INTERROGATING THE AFRICAN DIASPORA: PERFORMING AFRICAN DIASPORAS

2006 GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE

 

August 7th, 2006

FIU Biscayne Bay Campus,

Wolfe University Center, Ballroom

 

8:30 – 9:00: Opening Statements

Dr. Jean Muteba Rahier, Coordinating Faculty, Interrogating the African Diaspora

Dr. Raul Moncarz, Vice-Provost, Biscayne Bay Campus, FIU

Dr. Joyce Peterson, Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, FIU

 

The Hip Hop Trans/Post-Nation: The African Diaspora, Popular Culture, and Globalization

Chair: Nzinga Mack, Florida International University

 

9:00 – 9:15      The Language(s) of the Hip-Hop Nation: Interrogating the Subversive Power of
Multi-Lingualism

Natasha Himmelman, University of Cape Town, South Africa

 

9:15 – 9:30      Diaspora as the Refusal of Nationalism in French Hip Hop

Maria McMath, Princeton University

 

9:30 – 9:45   Soundtracking: Tracking Sounds as Mobile Structures of Afro-Feelings

Sionne Rameah Neely, University of Southern California

 

9:45 – 10:00    Discussant: Dr. Véronique Helenon, Florida International University

 

10:00 – 10:15 Open Discussion

 

 

Performing Gender Identities, Sexuality, and the Black Body Politics I

Chair: Dara Schoenwald, Florida International University

 

10:30 – 10:45  Magnificently Physical: Big Mama, Performance, and the Reproduction of Black

Mothering Bodies

Marlo David Azikwe, University of Florida

 

10:45 – 11:00  Bartmann, Bananas, Battys, and Badoonka-Doonks: Re-Presenting Black Female

Sexuality and Contesting Subjectivity

Treva Lindsey, Duke University

 

11:00 – 11:15  Tourism and the Commodification of Black Culture and Black Bodies in Bahia,

Brazil

Erica Williams, Stanford University

 

11:15 – 11:30  Condoms and Carnival: Finding Meaning in Inappropriate Laughter

Katherine Smith, University of California, Los Angeles

 

11:30 – 11:45  Discussant: Dr. Gaurav Desai, Tulane University

 

11:45 – 12:00  Open Discussion

 

12:00 – 1:30    Lunch Break

 

Performing Gender Identities, Sexuality, and the Black Body Politics II

Chair: Dr. Dionne Stephens, Florida International University

 

1:30 – 1:45      Feminist Camp Nao Bustamante, Coco Fosco, and Dirty Harriet Tubman

Uri McMillan, Yale University

 

1:45 – 2:00      De Jamette in We: Performativity and the Visual Politics of Gender in Contemporary

Trinidad Carnival

Samantha Noel, Duke University

 

2:00 – 2:45      Just Give Us the Bones: Theatres of Remembering African Diasporic Bodies

Connie Rapoo, University of California, Los Angeles

 

2:45 – 3:00   Discussant: Dr. Felipe Smith, Tulane University

 

3:00 – 3:15      Open Discussion

 

Practices of Exclusion and Cultural Citizenship: The Making of the African Diaspora

Chair: Dr. Dean Wagstaffe, Indian River Community College

 

3:30 – 3:45      Reviving and Reclaiming Black Identities in Argentina through Performance: Afro-

Brazilians in Buenos Aires

Judy Anderson, University of Florida

 

3:45 – 4:00      Sacred Journeys and Vodun Ancestry: Diaspora Homecoming and the Formation of

an African Diasporic Subjectivity

Jung Ran Annachiara Forte, École des Haute Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

 

4:00 – 4:15      Dancing Through “Performance-Scapes:” Transnationalism and West African Dance

in the African Diaspora

Sharon Kivenko, Harvard University

 

4:15 – 4:30      Mapping Diaspora in Queer Celebrations:  Imagining Home, Nation and Belonging in

Pride Parades and Pelau Masqueerade

Cassandra Lord, University of Toronto

 

4:30 – 4:45      Discussant: Dr. Percy Hintzen, University of California, Berkeley

 

4:45 – 5:15      Open Discussion

 

Performing African Diasporas and Black Women Writing

Chair: Dr. Heather Andrade, Florida International University

 

5:30 – 5:45      Exploring the Narrative Value of the African Musical Arts

Ondra Thomas-Krouse, University of Georgia

 

5:45 – 6:00      Discussant: Dr. Donna Weir-Soley, Florida International University

 

6:00 – 6:15      Open Discussion

 

6:15 – 6:45      Closing Remarks: Dr. Jean Muteba Rahier, FIU; Dr. Percy Hintzen, University of

                        California Berkeley; Dr. Felipe Smith, Tulane University; and one Seminar

                        Participants’ Representative

 

 

 

6:45 – 7:15      Certificate Distributions

                         Dr. Mark Szuchman, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, FIU

                         Dr. Doug Kincaid, Vice-Provost, International Studies, FIU

 

7:15                  Dinner Reception