reflections on the era of New World. New World and radical Caribbean journalism. New World and the New World Order: The relevance of the NWG in changing times.  New World and Black Power. The role of women in New World. The NWG and UWI curricula (economics, politics, history and culture). The impact of New World on Caribbean Economic policy. New World, Pan Caribbeanism and Caribbean Integration. New World Thinking on Race and ethnicity: Bestian and Beckfordian perspectives.

All proposals for papers, panels, round tables and exhibitions will be considered. Please submit a 200 word abstract by email.  If you do not have access to email, please send it by mail.


Notifications of acceptance will be sent by March 1, 2005. All papers must be submitted by May 20, 2005.

New World Group members, contributors and other interested persons are invited to attend. Undergraduate and graduate students are especially invited.

Brian Meeks  Rupert Lewis        Anthony Bogues
Director      Associate Director   Associate Director