Exploring Dimensions of African Diasporas:  An International Conference

On April 26-27, 2012 the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University will be hosting a two-day international conference entitled “Exploring Dimensions of African Diasporas."  Presenters include a broad range of global experts on historical and cultural dimensions of the African Diaspora including keynote speaker Winston James (University of California, Irvine), Jarrett Brown (College of the Holy Cross), Leonard Brown (Northeastern University), Christian Cwik (Center for the Study of Continental America and the Caribbean, University of Vienna), Yvonne Daniel (Smith College), Tamara Ganjalyan (Leipzig University, German), Frank Guridy (University of Texas, Austin), Ruth Iyob (University of Missouri, St. Louis), Michele Johnson (York University), Kelly Josephs (City University of New York), Jane Landers (Vanderbilt University), Tommy Lott (San Jose State University), Quito Swan (Howard University), and  James Sweet (University of Wisconsin, Madison).  Session Chairs and Discussants include faculty and scholars from the Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, College Park, and Washington, DC.

The event will be held at Charles Commons on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The event is free and open to the public.  Breakfast and On-Site Registration begin at 8:00 am. REGISTER HERE.

Click here for the detailed program schedule.  Event flyer.

PARTICIPANTS & BIOGRAPHIES >

April 26, 2012, 9am-6pm
Charles Commons, Barber Board Room

Session I: Diasporas in the Mediterranean and Europe

Tamara Ganjalyan, Leipzig University, Germany

“Diaspora and Empire: The Case of the Armenians in Pre-Revolutionary Russia”

Ruth Iyob, University of Missouri, St. Louis

“Reflections on African Diasporas in the Mediterranean”

Session II:   Of Africa and the Americas

Tommy Lott, San Jose State University

“The Black Diaspora in America”

James Sweet, University of Wisconsin, Madison

“Beyond Slavery: Centering Africa in Atlantic World History”

Session III:  Processes and Changes

Jane Landers, Vanderbilt University

“Paying Attention to African “Nations” in the Iberian Atlantic”

Christian Cwik, University of Vienna

“Africanization of Amerindian Tribes in the Greater Caribbean: Case Studies of the Guyana Caribs, the Wayuu and the Misquitos during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”

Session IV:  Of Music and Dance

Yvonne Daniel, Smith College

Leonard Brown, Northeastern University

“Creating Identity: Music and Dance in the Caribbean Diaspora”

 Dinner and Keynote, 7-9:30 pm (by invitation only)

Keynote Speaker:  Winston James, University of California, Irvine

“Considerations on the Caribbean Diaspora and Black Internationalism”

April 27, 2012, 9am-2:00pm
Charles Commons, Barber Board Room

Session V:  Literary Dimensions of the African Diaspora

Jarrett Brown, College of the Holy Cross

“The Idea of Madness:  Escapes and Flights of Fancies in Claude McKay’s Banana Bottom and V.S. Naipaul’s, Miguel Street.”

Kelly Baker Josephs, York College, CUNY

“An Afrofuturistic Caribbean Diaspora”

Session VI:  Chinese and Caribbean Diasporic Experiences

Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Brown University and Tsinghua University, China

“The Asian Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean from the Sixteenth Century Ming Dynasty to the Present”

Michele Johnson, York University

“ ‘Where are you really from?’: African Diaspora/s in ‘Multicultural’ Canada”

Session VII:  Politics and Sports

Quito Swan, Howard University

“All of Africa is On Our Backs: Bermuda and Black Power in the African Diaspora.”

Frank Guridy, University of Texas at Austin

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Roberto Clemente and the Black Sporting Diaspora”