"I, as an artist, look upon the past as a resource." Ossie Davis 1994

Ossie Davis muses on the importance of the African Burial Ground Project and its significance in his life. If the burial ground project is a metaphor for the African Diaspora, then it demonstrates the nebulous boundaries of the African diasporic experience. The burial ground project and its surrounding controversy merges past, present, and future. Just as the African Burial Ground Project is an interdisciplinary effort, this conference is an interdisciplinary effort that will examine voices from the African past and their impact on the future of African descendants.

The Graduate English Student Association of Howard University is accepting abstracts from graduate students, not to exceed 250 words, for papers that will explore how the narratives of our African diasporic past, in a variety of textures and forms, are texts that impact our present and how they reconfigure and shape our vision of the future. We invite papers from a variety of fields including Literature, History, African Studies, African American Studies, Anthropology, Visual and Performing Arts, and Music.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday, June 30, 2000. Please include your name, home address, academic affiliation, telephone number, and email address. Please submit abstracts via electronic transmission to GESAHU2000CONF@aol.com. or fax to 202-806-6708, ATTN: Joyce AA Camper. All inquiries will be answered via email and/or fax. If electronic transmission is not possible, abstracts may be mailed to:

Howard University
College of Arts & Sciences
Graduate English Student Association
The Department of English
248 Locke Hall
Washington, DC 20059
ATTN: Diayyah Abdullah