The Asian Experience in The Caribbean and The Guyanas: Labor and Migration, Literature and Culture

A CARIBBEAN LITERARY STUDIES CONFERENCE

University of Miami, November 1-3, 2007

CORAL GABLES, MIAMI -- The University of Miami's Caribbean Literary Studies will host an international conference entitled The Asian Experience in the Caribbean and the Guyanas: Labor and Migration, Literature and Culture from November 1-3, 2007 at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. This multi-disciplinary conference seeks to reconfigure a Trans-Atlantic geographic and historic paradigm of slavery and colonization to include the coerced migration of South Asians and East Asians to the Americas. This cross-cultural dialogue envisions the reclamation of Asian culture that is so deeply entrenched in the Caribbean’s history and culture and the exploration of the roles of and contributions of Asian communities during colonial, post-independence, and contemporary Caribbean society.

Scholarship presented during the three-day conference will represent the fields of Gender Studies, Geography, History, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Communications, and Literature. Topics will include Diasporic Dislocations and the Production of Home and Identity; Asian Immigrants: Politics and Labor in the Caribbean; Discourses of difference in the formation of “Asian-Caribbean” identities; Stereotypes and Exotification in Caribbean Literature and Popular Culture; Indo-Caribbean Literature, Art, and Cultural Practice; Chinese Caribbean Literature, Art, and Cultural Practice; Hybridity and Discourses of Mixed Race; Gender and Sexuality.

Keynote Speakers will include visual artists, creative writers and scholars in the humanities:

Willi Chen

Author and Artist, “An Evening with Willi Chen—A Keynote Visual,” Nov. 1, CAS Gallery, 7:00pm

Cyril Dabydeen

Author, Reading, Nov. 2, UC, 1:00pm

Cheuk C. Kwan

Filmmaker, Film Viewing and Panel Discussion: On the Islands: Chinese Restaurants, Oct. 31, CAS Gallery, 7:30pm

Walton Look Lai

Professor of History, "Images of the Chinese in West Indian History," Nov. 1, UC, 9:15am

Jan Lowe Shinebourne

Author, Reading, Nov. 2, CAS Gallery, 6:30pm

Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming

Poet, Reading, Nov. 2, CAS Gallery, 6:30pm

Brinda Mehta

Professor of French, “Subversive Creolizations and Dougla Liminality: Framing Indo-Caribbeanness in French Caribbean Literature.” Nov. 2, UC, 9:00am

Rajandaye Ramkissoon-Chen Poet, Reading, Nov. 1, UC, 1:00pm

All events will be hosted on the University of Miami campus and are open to the public. Registration is required.

CONTACT: Lara Cahill or Nadia Johnson

EMAIL: Caribbeanlit.english@miami.edu

For scheduling and registration information, please visit: scholar.library.miami.edu/cls, email: Caribbeanlit.english@miami.edu, or call 305.284.1124

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