Thursday 10 February 2011

Africa through a lens

Africa through a lens is a set of thousands of images taken from a broader photographic collection of Foreign and Commonwealth Office images, held at The National Archives. Starting with some incredible early photographs from the 1860s, the images span over 100 years of African history. These images are now available, for the first time, to view online at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/africa/.



The website includes podcasts looking at the origins and aims of the project; a focus on Nigeria; Africa through a lens, discussing photography and image making; and finally a podcast on conserving the images. Users can tag images on Flickr to add information about these as not all are captioned, and the captions are representative of the time they were taken (and not necessarily captions we would use today).

Particular strengths in coverage include South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Zanzibar and Tanzania

CONTOURS OF DEVELOPMENT: NEW RESEARCH ON MIGRATION, POLITICS AND POLICY BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND EUROPE 25th February 2011

CONTOURS OF DEVELOPMENT: NEW RESEARCH ON MIGRATION, POLITICS AND POLICY BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND EUROPE
25th February 2011 Institute for the Study of the Americas

This one-day conference brings together international scholars to present the findings of new research undertaken under the JISLAC Research Grants funding scheme. The papers explore dimensions of the relationship between Europe and the Americas including central issues of migration (from Europe to the Americas and the Americas to Europe); the political, economic and social dynamics and impacts of migration and settlement; and contemporary trade relations between the two continents.

Hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Americas & Funded by the Joint Initiative for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean

PROGRAMME OUTLINE BELOW

For full programme and abstracts see http://americas.sas.ac.uk/events.htm and click on ‘Forthcoming Events’

Registration is free but please contact olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk to register your interest in attending .

Room G22/26 Friday 25th February 2011
Senate House 10am -6pm
Malet St London WC1E 7HU

PROGRAMME

9.30 – 10.00 Registration, Coffee & Tea
10.00 – 10.15 Welcome and Introduction, David Howard (Oxford University) and Kate Quinn (ISA)

10.15 – 12.00 Panel 1: Business and Trade Contours
Maria Paula Barrantes, University of Costa Rica and Diego Sánchez Ancochea, Oxford University, ‘Are the EU and US reducing policy space in the same way? An analysis of free trade agreements in Mexico and Central America’
Mahrukh Doctor, Hull University, ‘The Business Impact on European Union-MERCOSUR Trade Negotiations’
Paul Sutton, London Metropolitan University, ‘Neither European nor Caribbean: The “insular peculiarity” of the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories’

12.00 – 1.00 LUNCH

1.00 – 2.15 Panel 2: Historical Contours

Kenneth Morgan, Brunel University, ‘Towards Abolition: The British Slave Trade and its Caribbean Markets, 1783-1808’
Simon Smith, Hull University, ‘Plantation Settlement as Natural Hazard on St Vincent’
Matthew Brown, Bristol University, ‘European Migration to Colombia and Venezuela 1829-1861: The El Santuario Case Study’

2.15 – 2.45 COFFEE & TEA

2.45 – 4.00 Panel 3: Contours of Migration
Michael Goebel, European University Institute, ‘Italian and Spanish Immigration in Uruguay 1800-1930 and the Concept of Assimilation’
Paolo Drinot, ISA and Laurence Brown, Manchester University, ‘Claiming the Past: History, Citizenship and Migration in Spain and France’
‘Anastasia Bermúdez, Queen Mary, University of London, ‘The Political Mobilisation of Latin American Migrants in Spain’

4.00 – 4.30 COFFEE & TEA

4.30 – 6.00 Panel 4: Cosmopolitan and Transnational Contours & concluding discussion
Mette Berg, Oxford University, ‘Between Cosmopolitanism and the National Slot: Cuba’s Diasporic Children of the Revolution’
Siliva Posocco, Birkbeck, University of London, ‘Expedientes: Fissured Legality and Affective States in the Transnational Adoption Archives in Guatemala’

6.00 – 8.00 WINE RECEPTION

8.00 – Speaker’s dinner

Wednesday 2 February 2011

CFP: SCOLMA Conference, SPORT IN AFRICA: HISTORY, POLITICS AND THE ARCHIVE

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library is a member of SCOLMA the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa. SCOLMA's conference this year look at sports, opening up the opportunity to consider topics such as sporting links with and boycotts of apartheid South Africa, the recent World Cup, development of specific sports in African countries, the relationship of sport and gender, sport and development, sport and society, and sport and imperialism.
CALL FOR PAPERS: SPORT IN AFRICA: HISTORY, POLITICS AND THE ARCHIVE

Proposals are sought for a one day conference to be organised by SCOLMA, the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa.

Date: Wednesday 29 June 2011
Venue: The National Archives, Kew, London

We are interested in proposals from librarians, archivists and academic researchers on any aspect of the history and politics of sport in Africa, from any period, particularly those that focus on sources, whether printed, manuscript or audio-visual, including memorabilia.

Please send proposals (max. 200 words) to:
Lucy McCann
Secretary, SCOLMA,
Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House
Lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Deadline for proposals: 1 March 2011

Tuesday 1 February 2011

CFP: Beyond Calypso : New Perspectives on Samuel Selvon

Beyond Calypso : New Perspectives on Samuel Selvon



Warwick University Yesau Persad Centre for Caribbean Studies 2nd July 2011


Keynote speaker: Professor Kenneth Ramchand
(University of Trinidad and Tobago)

Samuel Selvon is one of the Caribbean's most widely-read, popular and influential novelists, one whose works have, as early as their first publication, been granted classic status. While the author's significance is undeniable, historically Selvon's oeuvre has been read primarily to seek its insight into the lived experience of the Windrush generation, or its replication of the tropes and techniques of calypso. Selvon's work, though, has much more to offer than this. While expressing a strong, Caribbean-centred cultural identity, his writing demonstrates a perceptiveness that extends beyond its immediate context.

Beyond Calypso will seek to explore the richness of Selvon's work. In advance of the sixtieth anniversary of Selvon's first novel, A Brighter Sun, this one-day event will draw together new perspectives on the author in order to celebrate his contribution to Caribbean, British and postcolonial literatures.

Selvon's legacy will also be celebrated through tributes and the presentation of restored sound archives from the collections of the Centre for Caribbean Studies.

250-words abstracts are invited for papers that apply new or little-used analytical frameworks to the writer and his work. Topics can include, but are not limited to:
− New approaches to Selvon through the optics of gender studies, ecocriticism, psychoanalysis, poststructuralism or others
− Creative works - including poetry, fiction and music - inspired by Samuel Selvon
− Readings of Selvon's less famous works, including his radio plays and short stories, and the novels An Island Is a World and I Hear Thunder
− Re-engagements with or re-negotiations of existing critical perspectives on Selvon's work

Please email all abstracts to Malachi McIntosh and Stephanie Decouvelaere at
m.mcintosh@warwick.ac.uk by Friday 1 April 2011

Stephanie Decouvelaere
Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3

Malachi McIntosh
Warwick University

Letizia Gramaglia
Warwick University