THIRD BIENNIAL WINTER INSTITUTE FOR BLACK STUDIES

Posted on | December 23, 2008 | No Comments

The University of Hawai ‘i Faculty of African Descent is pleased to announce that its THIRD BIENNIAL WINTER INSTITUTE FOR BLACK STUDIES will occur January 15-16, 2009.

www.uhwibs.com

This year’s theme is “The ‘Alternative’ African Diaspora: Interdisciplinary Roundtables on Emergent, Oppositional and New Discourses in the Field.” The African Diaspora is a very diverse entity, not only in its myriad cultural, social and political expressions, but in the range of studies that grapple with its epistemological, theoretical and historical significance. This 2009 conference is meant to facilitate interdisciplinary discussions around innovative approaches to historical and contemporary examinations in the field. Overall, the conference aims to consider more expansive understandings of global African Diaspora experiences and engage current shifts in Black politics as well as related reconfigurations of multicultural discourse, interventions in race theory and post-monolithic racialized identities. The notion of ‘change’ has infused contemporary cultural and political discourse in the past year and implicit in this notion – whether in academic or popular arenas – is that there is an alternative approach to the status quo on the horizon. Whether this will be realized remains to be seen, yet what is significant for this conference – and particularly for more global considerations – is that there are myriad alternative ways of framing Black Studies that seem to suggest a break away from earlier considerations in the field. While by no means exhaustive in its effort and scope, the conference aims to take on discursive changes within and beyond United States focused Black Studies; both considering innovative approaches to historical and contemporary discussions in the U.S. and transcending the limitations of solely addressing the U.S when considering global African Diaspora experiences.

Speakers and Discussants include:

• Kim Butler (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
• Fatima El-Tayeb (University of California, San Diego)
• Anna Everett (University of California, Santa Barbara)
• Robeson Taj Frazier (University of California, Berkeley)
• Charles Henry (University of California, Berkeley)
• Barnor Hesse (Northwestern University)
• Percy Hintzen (University of California, Berkeley)
• James Horton (George Washington University and University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Lois Horton (George Mason University and University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Miles Jackson (Professor Emeritus, University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Trica Danielle Keaton (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
• Charles Lawrence III (University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Mari J. Matsuda (University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Wendi Manuel-Scott (George Mason University)
• David Chioni Moore (Macalester College)
• Maggi Morehouse (University of South Carolina, Aiken)
• Njoroge Njoroge (University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)
• Peggy Piesche (Vassar College)
• Stephen Small (University of California, Berkeley)
• Elisa Joy White (University of Hawai ‘i, Mânoa)

The conference will begin at the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom on the evening of Thursday January 15, 2009 with an opening dinner and keynote address given by Dr. Kim D. Butler, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies,Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, entitled: “Why Diaspora?: Rethinking African Peoples and Power in the Twenty-First Century”

The opening event will also feature music and performance by Honolulu-based band, Espiritu Libre.

We will continue with roundtable discussions on Friday January 16, 2009 at the East-West Center Imin Conference Center, where distinguished scholars in the field will discuss a range of topics including:

Barack Obama’s campaign and election
Black Europe (Britain, France, Germany and Ireland)
Caribbean migrant farm workers in the U.S. during WWII
Chinese Diaspora and African Diaspora political linkages
Contemporary African American return migration to the U.S. south
Critical Race Theory in the Twenty-First century
Digital Black Public Sphere
Hawai ‘i and its African Diaspora
Langston Hughes in Central Asia
Multiculturalism and its Political Persuasions
The Problematizing of Blackness and Black identity

For more conference details and registration information, please visit www.uhwibs.com

Other inquiries may be directed to Elisa Joy White, Planning Committee Chair
Elisa Joy White
University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Department of Ethnic Studies
341 George Hall
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: 808-956-2824 Fax: 808-956-9494

Email: ejwhite@hawaii.edu
Visit the website at www.uhwibs.com

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