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The proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly of the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition during 2004, marked the culmination of recent efforts to re-engage with slavery’s past. Over the past decade, there has been an upsurge of national and international exhibitions and conferences on the impact of slavery, such as UNESCO’s Slave Route Project. Yet, these efforts have largely focused on the Atlantic World, raising questions about the legacy of slavery in other societies. In Asia, the Pacific and Europe, slavery still remains on the margins of national and post-colonial histories. Despite deep and widespread public outrage, slavery continues to affect some 27 million people worldwide today (and that is more people that at any point in the history of humanity), persisting under new forms of massive violations of the human rights – bonded labour, child labour, prostitution, slavery by descent, trafficking etc.
This one day conference seeks to bring together scholars from history, literature, anthropology, art history and cultural studies to examine the indelible mark left by slavery on societies, cultures and peoples all over the world and the artistic and literary attempts by artistes and writers to mitigate this stigmata of History and reclaim their “slave ancestry”. Abstracts are invited from writers, historians, artists, literary theorists, anthropologists, musicians and post-graduate students working on the theme of slavery and its legacies. Each speaker will be accorded 20 minutes to present.
Suggested themes include (but are not limited to)
- Slavery and memorialisation
- Reconciling the “slave” past
- Slavery and artistic and cultural production
- Reparation versus collective amnesia
- Reparation debates and slavery discourse
- Displacement and cultural miscegenation
- Slavery, immigration and emigration
- Slavery, development and underdevelopment
- Slavery and social change
- Slavery and racial schism
- Slavery and religion
- Slavery and law
Instructions for abstract submission
Please submit an abstract of about 200 words, outlining your proposed topic, your approach, and the forms/media in which you intend to present your work.
Include a brief (two-page) c.v., outlining your affiliation and your key publications, exhibits, and/or performances.
Send your abstract (preferably in WORD or PDF) to the e-mail address given below.
Abstract Submission Deadline: 20th April 2005
Keynote Speakers
Patrick Manning,Director, World History Centre
Bill Ashcroft, University of New South Wales
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