Event

A CULTURAL STUDIES SYMPOSIUM-FIRST THEY MUST BE CHILDREN:THE CHILD AND THE CARIBBEAN IMAGINATION-21st and 22nd May, 2009

The old adage children must be seen and not heard points to an inherent ambivalence in the Caribbean’s collective psyche about the place and role of children in its social order which simultaneously recognises and silences their presence. Children and adolescents are central to the region’s cultural practices and creative productions. Children, for instance, have key roles in folk tales, songs and games. Novels of childhood and adolescence are positioned at the core of Caribbean literary culture, often analogising the developing nation and its cultural consciousness, as well as the migratory practices of its citizenry.

Despite iconic status of children in Caribbean cultural practices and  spiralling concern about their social and psychological well being, the issues surrounding Caribbean childhood have not been given sufficient academic attention. Sorely lacking on a regional scale is the institutional infrastructure to facilitate effective interventions. The conference seeks to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue on social experiences and representational patterns related to the Caribbean child and childhood. It invites analysis of ideological perspectives and discursive practices in relation to children as social and imaginative subjects; the roles, symbolic codes and identities they have been assigned; their acts of resistance and transgression as cultural agents; and the multiple meanings of their presence in traditional and contemporary Caribbean mythologies of being and becoming.

For further information, please visit the website at: http://sta.uwi.edu/conferences/09/first/

Scholarly papers are invited on a range of topics that include:

Childhood and the literary imaginary

Perspectives and representations

Landscape, being and belonging

Citizenship, migrancy and transnationality

The child in Caribbean folk and popular culture

Youth, community and performance

Visual and virtual worlds

Caribbean parenting

Ways of learning: the school, pedagogy and education

Trauma, abuse and violence

Gendering, sexuality and children

Presentation Formats

Formal presentation using any medium – limited to 20 minutes  

Poster session - presentation/display space limited to 1.5m x 1.5m

Panel discussion - two or three papers encompassing a range of perspectives on an issue

Round Table - informal presentation settings limited to 20 minutes

Performance - drama, dance, music, oratory, etc.

Exhibition – art, craft, film, audio recording, etc.    

Workshop - practical, interactive sessions limited to 2 hours

What to submit

The proposal should identify the issue and/or topic and presentation type and should include information on resources/facilities that would be required.  Submit an abstract of not more than 250 words and a short profile (approximately 150 words).  Where there are co-presenters, submit a profile for each presenter.  

Schedule

January 31st, 2009     Deadline for submission of Abstracts and Proposals

February 15th, 2009    Notification of acceptance

 Send submissions to:           

 Dr Giselle Rampaul  

Giselle.Rampaul@sta.uwi.edu;

868-662-2002 ext. 3025

Dr Jennifer Rahim

Jennifer.Rahim@sta.uwi.edu;

662-2002 ext.3028

Dr Paula Morgan  

Paula.Morgan@sta.uwi.edu;

662-2002 ext. 3567

 Address:        

Department of Liberal Arts                       

The University of the West Indies                       

St. Augustine                       

Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies 

Venue:            UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad