Conference Rationale

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.

As the theme suggests, conference participants will be engaged in a project of bringing forth emergent, oppositional and new discourses related to historical and contemporary considerations of race, culture and politics in the field of African Diaspora Studies. The conference will begin its range of considerations on the evening of January 15, 2009 with a keynote address presented by Dr. Kim D. Butler, entitled 'Why Diaspora?: Rethinking African Peoples and Power in the Twenty-First Century'. On Friday January 16, 2009, Roundtable I, 'Black European Studies: A New Field Emerges', will consider Black Europe and its field of study with discussions about Britain, France, Germany and Ireland. Roundtable II, 'By Land, Sea and Cyber: Alternative Spaces of Black Culture, Identity and Diaspora', will feature presentations that examine Langston Hughes in Central Asia, Caribbean migrant farm workers in the US during WWII, contemporary African American return migration to the U.S. south, the Digital Black Public Sphere, and the problematizing of Blackness and contemporary Black identity. Roundtable III, 'Changing and Challenging Socio-Political Discourses: Multiculturalism, Transnational Politics and Black Political Arenas', will feature presentations that consider the significance of critical race theory in the twenty-first century, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, interventions in multicultural politics, and historical African Diaspora and Chinese Diaspora political connections.

The conference will also feature a screening of the Miles Jackson and Steve Okino film, 'Holding Fast The Dream: Hawai`i’s African American Experience'.