How have African American people, ideas, culture and politics traveled outside the United States? What has been the effect of those travels on the identity and politics of black people within the U.S.?

Movement has always been a central theme in the histories and cultures of African Americans. A two-day, September 17-18, 2004, conference at the University of Maryland, College Park, will take up that theme by focusing on African American travel. Participants will reflect on what African American people, culture and politics look like when they travel abroad and how those travels/travelers returned home provide us a fresh perspective on African American culture, identity, and politics within the U.S.

Sponsored by the Center for Historical Studies and the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora, the conference is explicitly interdisciplinary, bringing together a national group of scholars from the fields of History, English, African American Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Anthropology, who work in the area of African American Internationalism.

Conference attendees whose research focuses on African American travel are invited to share their work during a Saturday networking lunch.

The conference is free and open to the public.

Conference Organizers: Elsa Barkley Brown and Mary Helen Washington

For more information, visit the conference website at http://www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/programs/2004-2005/conf/AfricanAmericanIdentityTravels/
email: identitytravels@umd.edu or call 301-405-4290.