About the Conference
The City University of New York
Hostos Community College
Medgar Evers College
The African Presence and Influence on the Cultures of the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Conference to be presented one day in October and four days in November will be hosted by seven different CUNY campuses. Each campus will host a mix of panel presentations, performances, roundtable discussions, and workshops. The pre-conference dates are October 4-8. 20, November 4-5. The conference will begin on November 6 and end November 9, 2006.
Spearheaded by Eugenio María de Hostos Community College and Medgar Evers College, the collaboration includes additional CUNY campuses: Baruch College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Graduate Center, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, and York College. The conference is dedicated to Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), an Afro-Cuban poet, born in Camagüey, Cuba, and Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), an African American poet, born in Topeka, Kansas.
In an effort to honor the work completed by Brooks and Guillén, this conference aims to foster conversation among speakers and participants who descend from different backgrounds. It will bring together academicians who have produced or promoted bodies of knowledge pertinent to the presence and influence of the African culture on cultures of the Americas. Plenary sessions, panel presentations, workshops, and round-table discussions will explore history, tradition, and humanity such that conference participants attain a heightened sense of cultural awareness about themselves and about each other.
Each campus will feature an exhibit of visual arts inspired by the experiences of the African diaspora and by the written works of both, Nicolás Guillén and Gwendolyn Brooks. One day of the conference will include interactive programs for children.
Rationale:
- To bring together scholars of every generation to continue a conversation on the status of studies on the African diaspora in the Americas
- To contribute to the professional development of young scholars in the field
- To contribute to the recovery and integration of the African diaspora in the Americas experience to North American, Caribbean and Latin American Studies
- To discuss and investigate the important role of the African diaspora and the contributions of African culture in the Americas
- To celebrate and disseminate the history and culture of the African diaspora and culture throughout the continental United States, the Caribbean, Latin America
- To strengthen The City University of New York’s commitment to education and its link to the public school system
- To provide opportunities for cultural enrichment and intellectual growth for faculty and students throughout The City University of New York
Contact:
Raven S. Blackstone, LaGuardia Community College
Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Provost, Hostos Community College
Dr. Stafford Grégoire, LaGuardia Community College
Dr. Dominic Nwasike, Provost, Medgar Evers College
Victor Rosa, LaGuardia Community College
