Since the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade, Africa has played an important---albeit shifting, contested, and often unseen---role in the history of art of the United States. The conference organizers seek original, innovative scholarship investigating heretofore unexamined aspects of this transatlantic dialogue, from the visual culture of slavery and abolitionism to American modernism; from the Black Arts Movement to the contemporary art world. Papers engaging with a wide range of visual art media including performance art, decorative arts, folk art, and craft are welcome. Funds for speakers’ travel and accommodations are available.

Paper proposals should be written in English and should include a 300- to 500-word abstract and a short c.v. They should be sent to AmericanArtSymposium@si.edu by January 30, 2013. For regularly updated symposium information, please visit www.AmericanArt.si.edu/research/symposia/2013/terra/.

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"American Art in Dialogue with Africa and the African Diaspora" is being organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in partnership with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Part of the Terra Symposia on American Art in a Global Context, it is supported by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art.