Delegates gather for Caribbean studies conference
Belize City will be overrun by some of the brightest minds in the Caribbean this week as the University of Belize is hosting the twenty-eighth annual conference of the Caribbean Studies Association. The theme of the weeklong forum which opens tonight at the Princess Hotel is: The Greater Caribbean: Roots and Routes. Organizers say that the over four hundred scholars will take a critical look the state of the region and where it is going.
Pedro Noguera, Programming Officer, C.S.A.
“Well each year the conference attracts scholars who study the Caribbean, who focus on issues of importance to the Caribbean of all kinds, from various discipline. We have historians, social scientists, people in literature and humanities. And the idea is to get an exchange among these scholars about these very important questions facing the region. The conference, as Dr. Stubbs pointed out, attracting from all over the world and it’s multilingual. We have people who will deliver papers in Spanish and French as well as in English.”
Patrick Jones
“As programming officer is there one particular subject that you’re looking forward to discussing this year?”
Pedro Noguera
“Well I think there are many, it’s hard for me to single out one. This being a time of war in the world, but in particularly war being forged by the United States, a number of people are concerned about the impact on the region, on the economy, on sovereignty for the region, on the peoples of the region, that’s a big theme. The other theme is questions of culture and identity and how the region is being affected as a result of the American media exposure. So I think those are two large themes that will come through the conference.”
Papers to be presented during the week will focus on issues including: Popular culture, music, religion and ethnic identity; black Caribbean immigrants in the U.S.: myths and realities; health risks in the Caribbean; and globalisation: food, inequality, violence. On Thursday there will be a session featuring Belizean women writers, among them Zee Edgell. The conference will be opened by Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Said Musa.
