Students and faculty from Colby, Bates, the University of Southern Maine, and New York University will travel to Bowdoin this weekend to collaborate with Bowdoin's Latin American Studies Program on a symposium titled "Insularity and Integration: Recent Trends in Caribbean Scholarship."
A lecture on the Haitian Revolution last night in Moulton Union's Lancaster Lounge by NYU professor J. Michael Dash set the stage for the conference, whose creation is in collaboration with the interdisciplinary Latin American Studies seminar "Caribbeans."
The course's 19 students will present their term paper research in a series of panel discussions, which will feature a guest faculty speaker from neighboring colleges, say course professors Allen Wells and Enrique Yepes. The eight faculty involved in the teaching of "Caribbeans," many of whom are of Caribbean ancestry, will moderate as well.
"The Symposium provides both an opportunity for our students to
experience presenting at a more formal academic setting similar to the
professional conferences in the Humanities," Yepes said, "and for Caribbeanists who teach at neighboring institutions to get together and learn more about each other's lines of research."
Friday's Caribbean festivities will commence with an 8:30 welcoming speech by Dean of Academic Affairs Craig McEwen and Professor Daniel B. Fayerweather, and proceed to the panel discussions that will last the duration of the morning on the subjects of "Caribbean Self Representations," "Mapping Transnational Encounters," "Health, Development, and the Environment," and "Gender Prisms." The discussions are to spring from the presentation of formal papers by faculty and students from Bowdoin as well as the aforementioned institutions.
A Caribbean-themed luncheon at Moulton Union, and a keynote address by Harvard Professor of Sociology Orlando Patterson will divide the day before the second set of panel discussions commence. Patterson plans to speak on the post-colonial Caribbean.
The afternoon's discussions will cover the subjects of "Transplanted Caribbean Communities," and "Past and Present Struggles in Hispaniola."
After an extended introduction during the day, the true Caribbean spirit will surface at 4:45 Friday afternoon with the Caribbean Poetry Slam, featuring the work of French, Hispanic, and British Caribbean poets. The cultural extravaganza continues after dinner with the musical stylings of Sol y Canto, an Afro-Latin group whose vocal, guitar, and percussionist talents are of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and South American descent.
To conclude the evening, Jonathan Demme's 2004 documentary The Agronomist will be screened in Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall at 9:00 pm. The film portrays the life of Haitian journalist and freedom fighter Jean Dominique.
For those still yearning for more Caribbean flavor, a traditional musical ensemble from Martinique, Max Cilla and Martinique Fl?te, will perform in Gibson Hall's Tillotson Room at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Donations will be accepted throughout Friday in support of Partners in Health, a relief organization based in Haiti.
Additional information and a schedule are available online. This event's funding is possible with help of the support of the Office of the Dean for Academic Affairs, the Rusack Coastal Studies Symposium Fund, the Latin American Student Organization, the Caribbean Student Alliance, the Music Department, and the Department of Romance Languages.
The symposium is free and open to the Bowdoin community, as well as the public.