Event

Persons hoping to present papers at this year’s Caribbean Studies Association conference scheduled for Barbados, May 24-28, 2010, now have just a few days during which to submit their abstracts. All submissions must be made via the online submission form at the website www.caribbeanstudiesassociation.org in order to meet the new deadline of February 12^th, 2010. 

The conference will be held at Almond Beach Village, St. Peter under the theme Understanding the Everyday Occurrence of Violence in the Cultural Life of the Caribbean: Where do we go from here? The phenomenon of violence has become widely recognized as an increasingly intractable problem facing the Caribbean. Hence the CSA 2010 Conference invites scholars to explore the complexities of violence and all its implication for the region.    

CSA encourages attention to a wide range of issues including but not limited to the following:  

• the foundational role of violence enabled by the European encounter,  and its legacies
• the authoritarianism of colonial and neo-colonial rule, as well as the  violence of postcolonial politics and political leadership
• structural violence and its  differentiated effects in the everyday lives of people
• political violence
• violence and  cultural expressions
• violence against women and children; violence, masculinity and  heteronormativity;  violence as spectacle
• media and other representations of violence
• and finally, alternatives to violence in the region and throughout its diasporas – whether through the spheres of policies, visual artifacts, street protests, community engagements,  spiritual responses, or theatrical and literary interventions  

CSA anticipates that examining the role of violence in the cultural life of the region will also lead to an exploration of the often-neglected dimension of violence, namely, the deprivation of rights for particular sectors of the population, affording an opportunity to address crucial issues relating to sexuality and the denial of full benefits of citizenship in the Caribbean. Lastly, an exploration of the role of violence in the cultural life of the Caribbean would, of necessity, involve the phenomenon of class exploitation and repression, important to the social reproduction of society.     

In short, this year’s conference theme provides a space for a full discussion of the physical, emotional, psychological, social and political exploration of the notion of violence. The policy implications of this topic are unavoidable and urgently needed; it is to this end that the subtitle poses the question, where do we go from here? As the largest and most well-established professional organization of Caribbean scholars, CSA thinks it should offer some input into how public policy concerning violence is formulated. The CSA could, for example, begin to investigate the cost associated with violence in the region, namely, the pressures on the public health system to address the needs of those victims of violence, prison costs resulting from conflict, the violence of poverty and unemployment, and the monopolization of violence by the state, inter alia.   

CSA welcomes panel and individual submissions from people across the humanities, arts, social sciences, public policy and civil society organizations.    

Suggested Topics:  

• The state’s monopoly of violence  
• Capitalism and structural violence  
• Representing violence  
• Domestic and sexual violence  
• Violence against children  
• Violence and citizenship  
• Violence and everyday life  
• Trans-nationalism, diasporas and violence    
• Crime, violence and the law  
• Violence and the artistic imagination  
• Race, ethnic cleavages and political violence  
• Violence unleashed on the environment of the Caribbean  
• The role of violence in the cultural life of the region  

CSA is seeking scholarly papers from individuals spanning the broadest disciplinary and methodological range whose work focuses upon the Caribbean and its Diaspora. While it will consider individual papers, it encourages submissions of entire panel proposals. CSA also encourages and welcomes graduate student submissions. While your paper/panel does not have to be on the conference theme, CSA welcomes submissions that address the theme, whether directly or indirectly.   

CSA is pleased to continue the very successful Film and Performance Track, which began at the 2009 CSA in Jamaica.  

On the submission form there will be a space for you to check if you want your proposal to be considered by the committee organizing this section of the conference.