11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CARIBBEAN WOMEN WRITERS AND SCHOLARS (ACWWS)

May 19-23, 2008

St. George’s, Grenada

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: November 31, 2007

CONFERENCE THEME: Traditions and Legacies, Revisions and Interventions: Caribbean Women’s Writing in the 21st century

To commemorate two successful decades since our literature’s search for voice and form, the 11th conference of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS) will recognize the complex corpus of Caribbean women’s writing in the 21st century. This return to Grenada provides the occasion for contemplation of the inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural reach of contemporary Caribbean women’s literature; reflection on the expansion of the critical and theoretical frameworks within which this literature is being written, celebrated and analyzed; and examination of what we - Caribbean cultural producers - have done in terms of folk culture, oral histories, creative and critical writing.

Accordingly, this upcoming conference theme focuses on the conventions that have evolved in Caribbean women’s writing and, correspondingly, the revisions and interventions which are constantly energizing these tradition and legacies. Bringing scholars and writers together, we invite participatory discourses that explore the practice of the various media (theatre, cinema, television) and technologies that we as creative and critical writers have put in place, ones that celebrate the legacies we have established, testify to our transnational reach, and propose a future toward which we can now move.

Suggested Paper/ Panel Topics:

Canonicity and globalization, migration
Caribbean children’s literature
Caribbean Film and Women’s Participation
Caribbean masculinities
Contemporary Hispanophone literature
Contemporary Travel Literature/Tropes
Digitizing and Archival Research
Francophone identity in the 21st century
Identity, Family Re-formulations
Indo-Caribbean Identity: Culture and literature
Language, learning and cultural identity
Memory and trauma
New Directions in Caribbean Women’s Writing
Revisiting Female Subjectivity
Regionalism as a Liberatory Poetics for the 21st century
Representations of The Caribbean female body in literature and culture
Roots and Routes: Linking the Caribbean to its Diasporas
Theater and Women's Authorships and Participation
The male feminist scholar
The status of Dutch Caribbean studies
Transmission, transference, translation

The deadline for proposals is November 31, 2007. For papers /panels, please submit title, a 200-word abstract, and a short bio.

All papers must represent new, previously unpublished work. Please include your full name, institutional affiliation, title, phone number and email address with your proposal. Performance artists are also encouraged to submit proposals for music, film and/or theatre presentations.

We strongly encourage panel proposals. A panel proposal should include a detailed abstract for each paper, a designated chair, and a short statement as to why the submissions should be considered as a panel rather than as individual presentations.

Submissions should be emailed to: ACWWS2008@sgu.edu

For other inquiries, contact: Prof. Antonia MacDonald-Smythe, Department of Liberal Studies, School of Arts and Sciences, St. George’s University, 473 444 4175, ext. 2259, E-mail: amacdona@sgu.edu

For Conference details please visit www.acwws.org

You must be an ACWWS member to present at the conference. Membership is open to writers and scholars with research, teaching, writing, and study interests in the work of Caribbean women writers, or in Caribbean literature generally.

For further information on MEMBERSHIP and MEMBERSHIP DUES, please select the "Brochure Download" link at www.acwws.org.