Tuesday 31 January 2012

Forthcoming Events at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Forthcoming Events at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies

January

International Refugee Law Seminar Series: Comparative approaches to the Use of international human rights law in asylum cases in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States
Speakers: Professor Stephen Meili (University of Minnesota)
Date: Tuesday 31 January
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

Commonwealth research Seminar Series: From Malaysia to Mauritius: Tracking education and training as a theme in Commonwealth intergovernmental processes in 2009-2012
Speakers: Dr Balasubramanyam Chandramohan, Research Fellow, ICwS
Date: Tuesday 31 January
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)


February

BOOK LAUNCH: George Price, A Life Revealed: The Authorised Biography, Ian Randle Press (2011) by Godfrey Smith
Speakers: Godfrey P Smith
Commentator: Lord Michael Ashcroft
Date: Wednesday 1 February
Time: 18:00 - 20:00
Venue: Room 349

Caribbean Seminar Series: Decriminalising Homosexuality In The Caribbean: The Belize Case In Commonwealth Perspective And Beyond
Speakers: Godfrey P. Smith
Date: Friday 3 February
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 264 (Senate House, second floor)

Caribbean Seminar Series: East Indian Civil Society in the Pre-Independence Caribbean
Speakers:
Feriel Kissoon, King's College London: "How East Indians became West Indians": the Indigenization of East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago 1910-1930.
Clem Seecharan, London Metropolitan University: “The British Guiana East Indian Association: Indo-Guyanese politics and civil society”
Date: Wednesday 15 February
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 264 (Senate House, second floor)

Black Britain Seminar Series: The Art of Being Black
Speakers: David Neita
Date: Monday 20 February
Time: 18:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)

International Refugee Law Seminar Series: The supervision of international refugee law
Speakers: Professor James C. Simeon (York University Toronto)
Date: Tuesday 21 February
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies


New Challenges in Refugee Integration seminar series: Integration: Global perspectives on the transition from being apart to being a part (of something)
Speakers: Professor Alastair Kenneth Ager, Columbia University
Chair: Jasmin Alibhai-Brown, Journalist and Author
Date: Thursday 23 February
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies



Caribbean Seminar Series: Panel: Small Territories, Global Issues: Governance and Corruption in the Caribbean
Speakers: Peter Clegg, UWE: The Turks and Caicos Islands: Can the cloud be banished?
Dylan Vernon, ISA: Our Turn to Feed: Big Implications of Rampant Political Clientelism in Small State Belize
Date: Wednesday 29 February
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)


March

Behind the Headlines: The Politics of Economic Reforms in India Today
Speakers: Vijay Joshi (Oxford) and Lawrence Saez (SOAS)
Date: Thursday 1 March
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 265 (Senate House, second floor)

Decolonisation conference
Date: Friday 9 March
Time: 10:00 - 18:00
Venue: The Senate Room (Senate House, First Floor)

International Refugee Law Seminar Series: The fast-developing field of LGBTI refugee law
Speakers: S Chelvan (No5 Chambers)
Date: Tuesday 13 March
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies


Commonwealth Research Seminar Series: The Commonwealth Secretary-General - from Smith to Sharma
Speakers: Stuart Mole (ICwS / CAB)
Date: Tuesday 13 March
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)

Black Britain Seminar Series: Medieval Perceptions
Speakers: Tessa Hosking
Date: Tuesday 13 March
Time: 18:00 - 19:30
Venue: Room 349 (SH)

New Challenges in Refugee Integration seminar series: Open debate with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees
Speakers: Chair: Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament
Date: Thursday 15 March
Time: 17:00 - 19:30
Venue: Parliament

Behind the Headlines: Are We Seeing the Best or the Worst of the Indian State?: A Public Debate
Speakers: Debate between Professor James Manor and Professor Christopher Jaffrelot
Christophe Jaffrelot, Centre d'Etudes et de la Recherches Internationales, Paris
James Manor, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London
Date: Thursday 15 March
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)

Diamond Jubilee Seminar Series: The Crown, the media and the Commonwealth
Speakers: Charles Anson; Tom Corby; Keshini Navaratnam
Date: Tuesday 20 March
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: The Senate Room (Senate House, First Floor)

Afro-Indians in Gujarat
Date: Monday 26 March
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 349 (Senate House)

Commonwealth Research Seminar Series: Reporting on The Truth & Justice Commission of Mauritius
Speakers: Dr Vijaya Teelock (University of Mauritius)
Date: Wednesday 28 March
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: The Court Room (Senate House, First Floor)

ICwS and OSPA Witness Seminar: Indirect Rule – right or wrong?
Speakers: John Smith, CBE; Andrew Stuart, CMG, CPM; Simon Gillett; David Salmon; Don Barton
Further speakers TBC
Date: Thursday 29 March
Time: 11:00 - 18:00
Venue: The Senate Room (Senate House, First Floor)



April

Commonwealth Research Seminar Series: Rebuilding Sierra Leone's Evidence Base in the Post Conflict Period
Speakers: Anne Thurston (ICwS)
Date: Tuesday 24 April
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: Room 261 (Senate House, second floor)



May

Behind the Headlines: Trends in the Uttar Pradesh elections 2012
Speakers: Oliver Heath (Royal Holloway), Lucia Michelutti (Oxford)
Date: Tuesday 1 May
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: King's College London

International Refugee Law Seminar Series: Refugees, Law and Postcolonial Theory
Speakers: Professor Patricia Tuitt
Date: Thursday 10 May
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: The Chancellor's Hall (Senate House, First Floor)

Commonwealth Research Seminar Series: What happened to 'garibi hatao'? India's Congress Party and the politics of poverty
Speakers: James Chiriyankandath (ICwS)
Date: Tuesday 22 May
Time: 17:30 - 18:30
Venue: Room 265 (Senate House, second floor)

Cultures of Decolonisation, c.1945-1970
Speakers: Keynote: Dr Bill Schwarz
Convenors: Dr Claire Wintle (University of Brighton); Dr Ruth Craggs (St Mary’s University College)
Date: Wednesday 30 May
Time: 10:00 - 18:00
Venue: Room 349 (Senate House)


June

International Refugee Law Seminar Series: The law of exclusion from refugee status: recent developments
Speakers: Professor Geoff Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 5 June
Time: 17:30 - 19:30
Venue: The Chancellor's Hall (Senate House, First Floor)

A revolutionary life: Ruth First 1925-1982
Date: Thursday 7 June
Time: 10:00 - 19:00
Venue: Room 349 (SH)


July

The War of 1812: Memory and Myth, History and Historiography
Date: Thursday 12 July - Saturday 14 July
Time: 13:00 - 17:30
Venue: The Chancellor's Hall (Senate House, First Floor)


October
ICwS and OSPA Witness Seminar: Indigenisation of the Civil Service in colonial territories before and immediately after independence
Date: Thursday 25 October
Time: 11:00 - 18:00
Venue: The Senate Room (Senate House, First Floor)

Monday 30 January 2012

Freedoms of the Press: the Archives of the Commonwealth Journalist Association

As the Commonwealth Journalists' Association start their conference in Malta today we are pleased to anounce the commencement of a project to catalogue the records of the Association held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

The Commonwealth Journalists’ Association archive comprises 27 archive boxes of material dating from 1979 and the foundation of the Association, until 2003, when the head office of the Association moved to Trinidad and Tobago.The Commonwealth Journalists’ Association (CJA), was formed in 1981 by Derek Ingram, then Editor of the Gemini News Service, and Patrick Keatley, Diplomatic and Commonwealth Correspondent of the Guardian, following a Commonwealth Headfs of Government meeting in Nova Scotia. 

As well as bringing journalists together from across the Commonwealth, the CJA had two main focuses: training of journalists in developing nations; and the promotion of freedom of the press and an independent press across the Commonwealth. The two objects were, of course, linked, and early work on the files relating to training in Uganda for example provide much evidence on the lack of freedom or independence of the press at the time.

We are very grateful for the financial support of the Scott Trust Charitable Foundation and SHeLF, the Friends of Senate House Library, who have enabled this work. A one day conference will take place later in the year to launch the completed catalogue and to explore the themes of human rights and the role of the press, and of freedom and independence of the press.

Friday 27 January 2012

Princess Anne launches new Diamond Jubilee Seminar Series on the Monarchy and the Commonwealth

Princess Anne launches new Diamond Jubilee Seminar Series on the Monarchy and the Commonwealth


On 11 January 2012, the Chancellor of the University of London, the Princess Royal, visited the Institute of Commonwealth Studies to launch a series of seminars for the Diamond Jubilee Year exploring the relationship between the monarchy and the Commonwealth. She participated in the first seminar in the series, which was introduced by the Institute’s director, Professor Philip Murphy.

Among the other speakers was the former Nigerian diplomat, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who served as Commonwealth Secretary-General from 1990 to 2000. Chief Anyaoku paid warm tribute to the Queen’s personal role as head of the Commonwealth. The title ‘Head of the Commonwealth’ was established by the London Declaration of April 1949. In the view of most constitutional experts it is not hereditary, and will therefore not pass automatically to the next British monarch. Hence, there is some uncertainty as to what will happen to the title at the end of the current reign. In an important intervention on this issue, Chief Anyaoku expressed his personal view that when the time came, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth should inform Commonwealth member states that, in keeping with the London Declaration, the headship of the Commonwealth should pass to the Queen’s successor as monarch.

Another speaker was the Nigerian-born artist, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, who was commissioned to produce a portrait of the Queen for the Golden Jubilee in 2002. The portrait – which depicts the Queen as head of the Commonwealth, hangs in Marlborough House in London, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Chinwe recalled the Queen’s warmth and humour during the sittings for the portrait.

The Princess Royal herself recalled some of her own visits to Commonwealth countries and spoke about the forthcoming tours of the Commonwealth by members of the royal family to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee year. She noted that, along with other members of the royal family, her exposure to a multi-cultural environment while growing up had been thanks to the Commonwealth – in terms of both visits to and visitors from its member states. She remembered with affection her visit to Kenya in 1971 and spoke of meeting its President, Jomo Kenyatta, as ‘a highlight of my life’. What had struck her on her various visits were, she claimed, the similarities across the Commonwealth rather than the differences.

The Diamond Jubilee Seminar Series will run throughout 2012. The next seminar - on the Crown, the media and the Commonwealth - will take place on 20 March, 17:30-19:30. Information on this and all forthcoming seminars will be posted to the Institute’s events pages.

Diamond Jubilee Series opening seminar podcast

Interview with Professor Philip Murphy podcast

Thursday 26 January 2012

Australia Day

Marking Australia Day (the 26th of January) we wish to highlight two archive collections which reveal how Australian's have celebrated their history in the past. Both collections relate to the 1988 celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the founding of Australia.

ICS 113 Australian Bicentennial Celebrations comprises of a selection of leaflets and other publicity literature for events in celebration of the Australian Bicentennial, including material produced by the Australian Bicentennial Authority, the New South Wales Bicentennial Council, the Bicentennial Festival of Sydney and for events in the UK.

ICS 144 Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee comprises of the records of the Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee (BABC) which was set up in 1984 by the British Government through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to supervise the British involvement in the Australian Bicentennial.

One of the tasks of the BABC was to make a recommendation for the UK gift to Australia for the Bicentennial. Several ideas were put forward for consideration, notably a re-enactment of the voyage of the First Fleet under Admiral Arthur Philip, This was decided against, although the re-enactment fleet did sail from the Isle of Wight, 13 May 1987 and arrived in Australia 26 Jan 1988, without the support of the BABC. The UK gift to Australia was eventually decided on as the sail training schooner STS Young Endeavour, proposed by Arthur Weller. The building of STS Young Endeavour, was supervised by the Schooner Trust, supervised by Weller. The Bicentennial events in the UK were widespread including balls, banquets and church services, notably at Westminster Abbey led by Archbishop Robert Runcie, 14 Jul 1988.


The collection includes administrative and strategy papers of the Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee (BABC), from 1984-1990, including early minutes, agendas and minutes for BABC meetings 1985-1988; weekly reports of the Executive Secretary, newsletters, 1986-1988 and related papers and correspondence. Also included are papers of National Task subcommittees, minutes of the Schooner Trust and details of the proposal for the First Fleet re-enactment; and papers of regional committees including the City of London committee; Bath and West Country committee; East Anglia committee; Midlands committee; North East committee; Northern Ireland committee; Lincoln committee; Liverpool committee; Whitby committee and Scotland committee. Papers relating to other events to celebrate the Bicentenary including a banquet at Guildhall, London; an exhibition to be held at the British Museum (Natural History) entitled 'First Impressions: the British discovery of Australia', 1988 and the Mansion House Hawke dinner, 21 Jun 1989.

This latter collection is not fully catalogued but a handlist is available on request.

Monday 23 January 2012

website survey

We are currently taking feedback regarding the Senate House Library website.

Please help us with this process by completing a printed questionnaire available from the Library's Circulation Desk or completing the online survey, which is available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2S522N3
Your comments will help our redesign of the website which will take place later this year.

Friday 20 January 2012

Call for Papers on Citizenship in Africa: ASAUK Conference 2012

Call for Papers on Citizenship in Africa

ASAUK Conference 2012

Deadline for submission of papers 27 April 2012

This is a call for papers for 4 panels: details are given below.

Submissions should be made via the conference website, not direct to the organizers: www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk12.shtml But for more details please contact Florence Brisset-Foucault (feb37@cam.ac.uk ) or Emma Hunter (elh35@cam.ac.uk)

1. "Citizen" and "subject": States, kingdoms, chiefdoms and multiple belongings

Convenor: Florence Brisset-Foucault, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

In numerous African countries since colonization, sub-national (and sometimes transnational) political entities like kingdoms and chiefdoms have or have had important political and cultural influence. This panel explores the way individuals articulate these different belongings, which should not be seen a priori as fundamentally antagonistic or exclusive. How do leaders and ordinary "citizens" (or "subjects") imagine, combine, or oppose these different belongings? What are the political and philosophical values attached to each of them? Are the categories "citizen" and "subject" appropriate to seize these sentiments and practices? How do these belongings influence each other? This panel invites both historical and present case studies to explore the articulation between these different spheres of government and belonging.



2. 'Being a true citizen': Creating political belonging through social practice in Africa past and present

Convenor: Emma Hunter, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

In contrast to the focus on the institutions of the state, such as ID cards, or educational practice in creating, challenging and sustaining modes of conceptualising citizenship and political belonging explored in other panels in this stream, this panel moves into the realm of social practice. Beyond the institutional structures which create political belonging, distinctive communities have always been created through modes of behaviour, such as dress, religious practices, gender identities, sporting or associational culture. How do individuals perform their political identity, or remake it to express political allegiance? How does social practice serve as a means of inclusion or exclusion, beyond legalistic conceptions of membership? This panel focuses on the ways in which modes of behaviour can serve to provide a space in which to reinforce or to attempt to renegotiate the boundaries of community, the relationship between individual and community or conceptions of political membership, and invites both historical and contemporary case studies which reflect on the ways in which political belonging has been defined through social practice.



3.Creating Citizens: Political Education, Political Philosophy and Practices of Citizenship in Africa

Convenor: Emma Hunter, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

A central concern of contemporary policy makers is the teaching of citizenship. This has led to a flowering of 'citizenship education'. At election time, public space is taken over not only by party election posters, but also by posters instructing citizens on their rights and duties. In some African countries, NGOs and the State encourage citizens to enrol in civic and political education workshops and training.

Historically, colonial and post-colonial states have employed didactic texts, newspaper editorials and political speeches to teach practices of citizenship. Beneath an apparent homogeneity of language and approach, didactic texts and courses often promote very specific political philosophies, for example in their view of the relationship between citizen and state or the proper role of political parties. This panel explores this phenomenon both historically and in the present, and invites case studies from across Africa which explore political education as a space in which conceptions of citizenship are developed.



4.Fixing Identities: Identity papers, history and contemporary practices of census in Africa

Convenor: Florence Brisset-Foucault, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

This panel intends to be a multi-disciplinary discussion on identity papers and census practices in past and present Africa. The way identities are processed through bureaucracy is often at the core and heart of bitter controversies and can play a direct role in fuelling violence. In several African countries, the recent introduction of identity cards has triggered heated debates on what constitutes a "proof" of identity and what is to be notified on the IDs as the fundamental characteristics of an individual.

This panel calls for contributions on the history of the registering and identification processes, criteria and techniques, deployed by the State and other actors, as well as analysis on the present debates on identification and daily uses of "papers" on the continent. Who are the actors involved in census and identification processes? According to what criteria are people classified? What kind of differences can we trace between countries on the continent? What has been the influence of the international context, such as the "war on terror" and the anti-immigration policies?

Thursday 19 January 2012

Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online; Open Access journal from Royal Society of New Zelaand

Kotuitui is an online opan access (free to view) journal published by the Royal Society of New Zealand and hosted by Taylor and Francis.

The journal aims to showcase the increasing number of collaborative research endeavours across the social sciences. Although of particular relevance to New Zealand, the journal’s subject matter is of worldwide relevance and interest to researchers in universities, research institutes, and other centres. The Maori name ‘Kotuitui’ means ‘interweaving’, and reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the journal.


Kotuitui publishes original research papers, short communications, book reviews, and letters. Although the journal predominately highlights research in the New Zealand context, international submissions are welcomed. The journal’s subject matter includes contributions from long-established fields (including psychology, economics, human geography, sociology, education, political science, anthropology, social work, population studies, and history); as well as more recent disciplinary and inter-disciplinary fields such as public policy, development studies, conflict resolution, gender studies, international relations, security studies, human rights, cultural and ethnic studies, ethics, criminology, health, sustainability, communications, and media studies.

The journal is freely available online, facilitating the distribution of New Zealand social science knowledge both nationally and internationally. Papers with likely high impact will be fast-tracked for rapid publication.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Contemporary Developments in Aboriginal Issues - British Association of Canadian Studies’ Aboriginal Studies Circle

Contemporary Developments in Aboriginal Issues


British Association of Canadian Studies’ Aboriginal Studies Circle, at the University of Leeds Centre for Canadian Studies, Leeds (UK)
1st February 2011

The British Association of Canadian Studies is pleased to announce a one day colloquium of its Aboriginal Studies Circle. Many diverse indigenous populations around the globe have been the victims of marginalization as they confront the vast array of issues resulting from both historical injustices and contemporary global challenges. This colloquium seeks to bring together academics and other professionals with an interest in indigenous studies to discuss the broad issues that affect indigenous peoples both in Canada and elsewhere. Through building an interdisciplinary network, it is hoped that discussions of the challenges facing indigenous peoples can be drawn from the periphery of contemporary political, social, cultural, and legal discourses and brought into the mainstream.

Keynote Speakers:

•Prof. Joy Hendry (Oxford Brookes University)
•Dr. Colin Samson (University of Essex)
•Dr. David Stirrup (University of Kent)
•Dr. Pamela Palmater (Ryerson University)

Registration please use this form

Programme

Joy Hendry (Oxford Brookes University) Anthropology Keynote: Aboriginal Science: putting the First Nations of Canada in a broad Indigenous Context

Pamela Palmater (Centre for Indigenous Governance, Ryerson University Canada) Law & Society Keynote: The Myth of Post-Colonialism in Canada: How Modern Laws and Politics Impact Indigenous Peoples.

Colin Samson (University of Essex) Sociology Keynote: The Future of the Past: Cultural Revitalization As a Means of Addressing the Unjust Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

David Stirrup (University of Kent) Literature Keynote: George Copway, Ojibwa Conquest, and the Indigenous Ideal

Dominic Alessio Richmond (The American International University of London) Monopoly Imperialism: The Buying and Leasing of Empires

Sinéad O'Sullivan (University of Manchester) Métis and the Canadian State: Claiming an Aboriginal Identity through the Legal System

Katya Brooks (University of Essex) Considering Cultural Collision: Reflections of Being a White, Middle-Class, British, Young(ish), Female Researcher in Sub-Arctic Canada

Roy Todd (University of Leeds) Urban Indigenous Youth: Diverse Contexts, Complex Transitions

Alfred Wong & Roxanne Gomes (The Friends of Aboriginal Health Association, Vancouver Canada) Impact of Advanced Telecommunication on Remote First Nation Communities

Zalfa Fegahli (University of Nottingham) The miracle of martyrs: Gregory Scofield's Revisionist Louis Riel

Maggie Bowers (University of Portsmouth) Storytelling and Sovereignty: Enacting Literary Self-Determination

Gundula Wilke (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Germany) Alternative History Lessons by Marginalised Writers

Tuesday 17 January 2012

New archives list available for download - Simon Taylor papers

The Taylor family papers are one of the most used collections in the Institute of Commonwealth Studies archives collection.

Mainly comprising letters written and received between 1770 and 1835 by Simon Taylor, his family and heirs, and his friends, agents and business partners. About a quarter of the letters are contained in Simon Taylor's letterbooks. Though the majority of the correspondence consists of letters either to or from Simon Taylor up to his death in 1813, there is also correspondence between other family members, notably his brother Sir John Taylor, his sister-in-law Elizabeth Haughton Taylor, Sir John and Lady Taylor's son (and Simon Taylor's heir) Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor, and Simon Taylor's second cousin and business partner Robert Taylor. The subject matter ranges from the domestic (illness, family quarrels, disinheritance, bigamy) to business (slaves, sugar, trade and shipping, the effects of hurricanes, the introduction of a steam engine on an estate), to politics (the Maroon and French wars, the anti-slavery movement and abolition of the slave trade). The collection also includes detailed reports on the estates made for Anna Susannah Watson Taylor in 1835.

Sunday 15 January 2012

International Refugee Law Seminar Series

International Refugee Law Seminar Series
Human Rights Consortium Refugee Law Initiative


Tuesday 31 January 2012 5.30 pm
IALS, Council Chamber

Professor Stephen Meili, University of Minnesota
 “Comparative approaches to the Use of international human rights law in asylum cases in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States"

Tuesday 21 February 2012 5.30 pm

IALS, Council Chamber

Professor James C. Simeon, York University Toronto
"The supervision of international refugee law"

Tuesday 13 March 2012, 5.30 pm 
IALS, Council Chamber

S. Chelvan, No5 Chambers
 “The fast-developing field of LGBTI refugee law”

Thursday 10 May, 2012, 5.30pm
Senate House, Chancellor’s Hall

Professor Patricia Tuitt,  Birkbeck, University of London
“Refugees, Law and Postcolonial Theory”

Tuesday 5 June, 2012, 5.30pm

Senate House, Chancellor’s Hall

Professor Geoff Gilbert, University of Essex
“The law of exclusion from refugee status: recent developments”


Convenor: Dr David James Cantor, Director of the Refugee Law Initiative

With the support of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

ADMISSION FREE – ALL WELCOME

If you wish to attend any of the above please RSVP to RLI@sas.ac.uk

Saturday 14 January 2012

2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition is pleased to announce the 2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, an annual award for the most outstanding nonfiction book published in English on the subject of slavery and/or abolition and antislavery movements.


Publishers and authors are invited to submit books that meet these criteria.

We are interested in all geographical areas and time periods. Please note, however, that works related to the Civil War are acceptable only if their primary focus relates to slavery or emancipation.

Nominations for books published in 2011 will be accepted beginning in January 2012. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2012. To receive instructions on how to submit a book (information will be available in late fall/early winter), please contact the Gilder Lehrman Center, MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, at 230 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, fax (203) 432-6943, or e-mail to gilder.lehrman.center@yale.edu

Friday 13 January 2012

New Zealand Studies Network (UK and Ireland) Inaugural Conference - New Zealand’s Cultures: Sources, Histories, Futures

New Zealand Studies Network (UK and Ireland) Inaugural Conference - New Zealand’s Cultures: Sources, Histories, Futures

 
Hosts: Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Northampton


Friday 6 July to Saturday 7 July 2012 at Birkbeck, University of London

 
This conference aims to examine the ‘making of New Zealanders’ in the past, present and future. It will focus on New Zealand and its many different cultures, exploring their origins, historical sources and influences, contemporary changes and future developments. It aims to embrace as many as possible of the disciplinary fields within the humanities, social sciences and the natural sciences.

 
We anticipate that the cultures that will be explored will include not only the more obvious national, ethnic and religious ones, but the practices and mindsets of governmental, professional, business, educational, religious and sporting subcultures, and of cultures found in other daily occupations and interests, such as eating, drinking and entertainment.

 
We are interested in how elements of national culture have been imported from the Pacific, the UK, the USA, Europe and Australia, and how they have been exported through migration, disapora, and the media. We welcome proposals that approach New Zealand’s cultures from alternative, ‘outsider’ perspectives, and those that consider whether or not New Zealand's cultures exhibit any remarkable ‘exceptionalism’ .

 
Topics might well be located in or refer to one or more of the following categories of culture:

  •  National
  • Local
  • Political
  • Ethnic
  • Immigrant/diasporic/minority
  • Professional
  • Business
  • Creative Arts
  • Gastronomic
  • Sporting
  • Historical / critical writing
  • Environmental
  • Religion

Keynote speakers: Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas; Hugh Lauder (Professor of Education and Political Economy, University of Bath). Others to be confirmed.

 
In the evening of 6th July, will be the launch of the 25 New Zealand Poets for the UK Poetry Archive 2011, with Directors, Sir Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington, Co-ordinating Director Jan Kemp, and readings by some of the poets.

 

Abstracts: for 20 minute papers of c 250 words plus brief biosketch by 31 March to info.nzsn@gmail.com Intending delegates should be current members of the NZSN. For details of how to join see the NZSN website at http://www.nzstudies.com/. The website will post regular updates of the conference, including accommodation, registration fees etc.

 

For any queries write to the convenors, Professor Janet Wilson at janet.wilson@northampton.ac.uk and Andrew Sharp at a.sharp@auckland.ac.nz

African Literary Awards Database

Highlighting today an interesting and useful resource produced by the Library at Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington, the African :Literary Awards Database.

Each year dozens of works written by African writers and works about Africa win prestigous international and national literary and scholarly prizes. The African Studies section of the Libray at Indiana University has produced a database, which is the first attempt to gather a comprehensive list of African literary awards and their laureates. It is constantly being expanded by the addition of recent prize-winners and historical literary awards. The  initial focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is intended to eventually cover the entire continent.


This database provides information about awards in an easy-to-search format. You may search by an award, title, or author. Clicking a "search" button without entering information in a search box will return a full list. Complete bibliographical information for the original published edition of each work is only available through title searches.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Conference: Fifty years of Jamaican Independence: Developments and Impacts

Conference: Fifty years of Jamaican Independence: Developments and Impacts


Friday 10 February 2012
Institute for the Study of the Americas, Room 349, 3rd Floor, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU

Entrance to the conference is free but please RSVP to olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk

Programme:

10.00 Welcome

10.15 Opening Address
H.E. Anthony Johnson, Jamaican High Commissioner in London

11.00 Break

11.15 Panel One
Andrew Okola: Jamaican Politics Today
Steven Wilson: Jamaica and Caribbean Integration: Did One from Ten leave Nought?

12.15 Panel Two
Amanda Sives: Reconstructing Citizenship: From Empire to Nation to Diaspora Karen Hunte: The Britain that Jamaica made

13.15 Lunch

14.00 Panel Three
Jean Besson: Maroons, Free Villagers and ‘Squatters’ in the Development of Independent Jamaica David Howard: Informality, security and neighbourhood development in downtown Kingston David Dodman: Caribbean environments in the post-colonial era: resources, risk(s) and responses

15.30 Break

16.00 Keynote Address
Professor Brian Meeks, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

17.00 Close and drinks

Funded by the Joint Initiative for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Seminar and Book Launch: George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P. Smith

Seminar and Book Launch: George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P. Smith

Wednesday 1st February
18.00-20.00

The Beveridge Hall
Senate House
London WC1E 7HU

The Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies cordially invite you to a seminar and book launch to celebrate the publication of the authorised biography of Belizean Prime Minister and father of the nation, George Price, by Godfrey Smith.

Speaker: Godfrey P. Smith
Commentator: Lord Michael Ashcroft

George Price, who died in 2011, was one of the last of the generation of Caribbean leaders whose political careers were moulded by the struggle for independence. The story of Price is inseparable from the story of the modern political development of Belize, involving the birth of nationalist politics; the formation of political parties; the struggle for independence and maintaining the territorial integrity of Belize against claims by Guatemala. Godfrey Smith examines the life and career of Price within the broader Caribbean context, critically appraising his place within the canon of Caribbean nationalist leaders and the legacies for Caribbean politics today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Godfrey Smith is a former member of the Belize House of Representatives for the Pickstock Division previously held by George Price. He served as a cabinet minister in the PUP administration of Said Musa from 1999-2008, holding various positions including Attorney General and Foreign Minister. Smith is a practicing attorney and writes an online blog www.flashpointbelize.com.

Please RSVP to Olga Jimenez on olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk

ABOUT THE BOOK:

George Price: A Life Revealed, by Godfrey P Smith Ian Randle Press, 2011

An ascetic and failed priest, a stoic, father of the nation, prime minister and first national hero of the Central American nation of Belize, George Price remains one of the most enigmatic leaders of the 20th century. Nothing in the early years of Price’s life gave any indication that he would become the most uncompromising adversary of the British government in the struggle, first for self-government and later for Belizean independence, and in the process dominate Belizean politics for over 40 years. An indifferent scholastic career, failure to complete studies for the priesthood followed by a decade as the right-hand man for one of the colony’s most astute businessmen, were less than impressive a track record for a future national leader and political firebrand.

Yet for close to 50 years, the story of George Price was inseparable from the story of the modern political development of Belize, involving the birth of nationalist politics; the formation of political parties; the struggle for independence and the national objective of maintaining the territorial integrity of Belize against claims by Guatemala. Here is the story of a man who never married or raised a family, who never had a romantic liaison with a woman and who up to the time of his death at the age of 92 had remained celibate all his life. Price’s first and only lifelong love, his sweetheart, wife and family were Belize and its people.

In this even-handed and revealing authorized biography, Godfrey Smith does not attempt to canonize Price or denigrate his rivals and detractors. Rather, he exposes the contradictions that were a feature of Price s life and career. On the one hand the reader is shown Price as the ardent nationalist and a man of uncommon discipline and tenacity who pursued his vision of an independent Belize with clear-minded focus, courage and determination, yet who by his own admission, had secret relations with Guatemala whom most Belizeans regarded as the enemy.

On a personal level, Smith paints a picture of Price as one who beneath his pious exterior could often be found to be petty, secretive and vindictive, and a man who did not suffer slights lightly. Few political leaders from the region have recorded their memoirs or, like Price, given access by way of interviews or opened their personal papers to researchers or biographers. As one whose political career spanned both the colonial and post independence eras, the information, experiences and insights Price has freely given to his biographer will make this work an important contribution to the study of the political personality, the development of political parties and party politics in the Caribbean at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In addition, the book sheds new light on Price’s adversarial relationship with local British governors and officials of the Colonial Office in London, and on the central role that the Guatemalan claim on Belize and Price's controversial affiliations with Guatemala played in both the negotiation and timing of Belizean independence. The value of Godfrey Smith’s work as the biographer of George Price lies in the fact that it is at once the revealing story of an important and controversial political leader, and at the same time, a history of the anti-colonial struggle and the modern political development of Belize.

Monday 9 January 2012

SCOLMA 50th anniversary conference, June 25–26 2012

SCOLMA 50th anniversary conference, June 25–26 2012,


Rothermere American Institute, Oxford

Dis/connects: African Studies in the Digital Age


Provisional Programme
(NB This programme is subject to change)

Monday 25 June

9.00–10.00 Coffee and registration

10.00–11.00 Keynote: Dr John Darwin, Beit University Lecturer in the History of the British Commonwealth, Nuffield College, Oxford ‘Africa in Global History’

11.00–12.30 Panel 1

Jos Damen, African Studies Centre, Leiden ‘Who needs a paper library in Africa?’
Jonathan Harle, Association of Commonwealth Universities ‘Understanding the research environments of African universities and their implications for the use of digital resources’
Ian Cooke and Marion Wallace, British Library ‘African studies in the digital age: Challenges for research and national libraries’

12.30–1.30 Lunch

1.30–3.00 Panels 2 & 3 in parallel

Panel 2

Daniel A. Reboussin, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida ‘Library research behaviour in the digital environment: Implications for librarians’
Brenda van Wyk, UNIZULU Library Service, University of Zululand ‘Information and content management of institutional repositories in southern Africa: A comparative study’
Pier Luigi Rossi, Research Institute for Development (IRD), Bondy ‘Log analysis and text mining on internet access to dissertations of the Dakar sports faculty (INSEPS)’

Panel 3

Chris Saunders, University of Cape Town, and Peter Limb, Michigan State University ‘Southern African history in the digital era’
Angel David Nieves, Hamilton College and Marla Jaksch, The College of New Jersey ‘Using digital history to narrate the liberation struggle in Tanzania and South Africa’
Lucia Lovison-Golob, Afriterra Foundation (tbc) The Integration of Historical Cartography into Present-Day Cartography: The Darfur Case’

3.00–3.30 Tea

3.30–5.00 Panels 4 & 5 in parallel

Panel 4

Simon Tanner, King’s College London ‘The impact of digitisation in Africa’
James Lowry, International Records Management Trust ‘Digitising colonial and post-independence government papers in Kenya’
Edgar Taylor, Ashley Rockenbach and Natalie Bond, University of Michigan ‘Archives and the past: Cataloging and digitization in Uganda’s archives’

Panel 5

Kate Haines, University of Sussex ‘Dialogue, text and memory: Social media and literary responses to the post-election violence in Kenya’
Jenni Orme, The National Archives (UK) ‘Viewing “Africa through a lens”: Using digitisation and online tools at The National Archives to widen audience reach’
Thomas Sharp, University of Manchester ‘A counter-hegemonic archive? The revelation of hidden histories on the internet: a case study from Cameroon’

5.15 Tour of Rhodes House

7.00 SCOLMA Golden Jubilee conference dinner
St Cross College
Guest speaker: Professor John McIlwaine, Emeritus Professor of the Bibliography of Asia and Africa, University College London

Tuesday 26 June

9.30–10.15 Keynote: Christine Kanyengo, Deputy Librarian, University of Zambia Library

10.15–10.45 Coffee

10.45–12.30 Panel 6

Stephanie Newell, University of Sussex ‘From stacks to pixels: How archival preservation shapes (re)search methods in African news’
John Pinfold ‘“Can you write a biography without papers?”: Researching the life of African adventurer Herbert Rhodes’
Diana Jeater, University of the West of England  ‘Data, data everywhere, but not a byte to think: Use of digital resources in the HE Humanities sector in southern Africa’

12.30–2.00 Lunch and SCOLMA AGM

2.00–3.30 Panels 7 & 8 in parallel

Panel 7

Michelle Guittar & David L. Easterbrook, Melville J. Herskovits Library, Northwestern University ‘Digitization at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies: A consideration of processes and outcomes’
Geoffrey Mukasa, University Library, Uganda Christian University Library, Mukono (tbc) ‘Digital library information resources in Uganda’
Guy Thomas, Archives and Library, Basel Mission ‘Reconfiguring concepts of living archives through remote access’

Panel 8

Gabriela Redwine, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin ‘At home and abroad: Born-digital African literary archives in the digital age’
Amidu Sanni, Lagos State University (tbc) ‘The West African Arabic manuscript heritage: challenges of the digital revolution in a research economy’
Korklu Laryea, University Library, University of Ghana (tbc) ‘Research pathways in African studies’
Massimo Zaccaria, University of Pavia ‘Recovering the African printed past. The case of a dispersed collection and the attempt to virtually rejoin it: the Eritrean case’

3.30–4.00 Coffee

4.00–5.00 Plenary: Dis/connects: Building and maintaining digital libraries on Africa
Led by Peter Limb, Michigan State University

For enquiries and bookings please contact the SCOLMA Secretary:

Lucy McCann, Archivist, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth & African Studies, Rhodes House, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RG
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 270908 Email: mailto:lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

SCOLMA website: http://www.scolma.org/

Friday 6 January 2012

ANC Centenary

It is one hundred years since the African National Congress was founded, On January 8th 1912, chiefs, representatives of people`s and church organisations, and other prominent individuals gathered in Bloemfontein and formed the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), later named the African National Congress (1923). The ANC declared its aim to bring all Africans together as one people to defend their rights and freedoms.


The ANC has a website showcasing their history and events taking place as part of the celebrations.

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has a wide range of material on and published by the ANC, as well as other important groups who were part of the South African liberation struggle. The collection includes material catalogued as part of our political pamphlets project, and the library holds over 400 individual titles published by the ANC, including newsletters and journals as well as pamphlets, leaflets, manifestos, etc.

Archive collections include a specific collection of material from the ANC and Indian organisations in South Africa (in both print and microfilm), the Mandela Trials papers, as well as papers of activists including Ruth FirstMary BensonRuth Hayman, Marion Friedmann , Baruch Hirson, Tim Matthews, Z K Matthews, Josie Palmer.

The archive collection also includes Ralph Johnson Bunche's account of the Silver Anniversary meeting of the African National Congress in Bloemfontein in December 1937

Thursday 5 January 2012

New Books - November and December 2011 (Part 2)

Part 2 of our list of new book added to the catalogue in November and December 2011

Kirk, Neville, Labour and the politics of empire : Britain and Australia, 1900 to the present, Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Hoffstaedter, Gerhard, Modern Muslim identities : negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia, Copenhagen : NIAS [u.a.], 2011.

Teo, Youyenn, Neoliberal morality in Singapore : how family policies make state and society, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2011.

Jega, Attahiru M. and Jacqueline W. Farris (eds), Nigeria at fifty : contributions to peace, democracy, and development, Abuja, Nigeria : Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Foundation, c2010.

Kelsey, Jane, No ordinary deal : unmasking the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement, Wellington, N.Z. : Bridget Williams Books with the New Zealand Law Foundation, 2010.

Granatstein, J. L. and Dean F. Oliver, The Oxford companion to Canadian military history, Don Mills, Ont. : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Courtney, John C. and David E. Smith (eds), The Oxford handbook of Canadian politics, Oxford ; New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Allan, Kate (ed), Paper wars : access to information in South Africa, Johannesburg : Wits University Press, 2009.

Waugh, Colin M., Paul Kagame and Rwanda : power, genocide and the Rwandan Patriotic Front, Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2004.

Abidi, Syed A.H. (ed), Peace in Uganda : the role of the civil society, Kampala : ABETO, 2011.

Alfred, Taiaiake, Peace, power, righteousness : an indigenous manifesto, Don Mills, Ont. ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Mohanty, Manoranjan, Partha Nath Mukherji, with Olle Törnquist (eds), People's rights : social movements and the state in the third world, New Delhi ; Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage Publications, 1998.

Jeffery, Anthea, People's war : new light on the struggle for South Africa, Johannesburg : Jonathan Ball, 2009

Barchiesi, Franco, Precarious liberation : workers, the state, and contested social citizenship in postapartheid South Africa, Albany : State University of New York Press ; Scottsville, South Africa : University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, c2011.

Tan, Jeff, Privatization in Malaysia : regulation, rent-seeking and policy failure, London ; New York : Routledge, 2008.

Morck, Randall (ed), Recreating Canada : essays in honour of Paul Weiler, Montreal : School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, McGill-Queen's University Press, c2011.

African Human Security Initiative, Sierra Leone : a country review of crime and criminal justice, 2008, Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa : Institute for Security Studies, 2009.

Holt, John Clifford (ed), The Sri Lanka reader : history, culture, politics, Durham [NC] : Duke University Press, 2011.

White , Lucie E. and Jeremy Perelman (eds), Stones of hope : how African activists reclaim human rights to challenge global poverty , Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, c2011.

de Feyter, Koen and George Pavlakos (eds), The tension between group rights and human rights : a multidisciplinary approach, Oxford : Portland, Or. : Hart Pub., 2008.

Singapore Economic Roundtable (10th : 2008), The tenth Singapore Economic Roundtable, December 2008, Singapore : Straits Times Press Reference, c2009.

De Schutter, Olivier (ed), Transnational corporations and human rights, Oxford ; Portland, Or. : Hart Pub., 2006.

Mamdani, Mahmood, When victims become killers : colonialism, nativism, and the genocide in Rwanda, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2002, c2001.

Waring, Marilyn et al (ed), Who cares? : the economics of dignity, London : Commonwealth Secretariat, 2010.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

New Books - November and December 2011 (Part 1)

New books acquired and added to the catalogue in the last two months of 2011 included the following:

Kitakule, Sarah and Margaret Snyder, Above the odds : a decade of change for Ugandan women entrepreneurs, Trenton, N.J. : Africa World Press, c2011.

Quataert, Jean H., Advocating dignity : human rights mobilizations in global politics, Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2009.

Stapleton, Timothy, African police and soldiers in colonial Zimbabwe, 1923-80, Rochester, NY : University of Rochester Press, 2011.

Shapiro, Ian and Kahreen Tebeau (eds), After apartheid : reinventing South Africa, Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2011.

Bangladesh Sixth Five Year Plan, FY2011-FY2015 : accelerating growth and reducing poverty, Dhaka : Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Govt. of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 2011.

Hodgson, Dorothy L., Being Maasai, becoming indigenous : postcolonial politics in a neoliberal world, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2011.

Hamilton, Carolyn, Bernard K. Mbenga, and Robert Ross, The Cambridge history of South Africa, Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010-<2011>

Samara, Tony Roshan, Cape Town after apartheid : crime and governance in the divided city, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2011.

Bourne, Richard, Catastrophe : what went wrong in Zimbabwe?, London ; New York : Zed Books, c2011.

Kamya, John (comp), Children's rights : a compilation of international, regional, and Uganda's legal and human rights instruments, Kampala : Fountain Publishers, 2008.

Kumssa, Asfaw, James Herbert Williams and John F. Jones (eds), Conflict and human security in Africa : Kenya in perspective, New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Mulwafu, Wapulumuka Oliver, Conservation song : a history of peasant-state relations and the environment in Malawi, 1860-2000, Cambridge, UK : White Horse Press, 2011.

BakamaNume, Bakama B. (ed), A contemporary geography of Uganda, Dar es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota, c2010.

Nweze , Chima Centus, Contemporary issues on public international and comparative law : essays in honor of Professor Christian Nwachukwu Okeke, Lake Mary, Fla. : Vandeplas Pub., c2009

Kangumu, Bennett, Contesting Caprivi : a history of colonial isolation and regional nationalism in Namibia, Basel : Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Namibia Resource Center & Southern Africa Library, 2011.

Ker-Lindsay, James, The Cyprus problem : what everyone needs to know, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, c2011.

Kathyola, Janet and Oluwatoyin Job (eds), Decentralisation in Commonwealth Africa : experiences from Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania, London : Commonwealth Secretarial c2011.

Keating, Christine, Decolonizing democracy : transforming the social contract in India, University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, c2011

Newbury, Darren, Defiant images : photography and apartheid South Africa, Pretoria : UNISA Press, c2010.

Altink, Henrice, Destined for a life of service : defining African-Jamaican womanhood, 1865-1938, Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2011.

Tripodi, Christian, Edge of empire : the British political officer and tribal administration on the North-West frontier, 1877-1947, Farnham, Surrey ; Burlington VT : Ashgate, 2011.

Wasswa-Matovu, Joseph, Effects of transaction costs on community forest management in Uganda, Addis Ababa : Organisation For Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2010.

Singapore Economic Roundtable (11th : 2009 : Singapore), The eleventh Singapore Economic Roundtable, June 2009, Singapore : Straits Times Press Reference for National University of Singapore, c2010.

Chamberlain, Mary, Empire and nation-building in the Caribbean : Barbados, 1937-66, Manchester, UK ; New York : Manchester University Press.

Ang, James B. Financial development and economic growth in Malaysia, London ; New York : Routledge, 2009.

Wallimann and Michael N. Dobkowski, Genocide and the modern age : etiology and case studies of mass death, New York : Syracuse University Press, 2000.

Beneria, Lourdes and Savitri Bisnath (eds), Global tensions : challenges and opportunities in the world economy, New York : Routledge, 2004.

Watson, James and Lachy Paterson (eds), A great New Zealand prime minister? : reappraising William Ferguson Massey, Dunedin, N.Z. : Otago University Press, 2011.

Juma, Monica and Jennifer Klot, HIV/AIDS, gender, human security, and violence in Southern Africa, Pretoria, South Africa : Africa Institute of South Africa, 2011.

Friedman, John T., Imagining the post-apartheid state : an ethnographic account of Namibia, New York : Berghahn Books, 2011.

Wolpert, Stanley, India and Pakistan : continued conflict or cooperation? Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, c2010.

Mawdsley, Emma and Gerard McCann (eds), India in Africa : changing geographies of power, Cape Town : Pambazuka Press, 2011.

Srikanth, H. Indigenous peoples in liberal democratic states : a comparative study of conflict and accommodation in Canada and India, Boulder, Colo. : Bäuu Press, 2010.

Neuffer, Elizabeth. The key to my neighbour's house : seeking justice in Bosnia and Rwanda, London : Bloomsbury, 2002.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

CARIBBEAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 37th ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2012 May 28 - June 1, 2012 - Le Gosier, Guadeloupe

CARIBBEAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 37th ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2012 May 28 - June 1, 2012 - Le Gosier, Guadeloupe


UNPACKING CARIBBEAN CITIZENSHIP[S] : Rights, participation and belonging

The Caribbean Studies Association issues a call for papers for its 37th Annual Conference with the theme "Unpacking Caribbean Citizenship: Rights, Participation and Belonging". We invite scholars and practitioners in the humanities, social sciences, public policy and members of civil society organizations whose works focus on the wider Caribbean and its diasporas to submit abstracts of approximately 200 words for research papers and presentations.

The aim of the 2012 conference is to throw light on the concept, its development, evolution and dynamics in particular in its three dimensions: Rights, Participation and Belonging. We want to explore the ways in which citizens in the Caribbean conceive and participate in decisions that affect their lives, their cultures and their environment.

This is a call for contributions for a Special Colloquium / Panel proposal on Corporate citizenship, ethics and social responsibility : Representations, practices and managerial innovations in Small Businesses (SMEs) and/or in the Caribbean

This panel is dedicated to understanding how small and medium enterprises (SME) are impacted by and react to societal issues and stakeholders demands such as sustainable development, social responsibility and ethics in business. Implementing such strategies questions SMEs' missions and goals, decision processes, values and relationships with stakeholders. Management therefore plays a key role in implementing such devices and spirit. Designing new ways, new processes, new organizations to introduce or develop ethics and social responsibility in SME remains an important challenge that calls for innovations abilities. Due to many structural constraints (size of enterprises, financial resources, geographical situation, competencies, etc.), SMEs have difficulties investing in technological innovation, although public policies insist on the necessity to innovate. But others ways exist for SMEs innovation as organizational levers can be mobilized for social and economic progress. Room for action and managerial innovation remains in terms of relevant strategic choices, decision processes, management of resources, sustainable human resource strategies, the development of core individual and collective competencies, responsibility.

We expect contributions that focus on the issues of SME's corporate citizenship, managers' ethics, social responsibility and managerial / organizational innovation.

More specifically, we welcome contributions that will bring answers to the following questions:

- What conceptual frameworks/concepts/theoretical approaches are adapted to understanding and analyzing these issues?

- What practices, what strategies of corporate citizenship in SMEs?

- What kind of processes/devices/categories of managerial innovation in SMEs?

- How do these issues impact working conditions and work relationships?

- What is the meaning given by actors to these strategies? How do these issues enable actors to give meaning to work?

- How do these issues impact professional identities and organizational culture?

- How do historical, post-colonial, social and cultural contexts impact corporate citizenship, ethical behaviours and social responsibility?

- In what manner do collective representations and/or social uses of History contribute to or limit the development of corporate citizenship and social responsibility strategies?

We invite contributions that will bring together different theoretical fields, new or critical perspectives in management and social science.

Interested contributors must send a communication proposal (around 250 words) in English or French before January 5th 2012 to :
management.research@univ-ag.fr

After the conference, authors will have the possibility to submit their paper for publication in an academic journal or a collective book.

Info : http://www.caribbeanstudiesassociation.org/

www2.univ-ag.fr/CRPLC/