Conference - Day 1
Colonial Caleidoscope Caribbean
The Caribbean in the Focus of Cultural Transfer Processes in the 19th Century
Today’s societies are marked by migration, circulation, and networking between diverse geographic areas, but also by a sense of disorientation and homelessness. These phenomena can already be observed in the Caribbean islands in the 19th Century. This makes the Caribbean a fruitful starting point for investigating the - cultural - ruptures of colonial systems, that lead to cultural - and political emancipation. The focus is on a comparative approach to processes of transfer that unfold across the center-periphery axis, processes in which both sides are actively involved as subjects within a context of dynamic interaction.The conference focuses on the French and Spanish Caribbean colonies and their cultures, on the complex, dynamic processes of transfer –and circulation—that unfolds within the Caribbean, as well as in exchanges with Africa, both Americas, Asia and, not least of course with Europe. Of particular interest, though rarely explored, is the phase of the colonial threshold (1789 - 1886) of the French Revolution, with it proclamation of human rights and its immediate impact on the revolutionary events in Haiti, to the abolition of slavery in Cuba.
The view of the kaleidoscopic world of the Caribbean in the 19th Century allows new insights into the early processes of cultural globalization. Racist discourse, established models of "white" supporters of the abolition of slavery, diverse politics of memory, and the barely perceived role played by the Haitian revolution, combine to create an amalgam that calls into question our concept of a genuine western modernity. At the same time, this long-term perspective considerably extends post/colonial theory. Maryse Condé, Chris Bongie and Roberto González Echevarría, along with numerous prominent speakers will offer the latest views on the subject.
In cooperation with the research group „Transkoloniale Karibik“, University of Potsdam. The research group is directed by Dr. Gesine Müller in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Ottmar Ette.
Programm
18:00 h
Welcome: Susanne Stemmler (Haus der Kulturen der Welt)
Introduction: Gesine Müller
Reading: Louis-Philippe Dalembert (Haiti) - Beyond the Sea | Le roman de Cuba more ...
Due to health reasons Maryse Condé's participation at WASSERMUSIK 09 had to be cancelled.