Casa de las Américas, through its Centre for Caribbean Studies, calls for participation in the fifth edition of the International Symposium on “Cultural Diversity in the Caribbean,” which will take place from May 18 to 22, 2015. The colloquium will include debates about the interconnections between Africa and the Caribbean and a Special Seminar dedicated to Bob Marley in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of his birth. The deadline for proposals is February 15, 2015.

At the crossroads that makes up the Caribbean, the many threads that have created the region’s cultural imaginary have Africa as one of the epicenters, which has been reconfigured from the word that retells the ancient stories, from the genealogies that are reviewed again and again, and which form an identity, starting from the memory resulting in the body that dances and sings. But Africa is also the indispensable reflection of the Caribbean being that has found in that continent an essential part of its survival and freedom: it constitutes a set of references for thought in the region.

The symposium will be organized around lectures, panels, workshops, exhibitions, concerts and other activities related to the following thematic points: Africa and the peoples of the Caribbean—practices and shared knowledge; African-Caribbean Heritage in sociocultural codes—family, land and atmosphere; European mediations on the journey from Africa to the Caribbean—archeology, ethnography, art and literature; the space of magic—words, images and rituals; signifying bodies—marks, gestures and movement; Cross-Caribbean routes and African intelligentsia; decolonization of Africa—views from the Caribbean; perceptions of Africa in contemporary Caribbean cultural projections; and studies on Africa in the Caribbean.

Interested participants should send their proposals in Spanish by February 15, 2015, toseccaribe@casa.cult.cu.

Presenters: Send a 100-word CV and 200-word abstract

Panels: Send title of panel and theme; 100-word CV for each presenter (4 maximum); 200-word abstracts for each presenter.

Participants: Send a 100-word CV

All types of participants will receive a certificate as proof of participation. The admission fee will consist of 50.00 CUC (1 CUC = 1.20 USD) for professionals, and 25.00 CUC for students, which should be paid in cash and in person at the time of the official registration at the Symposium. To facilitate travel and stay in Cuba we suggest that you contact your travel agent or consult with our institution.

For more information, you may contact Yolanda Wood, Director, Centro de Estudios del Caribe, Casa de las Américas, 3ra y G. Vedado, La Habana, Cuba. (Or write to caribe@casa.cult.cu)

For more information (in Spanish), see http://laventana.casa.cult.cu/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8309