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Upcoming XVII. Socare Congress: Schedule online

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The schedule for the XVII Socare International Congress is now online: http://caribbeanresearch.net/en/2020-conference/, together with the access links to the conference. Please note that in order to participate, you have to register in advance for each meeting.

The main conference theme is education and the politics of education in the Caribbean. As it is a longstanding Socare tradition, multilingual discussions and presentations around the conference theme will be held from transdisciplinary and transregional perspectives.

Highlights:
– Keynotes by Silvio Torres-Saillant, Corinne Mencé-Caster, and Gema Valdés Acosta
– Socare best dissertation award ceremony
– Online-performance by Simone Lagrand
– 2 days of paper presentations and discussions

 

We are looking forward to seeing you at the conference!

 

Best regards,

The Organizing Commitee

New Book: The Caribbean in Translation – Remapping Thresholds of Dislocation

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Laëtitia Saint-Loubert, The Caribbean in Translation – Remapping Thresholds of Dislocation (Berlin, Bern, Brussels, New York, Oxford, Vienna : Peter Lang, 2020).

This book investigates twentieth- and twenty-first-century Caribbean literatures in translation. Covering three of the largest linguistic areas of the region, the so-called English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, the volume offers a comparative study of the region’s literary output across a variety of genres, including poems, novels, short stories and essays. Caribbean texts and their translations are analysed through the prism of the threshold, which serves a dual purpose: on a textual level, thresholds correspond to paratextual elements (e.g. prefaces, afterwords, foot/endnotes, glossaries, blurbs…) that are used by various cultural agents to frame Caribbean literatures for global, regional and local audiences. On a broader level, thresholds, which both open into but also signal a limit or break, allow the author to examine and remap routes of (non) circulation for Caribbean literatures within regional, national and transnational frameworks. Analysing liminality alongside Glissantian notions that interrogate authorship, transparency, originality and hospitality in translation, the book tests the applicability of relational thinking to the imperatives of translation and literary circulation. Ultimately, the author asks whether traditional core-periphery models of global literary traffic can be challenged, inviting the reader to envisage alternative pathways of cultural exchange for and from Southern, archipelagic latitudes.
This book was the winner of the 2018 Peter Lang Young Scholars Competition in Comparative Literature.
Laëtitia Saint-Loubert completed a PhD in Caribbean Studies at the University of Warwick in 2018. She is a practising literary translator and has worked as an instructor of French and English at the University of Warwick (2015-2017) and Université de La Réunion (2017-2020), respectively. Her current research investigates Caribbean literatures in translation and focuses on bibliodiversity and non-centric modes of circulation for Caribbean and Indian Ocean literatures. The Caribbean in Translation: Remapping Thresholds of Dislocation is her first monograph.

Socare Conference and General Assembly Postponed (New Date: March 5 & March 12-13, 2021)

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Due to the current developments resulting from the coronavirus, we have decided to postpone the SOCARE congress in Erlangen, originally scheduled for March 20-22, 2020, and the general assembly, scheduled for March 21.

Considerations on various levels have informed this painful, but in our view necessary decisions. For instance, numerous participants have expressed serious concerns because of the virus. Furthermore, universities in different countries have imposed travel restrictions on their staff, or are considering to do so. Some German universities have begun to ban events and meetings.

Under these conditions, neither the congress nor the general assembly could have been carried out successfully (and with a reasonable number of members).

The new date for the general assembly is March 13, 2021 that will take place online during the also re-scheduled congress (March 5 & March 12-13, 2021; for further information visit http://caribbeanresearch.net/en/2020-conference/).

We continue to look forward to the assembly and to the congress and are confident that we can carry it out under much better conditions in March.

 

The Socare Executive Board

CRI Conference on Cuban & Cuban-American Studies – “Call for Papers” – deadline Oct. 31, 2018

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Announcing the CRI’s Twelfth conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies on Feb. 14-16, 2019.

Please see details below/attached. If interested in participating, submit your proposals for panels or papers by October 31, 2018.

For more information visit our website (https://cri.fiu.edu) or write cri.fiu.conference@gmail.com. We hope you can join us!

EXTENDED DEADLINE CfP Socare Symposium “Governance and Rights: Law, Religion, and Sexuality in Caribbean Literature and Culture”

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Venue: University of Salzburg

Organizers: Christopher F. Laferl, Ralph Poole, Philipp Seidel

Date: 23 – 25 November 2017

The Caribbean is distinguished for its great political and cultural diversity, which not only is discernable by various languages, but also by the multiplicity of religions, social norms and values, and legal systems. Although Latin America continues to be regarded as a Catholic continent, the situation in the Caribbean is more complex. On the one hand, the Catholic Church competes against traditional Protestant churches, on the other hand both are distinct from (syncretistic) Afro Caribbean religions as well as increasingly from evangelical Pentecostal churches. This religious and cultural mixture poses serious challenges to the state, the society, the legal system, but also to the arts and literature. The various types of governmental and legal systems largely date back to differing traditions of (previous) colonial powers. While the (former) British territories rely on the Anglo-Saxon Common Law, the other territories follow continental European legal systems. And yet, these orders only make up the outer framework within which the people of a state move and act. How individuals and/or various collectives actually live together and how their attitudes and behavior towards the state and other institutions are shaped, all this underlies a continuous process of negotiation that can take on multifarious forms.

Against this backdrop the focus of the junior scholar conference of the Society of Caribbean Research (Socare) lies on questions concerning governance and rights. Not only the (in)stable, democratic or authoritarian governments play an important role, but also the specific means of governing. Besides the actual political players, who justify their position and actions and take on responsibility, economic, social and religious institutions also have a great importance in matters of shaping the communal lives of their societies, especially when politics cannot offer effective solutions or when the success of their implementations remains questionable. Furthermore, what is at stake is the question in how far the principle of non-discrimination, which since the Enlightenment has been reclaimed for more and more areas of identity also on a supranational level, is being realized by the single states and in social practice. Especially with regard to observing the various non-discriminatory regulations there are still (or again?) great differences concerning gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality, not least since several categories of identity are often in (open) conflict with one another.

The following questions may serve as framework for the conference’s topic:

  • How do modern life concepts that are characterized by a will to self-determination conform to current developments in Caribbean societies? In what ways do literature and other arts reflect these developments?
  • How are problems concerning discrimination, ostracism, suppression and violence being dealt with? What solutions are being offered and by whom?
  • How is sexuality, broadly understood as encompassing pre/extramarital sex, abortion, same-sex sexuality, sex trade, etc., being treated?
  • How do the creative artists deal with minority groups, what positions do they take on?
  • How do the various legal and belief systems react to the principle of non-discriminatory self-determination? In what ways to these systems affect different levels of society?
  • What influence do migratory processes have on these negotiations?
  • What significance do writers and artists play, and what location have they chosen to write/speak/produce from?
  • What is the function of hate speech and victimization in literary, musical, and other creative art forms?

We invite junior scholars from all areas and disciplines of Caribbean Studies to participate. Interdisciplinary contributions from legal and theological sciences are also most welcome. The contributions should not exceed the limit of 20 minutes.

Those interested should send a half-page abstract in either German, English, Spanish, or French along with a short bio to Philipp Seidel (philipp.seidel@sbg.ac.at) by April 30, 2017. Please state the preferred language for your talk and what other languages you feel comfortable with. The conference’s languages will be chosen according to the selected contributions. The contributors will be informed in time.

Announcement: Gary Victor in Trier

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VHS Trier | 20.03.2017 | 19:00 Uhr | Domfreihof (Raum 05) | Eintritt frei

In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Litradukt Verlag und der Volkshochschule laden Dr. Christine Felbeck und Prof. Dr. Andre Klump vom America Romana Centrum der Universität Trier zu einer zweisprachigen Lesung des haitianischen Schriftstellers Gary Victor ein. Die Veranstaltung ist der vierte Teil einer Lesereihe weltweit renommierter haitianischer Autorinnen und Autoren, die ihre literarischen Werke in Trier vorstellen.

Der 1958 in Port-au-Prince geborene Gary Victor, von Beruf ursprünglich grarwissenschaftler, ist heute der im eigenen Land populärste und zugleich subversivste haitianische Gegenwartsautor Haitis. Außer Romanen, Erzählungen und Theaterstücken, für die er mit mehreren Preisen ausgezeichnet wurde (u.a. Prix du livre RFO, Prix littéraire des Caraïbes), schreibt er auch Beiträge für Rundfunk und Fernsehen, die in Haiti regelmäßig für Aufregung sorgen. Victors Werke zeugen von seiner überreichen Phantasie ebenso wie von seinem scharfen, bisweilen makabren Blick auf die Gesellschaft. Im deutschsprachigen Raum wurde er vor allem durch die Kriminalromane um Inspektor Azémar, dem Dirty Harry von Port-au-Prince, bekannt. Seine Krimis Schweinezeiten und Soro konnten sich auf der Bestenliste der ZEIT und der Litprom Weltempfänger platzieren. „Ein Autor, von dem man gern mehr lesen würde“, schrieb der Münchner Merkur. Der Wunsch kann in Trier erfüllt werden. Bei seinem ersten Auftritt in Deutschland präsentiert Gary Victor seinen neuesten Vodoo-Krimi, der im Trierer Litradukt Verlag erschienen ist:

Inspektor Dieuswalwe Azémar ist ein Ausnahmepolizist, der die abstrusesten Fälle aufgeklärt hat. Da er sich aber der allgemeinen Korruption verweigert, gilt er als Versager, dem nur noch der Alkohol Trost spenden kann. Aus seiner Vorliebe für den aromatisierten Zuckerrohrschnaps namens soro hat der Inspektor in der Tat nie einen Hehl gemacht, weshalb ihn die ihm von seinem neuen Vorgesetzten verordnete Entziehungskur auch besonders hart trifft. Ausgerechnet in seinem entzugsgeschwächten Zustand wird er mit einem neuen Fall konfrontiert, der ihm alles abverlangt. Die Spur führt zum UN-Militärkontingent in Haiti. Was verbirgt sich hinter dem angeblichen Selbstmord eines Generals? Wer hat den Sohn einer der mächtigsten Familien des Landes entführt? Was hat der Bandenchef mit dem seltsamen Namen Raskolnikow damit zu tun? Als Azémar begreift, wie alles zusammenhängt, kann er sich ein weiteres Mal nur auf seine Beretta und seine Reflexe verlassen…

Kontakt: arc@uni-trier.de, www.america-romana.de

“Dancehall und Homophobie. Postkoloniale Blicke auf die Geschichte und Kultur Jamaikas” Thursday, December 8, 2016 (16:00-17:30, Hörsaal XII, Hauptgebäude, Universität zu Köln)

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Dr. Patrick Helber analysiert die mediale Kontroverse um Dancehall-Musik und Homophobie aus dem Jahr 2004 und ordnet sie in den historischen, politischen und kulturellen Kontext des postkolonialen jamaikanischen Staates ein. Neben einem Blick auf die Geschichte der Insel beleuchtet er die Widerstandskulturen von den Maroons und den Rastafari bis zu den »Gangstern« der zeitgenössischen Dancehall-Musik. Dieser Vortrag betont die Präsenz und politische Arbeit von sexuellen Minderheiten auf Jamaika und veranschaulicht, inwiefern bei internationalen Kampagnen gegen Homophobie im globalen Süden neokoloniale Machtkonstellationen und Alterisierungsprozesse eine Rolle spielen.

 

Vortrag von Dr. Patrick Helber, Berlin

 

Der Vortrag findet statt im Rahmen des Seminars ‚Kultur und Mobilität in der Karibik‘, geleitet von Dr. Sinah Kloß

 

http://gssc.uni-koeln.de/node/1355

Drittes Jamaica FilmFest (12.11.2016, 19:00 – 13.11.2016, 21:00; Frankfurt am Main)

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Frankfurt/Main: Zwei Tage mit fünf Filmen aus und über Jamaika

Drittes Jamaica FilmFest

 

Zum 40-jährigen Jubiläum der Deutsch-Jamaikanischen-Gesellschaft gibt es das dritte Jamaica FilmFest im Orfeo’s mit vier deutschen Erstaufführungen.

 

Germans in Jamaica: Of War, Spies and Camps

erzählt von internierten Deutschen in Jamaika während des zweiten Weltkriegs

 

Kingston Paradise

Der erste Spielfilm von Mary Wells über das Leben und die Träume von einem Taxifahrer/Kleinkiminellen und seiner Freundin.

 

The Price of Memory

2002 besuchte Königin Elizabeth II. Jamaika. Im Rahmen ihres Besuchs wurde ihr von einer Gruppe Rastafari eine Petition überreicht in der sie Reparationen für die Sklaverei fordern. Der Film erzählt die Geschichte der Reparationsforderungen seit den sechziger Jahren und den immer noch vorhandenen Einfluss den die Zeit der Sklaverei auf das unabhänige Jamaika hat.

 

Dreadlocks Story

Woher kommen die Dreadlocks? Dieser Film zeigt Verbindungen auf zwischen Indischen Sadhus die mit den Indischen Kontraktarbeitern nach dem Ende der Slaverei nach Jamaika kamen und den heutigen Rastafari.

 

Congo Beat The Drum

Zwei Musiker aus Tel Aviv machen sich auf um in Jamaika mit fast vergessenen Musikern ein Album aufzunehmen.

 

 

Termindaten

Datum:

12.11.2016, 19:00 – 13.11.2016, 21:00

Stadt:

Frankfurt/Main

Veranstaltungsart:

Filmtage

Veranstaltungsort:

Kino Orfeos Erben, Hamburger Allee 45, 60486 Frankfurt/Main

Veranstalter:

Deutsch-Jamaikanische-Gesellschaft e.V.

 

http://www.deutsch-jamaikanische-gesellschaft.de/

CfP 47th Annual Conference of the Urban Affairs Association “Challenging Enduring Urban Injustices” (April 19-22, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Deadline October 1st 2016)

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UAA is an interdisciplinary professional association and is currently accepting abstracts/proposals on the following topic: “Urban Issues in Central & South America and the Caribbean”. Interested? Here is a sample of sessions from the 2016 UAA conference on the topic: https://2016uaa.sched.org/?s=caribbean. To view to complete 2017 UAA call for participation, please visit: http://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/.

International CIAS Conference „Reflecting the Americas as Space of Entanglements“ (October 27-29, 2016; Bielefeld)

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The International Conference of the research project “The Americas as Space of Entanglements”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, sums up research results from a 4-year period of transdisciplinary investigation into the conceptualization of the Americas as space of entanglements. The major purpose of the conference is to present various levels of reflection with regard to the insights gained, to their further development and to new questions that have emerged from the transdisciplinary exchange both within the project and with national and international networks related to the field of area studies.

 

Further Information:

http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/cias/entangled_americas/Abschlusstagung.html

Programm-Konferenz-Reflecting