th
9 Annual International
Conference on Caribbean
Literature
Honoring Noble Poet
Laureate
Derek Alton Walcott
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
Bay Gardens Hotel, Castries, St.Lucia
November 7-9, 2007
2
Table of Contents
Profile of the Honorable Derek A. Walcott
Welcome Message from the Sponsoring Institutions
Profiles of Sponsoring Institutions
I.C.C.L: History, Nature, and Goals
A Message from Co-Founders
A Message from the Local Planning Committee
Profiles of Guest Speakers
Conference Schedule at-a-Glance
General Information
Conference Schedule In-depth
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Acknowledgments
Sponsors and Contributors
Index of Participating Institutions
Index of Participants
Notes
3
In Honor of the Honorable Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott was born in 1930 in the town of Castries in Saint Lucia, one
of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. The experience of growing up on the
volcanic island, an ex-British colony, has had a strong influence on Walcott's life and
work. After studying at St. Mary's College in his native island and at the University of the
West Indies in Jamaica, Walcott moved in 1953 to Trinidad, where he has worked as
theatre and art critic. At the age of 18, he made his debut with 25 Poems, but his
reputation shy-rocketed came with the collection of poems, In a Green Night (1962).
Walcott won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. His work, which developed
independently of the schools of magic realism emerging in both South America and
Europe at around the time of his birth, is intensely related to the symbolism of myth and
its relationship to culture. He is best known for his epic poem Omeros, a reworking of
Homeric s
In 1959 Walcott founded the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, which has produced his plays
(and others) since that time, and he remains active with its Board of Directors. He also
founded Boston Playwrights' Theatre at Boston University in 1981 with the hope of
creating a home for new plays in Boston, Massachusetts. Walcott continues to teach
poetry and drama in the Creative Writing Department at Boston University and gives
readings and lectures throughout the world. He divides his time between his home in the
Caribbean and New York City.
Walcott as playwright and theorist
Walcott has published more than twenty plays. The majority of these plays have been
produced by the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, and have also been widely staged
elsewhere. Many of them deal, either directly or indirectly, with the luminal status of the
West Indies in the postcolonial period. Epistemological, ontological, economical,
political, and social themes make regular appearances in Walcott's plays.
In his 1970 essay on art (and specifically theatre) in his native region, What the Twilight
Says: An Overture (published in Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays; Walcott
bemoans the lasting effects of over 400 years of colonial rule. He reflects on the West
Indies as colonized space. He states “...Our bodies think in one language and move in
another...” (31). Accordingly, Walcott shifts his poetic language between formal English
4
and patois to highlight the linguistic dexterity of the Caribbean people. While recognizing
the profound psychological and material wrongs of the colonial project, Walcott
simultaneously celebrates the hybridization of Antillean cultures. His epic poem Omeros
exposes the complex cultural strains that converge in his native St. Lucia, celebrating at
once the European, Amerindian, and African heritage shared by the islanders.
The discussions of epistemological effects of colonization inform plays such as Ti-Jean
and his Brothers and Patomime.
Walcott probes the colonial dialectic in his two-hander Pantomime. In the play, Walcott
revisions the story of Robinson Crusoe / Man Friday in an effort to destabilize the
colonial power constructs. gun” (138). Although Walcott writes in English, the
language of Trinidad, he also makes full use of the local dialects, or what Barbadian
writer Edward Kamau Brathwaite calls “nation language,” Walcott's plays weave
together a variety of forms; including those of the folktale, morality play, allegory, fable,
ritual and myth. He also utilizes emblematic and mythological characters to address
issues in non-realistic ways.
5
Messages From The Sponsoring Institutions
Purdue Calumet is once again pleased to co-sponsor the
9th International Conference on Caribbean Literature with
Morehouse College. I applaud the work you do to foster
intellectual exchange on the language, literature, and
culture of the Caribbean. Your scholarly attention has
contributed to Caribbean Studies being recognized as an
object of interest and insight in its own right. I am sure that
your attention is appreciated by writers from Caribbean
countries; and I know that you and your students benefit
from serious reflection on that body of work.
The number of universities, and their geographic spread,
represented at this conference is impressive to me. You
are a community of scholars with a set of common
interests – mostly well known to one another. But you are
also teachers who engage students in the Caribbean, in
the USA, in Canada, in Europe and in other parts of the
world – broadening their perspectives and opening their
eyes to literature and cultures that they may not have
recognized. Through your work, you expand their worlds –
and you also bring the Caribbean closer to home for them.
You have my best wishes for a successful conference.
Howard Cohen
Chancellor, Purdue University Calumet
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Messages From The Sponsoring Institutions (Cont’d
) Cont’d
November 2007
Greetings Friends and Colleagues!
I am delighted to bring greetings for the 9th Annual International Conference on
Caribbean Literature!
Morehouse College is proud of its relationship with Purdue University – Calumet that
builds understanding of Caribbean culture, creative arts and the area’s rich heritage. I am
certain you will enjoy the warm hospitality of Castries, St. Lucia and wish to add my
deepest appreciation for your deserving honoree Nobel Laureate the Honorable Derek
Walcott.
Proudly, I must also salute our conference founder Dr. Melvin B. Rahming for the vision
and fortitude to create this needed dialogue and cultural exchange. Indeed, our College
recently adopted internalization as our strategic focus for new student learning and
development opportunities.
We look forwarded to many years of cultural exchange and enrichment with our
Caribbean partners, and hope to encourage the development of future literary giants.
Best regards for a successful gathering.
Yours sincerely,
Robert M. Franklin
President
7
~The Sponsoring Institutions~
Purdue University Calumet, with roots dating back to the World War II era, is part of
the internationally respected Purdue University system. In 1946, credit academic classes
were first offered at the institution that has grown into Purdue University Calumet. The
university is academically comprehensive with an enrollment of 9,600+ students. Purdue
University Calumet offers associate, baccalaureate, and master's degrees in 100+ fields of
study including traditional Purdue strengths, such as engineering which is U.S.News &
World Report recognized. Numerous professional certificates and post-baccalaureate
programs are also available. More than 38,000 Purdue degrees have been awarded at
Purdue University Calumet. Effective Fall 2008, Purdue University Calumet will be one
of few universities nationally to require experiential learning curricular components by
all undergraduate students. Distinguished faculty known for academic excellence and
professional achievements are committed, not only to teaching, but also to mentoring
students. Faculties engage students in research as early as the freshman year. Purdue
Calumet graduates work in all 50 states and around the world. They continue their
tradition of involvement with family, career, their local community, and Purdue Calumet.
Morehouse College
Founded in 1867 and located in Atlanta, Georgia, Morehouse College is an academic
community dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and service, and to the continuing search
for truth as a liberating force. As such, the College offers 26 majors in three divisions:
business and economics, humanities and social sciences, and science and mathematics, as
well as a dual-degree program in engineering with the Georgia Institute of Technology.
As the nation's only male, historically black, institution of higher learning, Morehouse
gives special emphasis to the African American experience and to the global impact of
the people of the African Diaspora. To engage this historic mission, the College provides
a rigorous academic curriculum (with a focus on leadership development, scholarship,
research, and global awareness) and a student development co-curriculum that enhances
self-awareness and self-actualization through -- but not limited to -- opportunities for
service learning and travel abroad studies. The college was rated by The Wall Street
Journal as #29 out of the top 50 "feeder schools" for elite graduate study, beating both
Emory University and the University of California, Berkeley in a 2004 study.
8
The International Conference on Caribbean Literature (I.C.C.L): Its
History, Nature, and Goals
The International Conference on Caribbean Literature (ICCL) was founded in July, 1997, by Dr.
Melvin B. Rahming (former Hugh M. Gloster Professor of English and former Chair of the
Department of English at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia) and Dr. Jorge Roman-Lagunas
(Director of the Center for International Studies at Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Indiana)
for the purpose of promoting global understanding of Caribbean culture.
ICCL has the following aims:
1.) to provide an additional forum for the global discussion of Caribbean literature (by writers,
scholars, and critics from academic institutions in the Caribbean, Europe, North and South
America, Central America, Canada, Asia, and Africa) as a way of promoting global
understanding of Caribbean culture;
2.) to add to the existing body of criticism on Caribbean literature;
3.) to involve Caribbean nations in the discussion and promotion of their own and each other’s
literature and culture;
4.) to begin or continue academic linkages between Morehouse College, Purdue University Calumet
and the various tertiary level institutions in the Caribbean; and
5.) to involve Caribbean tertiary institutions as hosts and planners for each conference.
I.C.C.L. is unique. It is the only Caribbean literary forum that aims to unite, on an annual basis
and in a Caribbean setting, writers and critics for concurrent presentations in the three most prominent
fields of Caribbean literature—English, French and Spanish. It is also the only conference on
Caribbean literature that involves the host country in all planning stages of its annual activities.
Furthermore, although each I.C.C.L. event spotlights a few internationally acclaimed Caribbean
writers and scholars—our list of keynote speakers have included The Honorable Rex Nettleford,
Kenneth Ramchand, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, Jan Carew, Maryse Conde, Carol marsh-Lockhart,
Brenda Flanagan, Edgardo Rodriguez-Julia, Sylvia Winter, Ian Strachan, Raphael Confiant and Earl
Lovelace—some attempt is also made to expose lesser-known writers of the host country to our
international audience. Finally, I.C.C.L. provides another forum for the host country to showcase its
visual and performance art.
The first eight I.C.C.L. events were held in Nassau, Bahamas (1998); in Paget,
Bermuda (1999); in Ponce, Puerto Rico (2000); in Trois Illet, Martinique (2001); in Freeport,
Bahamas: (2003); in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (2004); and in Cartagena, Colombia
(2005), and in Port-Au-prince, Haiti (2006). ICCL will hold its 9th convention on November
7-9 in Castries, St. Lucia. Each conference is sponsored jointly by Morehouse College and
Purdue University Calumet and is usually hosted by a Caribbean institution of higher
learning. ICCL has averaged roughly 150 participants per conference, and these participants
have come from colleges and universities around the globe.
9
A Message from the Conference Founders:
Dr. Melvin B. Rahming and Dr. Jorge Roman-Lagunas
The International Conference on Caribbean Literature (ICCL) has become the “significant
regional tradition” that we spoke of in the program brochure of the Fifth Annual ICCL,
which was held in Freeport, Grand Bahama, in November 2003. In the few years since,
ICCL has continued to made its presence known as a contributor to critical literary and
cultural thought—in its conferences held in the St. Croix, US Virgin Islands; Cartagena,
Columbia; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This year we continue our legacy of returning
Caribbean literary and cultural criticism to it source and inspiration, the land and people of
the Caribbean itself.
Thanks largely to the generous and efficient work and patronage of various St. Lucian
institutions (such as the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Education and the Cultural
Development Foundation) and individuals (such as Ms. Jacqueline Videl-Atherly, Dr. Robert
lee, Mr. Adrian Augier, Ms. Berthia Parlem, Ms. Armelle Chatelier and Ms. Kelly
Fontenelle), we are able to welcome you to a pageantry of Caribbean thought, an intellectual
and cultural fete that demonstrates and celebrates the Caribbean impulse toward multifaceted
self-realization and global interaction. As always, we take great pleasure in the knowledge
that this event beckons the rest of the world to look further than our celebrated tourist and
business attractions to the strong, pulsing heart of our unique, vibrant, and complex culture.
In the process we undoubtedly advance world-wide understanding of and appreciation for our
presence in the world—for what we in (and of) the Caribbean bring to the world.
As Co-Founders of ICCL and as members of the faculty of two of America’s major
educational institutions (Morehouse College and Purdue University Calumet), Jorge RomanLagunas and I are pleased to bring ICCL to another very special place on the Caribbean
World Map—beautiful, simply beautiful St. Lucia. As far as Jorge and I are concerned—and
I think you will agree with us—ICCL has claimed its highest legitimacy by coming to the
home of the legendary Nobel Laureate, The Honorable Derek Walcott, and by conducting
this conference to his global honor.
Once again, we anticipate an epic range and sweep in the deliberations of ICCL as we
examine the literatures and culture of the Caribbean. We invite you to immerse yourselves in
the critical and creative presentations of the conference and to participate in the rich and
invigorating conversations which have become the hallmark of ICCL. During our stay on
your island, may we find out more about the lives and the culture of the people of St. Lucia
and, in the finding, we allow our spirits to embrace the ubiquity and power of Caribbean
literary and cultural expression.
Thank you for having us, and welcome to ICCL.
10
~Greetings from St. Lucia~
On behalf of the people of Saint Lucia we welcome you to our beautiful island, well known
everywhere for the artistic and intellectual achievements of its sons and daughters. We hope that your
schedule of presentations will allow you some time to tour our mountains and valleys, our towns and
villages, and to gain at least a substantial glimpse of our lives.
We thank you for choosing Saint Lucia for your 9th International Conference on Caribbean Literature.
We think that your organizers and host colleges have made a most timely choice, and we trust that
this may turn out to be one of your most successful meetings.
We also take the opportunity to thank those among us who have helped to make the hosting of this
Conference a reality. As you are aware, the demands on public and private sectors for sponsorship of
events like this one are growing exponentially, and it is not always easy to find the extra funds needed
to host a well-organized meeting of professionals. However, your presence here indicates the
determination and resolve of those who have kept faith in their vision of the possibilities of such a
gathering, which congregates annually to discuss the unique contribution of Caribbean writers to
world literature.
We are certain that our own Saint Lucian Nobel Laureate for Literature, whose quality writing is
universally admired, would also add his voice to our welcome. We are very pleased that he has been
invited to be your keynote speaker.
We look forward to making your stay among us a pleasant one.
Local Planning Committee
9th International Conference on Caribbean Literature
Bay Gardens Hotel,
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia
November 7th – 9th 2007
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Local Planning Committee Members
JACQUELINE VIDAL-ATHERLY was born on November 2, 1950 in Bobo-Dioulasso
(Burkina Faso). She pursued her primary and secondary studies in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and
obtained her Baccalaureat in Paris. She then moved to England where she perfected her
English at Wandsworth College. She is a graduate of the Universite Paul Valery in
Montpellier (France). She has been a language tutor since 1971 and has made St. Lucia her
home since 1987. She is currently lecturer in French Literature at Sir Arthur Lewis
Community College. She is also an artist and a poetess.
Adrian Augier is a poet, artist, theatre producer, economist, and director of St. Lucia
Festivals Ltd.
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Local Planning Committee Members
"JOHN ROBERT LEE (born Saint Lucia, 1948) has published several collections of poetry. His
poems and short stories can be found in a number of anthologies. He has contributed over many years
to print journalism, and radio and television interview programmes. His publications include "Saint
Lucian" (1988), "Artefacts" (2000) and "Canticles" (2007). His "elemental: new and selected poems"
is forthcoming from Peepal Tree Press in 2008. He compiled and edited "Roseau Valley and other
poems" (2003). He also co-edited with fellow poet Kendel Hippolyte, "Saint Lucian Literature and
Theatre: an anthology of reviews" (2006). He is a library consultant and a keen creative
photographer."
Armelle Chatelier is an historian of Africa, and a cultural and communication specialist. She
worked at the regional Caribbean level for the creation of cultural network among the eastern
Caribbean including French West Indies.
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Special Guest Speaker
Dr. Patrick A. B. Anthony
Monsignor Dr. Patrick A. B. Anthony (b. 1947) is a Saint Lucian priest who is well known for his
advocacy work in the field of Saint Lucian folk culture. He is the founder of the 30 year-old Folk
Research Centre. He holds a Master of Arts in Theology from the Catholic Theological Union at
Chicago (1987,) and a Doctorate from the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine, 2000) on the
work of Derek Walcott.
He is Director of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre and editor of the monthly Catholic Chronicle. He is
one of the editors of Theology in the Caribbean Today, proceedings of the annual conference on
Caribbean Theology.
He has been a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Religious Communication, University of Dayton, Ohio
(Summer 1993) and a research partner and faculty member at the Centre for Mission Research and
Study, Maryknoll, New York.
In February 2000, he was awarded the Saint Lucia Cross by the Government of Saint Lucia.
He has been a close friend of the painter Dunstan St. omer and has published several papers on the
work of this Catholic painter and muralist.
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Special Guest Speaker
George Nyamndi
George Nyamndi was born in the British Southern Cameroons, where he attended primary
and secondary schools. He later studied in the Universities of Bern and Lausanne, both in
Switwzerland. He holds a Ph.D. in literatures in English from the University of Lausanne,
obtained in 1983. He is currently Senior Lecturer in African and English literature at the
University of Buea, Cameroon, and Head of the Department of English. He has published
extensively in African literature, and has authored a book of plays: The Silver Lining, and a
highly acclaimed political treatise: Whether Losing Whether Winning. His first novel, Babi
Yar Symphony, will be released soon.
George Nyamndi is one of Cameroon’s frontline politicians. In 2004 he made a bid for the
presidency of his country and left a lasting impression. He believes that the race will end in
victory. He and wife Henrietta, a magistrate by profession, have four children.
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Special Guest
Dunstan St. Omer
This lifelong friend of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott whom the poet eulogized in Another
Life (1972) was born in Saint Lucia on 24th October 1927. He is arguably the leading
Catholic artist and muralist in the Caribbean.
He is married with nine children (many of them also artists). His early apprenticeship in
art was with Harold Simmons (1914-1966) who also was mentor to Derek Walcott.
Simmons was also memorialized in Another Life.
In 1956 St. Omer received a UWI Extra Mural department scholarship to study art in
Puerto Rico for thirteen months.
Over the years, he has produced hundreds of landscapes, views of the Pitons, abstracts,
portraits and his trademark Madonnas. He has also painted a number of church and public
murals, many reflecting the folk culture of Saint Lucia. He has also painted murals in
Trinidad, Martinique and Puerto Rico.
St. Omer celebrates his 84th birthday during the ICCL Conference in Saint Lucia.
16
SCHEDULE at a Glance
Wednesday, November 7
9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
10:20 a.m. – 10:45 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
12:15 p.m. – 1:50
Luncheon
2:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
7:30 – 10:30 p.m
Official Opening Ceremony and Reception
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, November 8
9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
10:20 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
12:15 p.m. – 1:50
Luncheon
2:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
Concurrent Sessions
7:00p.m
An Evening with St. Lucian Writers
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Friday, November 9
9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions
10:20 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
SPECIAL PANEL
12:15 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Luncheon
3:00 P.M. – 7:00 p.m.
Tour
17
General Information
Admission to Conference Sessions
Your name badge is your "ticket " to the concurrent sessions, the lunches, the official opening
and reception and transportation to and from Ruth Seaton James Center for Performing Arts.
You will not be admitted to meeting rooms or conference functions without your badge.
"Celebrate Bermuda" requires an additional admission ticket, which may be purchased from the
Conference Secretariat.
Art Exhibition
The Art Exhibition showcases the work of prominent St.Lucian artists. The
exhibition runs from 8:am Wednesday to 3P.m Friday.
.
Book Display
Various bookstores publishers and artists have books on display at Bay Gardens
Hotel. Runs from 8a.m Wednesday to 3p.m Friday.
Conference Secretariat
The Conference Secretariat is located at the Bay Gardens Hotel. The
Secretariat will be open from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, from
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Thursday and from 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
on Friday. Telephone numbers are (758) 452-8060.
Copies of Papers
Upon arrival, you should provide the Secretariat with an abstract and a copy of your
paper.
18
Dress
Please feel free to dress casually for the Concurrent Sessions and for the Writers Night.
However, attire that is more formal is required for the Official Opening.
Evaluation
You are asked to complete the evaluation form which is enclosed in
your Conference Packet. This form will be used in planning the 2000
Conference. Your assistance here is critical! Completed forms may be
returned to the Secretariat or to:
Melvin Rahming
Morehouse College
830 Westview Drive
S. W. Atlanta, Georgia 30314-3773
FAX (404) 525-6272
Or
Jorge Ramon-Lagunas,
Purdue University Calumet
2200 169th St.
Hammond, Indiana 46323-2094
FAX (219) 989-2581.
19
OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE 9TH CONVENTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CARIBBEAN LITERATURE
WEDNESDAY
Panel A-1
“Reformation of the Word: The ‘Shape’ of Revolutionary
Messages”
9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
CHAIR: Dr. Akilah Emily Williams, Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta
Campus), Georgia
Dr. Stephanie Batcos: Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta Campus) Georgia
“Lessons from the Writer: Olive Senior's Over the Roofs of the World and the Interface
of the Caribbean-Canadian Reader"
Dr. LaJuan Simpson, Clayton State University, Clayton, Georgia
"Interrogating the Silence: Marlene NourbeSe Philip's She Tries
Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks"
Dr. Keith Mitchell, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts
“A Still Burning Fire: Afua Cooper’s Triptych of Resistance”
WEDNESDAY
A-2
Trinidadian Writers and the Imperatives of Historiography
9:00 – 10:20 a.m
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: James Morrison, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky
Dr. Brenda V. DoHarris, Bowie State University, Maryland
“Tanti versus Aunti: The Female Identity in Merle Hodge’s Crick Crack Monkey”
Dr. Anju Kanwar, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Lifting the Trapdoor: Comedy, Rage and Acceptance of V. S. Naipaul’s India
Dr. Yoko Mitsuishi,
“To Be Black and Multi-Ethnic: A Narrative Voice of Earl Lovelace”
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WEDNESDAY
B-1
Cultural Problematics and the Hegemonic Other
10:45 – 12:05 p.m
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Robert Bray, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois
Dr. Maria Smorkaloff, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey
“Notes on Literature, Film and Society: Caribbean Culture in a Digital Age”
Dr. Fran Botkin. Towson University, Maryland
“Look to the Mountain: Storytelling and the history of Colonial Jamaica”
Dr. Linda Clemente, Ripon College, Ripon, WI
“Black and Yellow Make Gray: Hegemony and the Other in Michèle Maillet’s L’Etoile
Noire”
WEDNESDAY
B-2 TEXTURED CONSCIOUSNESS: ETHNOCENTRISM, TIMELESSNESS,
AND MEMORY
10:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m
Room: BEGONIA
CHAIR: Dr. Anju Kanwar, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Victor J. Ramraj, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
“Sasenarine Persaud: A Literary Ethnocentric?”
Mr. Marc Muneal, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
“Casting Off Clock and Calendar: ‘Timelessness’ and the Question of Its Sustainability”
Dr. Jeffrey C. Barrett; Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia
“Remembering the Past / Discovering the Future: Giving Voice to Memory in Uva de
Aragon’s Memoria del silencio”
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WEDNESDAY
B-3 Spanish History, Social Romanticism and Poetry
10:45 – 12:05 p.m.
Room: LANTANA
CHAIR: Dr. Reuben Gomez, Saint John Fisher College, Rochester, New York
Dr. Favio Lopez-Lazaro, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California
“Conclusive archival proof for the historicity of Infortunios de Alonso Ramirez (1690)”
Dr. Elena Grau-Lleveria, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
“El romanticismo social en Dos mujeres de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda”
Dr. William Teipe, Virginia Technological University, Blacksburg, Virginia
“Juana Borrero: Contesting Feminine Representation in Ekphrastic Poetry”
Dr. Joan Torres-Pou, Florida International University, Miami, Florida
“Rastaquoueres, cocotos y estetas: el Caribe en el Paris de fin de siglo”
L
u n c h
12:15-2:00 p.m
SPEAKER: TBA
C-1 Before the Morning Comes: Images of Identity, Suffering, Chaos,
and Decay
2:00 p.m. – 3: 20 p.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Marc Muneal, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Cherie Meacham, North Park University, Chicago, Illinois
“The Body as Key: Corporal Images of Oppression and Liberation” in Stories from the
Blue Lattitudes: Caribbean Writers at Home and Abroad”
Dr. Kathleen Bulgar-Barnett, Virginia Military Institute
“Tropical Butterflies in Antonio Benitez Rojo”
Dr. Consuella Bennett, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Rotten Eggs and Local Chickens: A Farewell to Innocence in Oonya Kempadoo’s Tide
Running”
22
Dr. Alison Ligon, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“In Search of a ‘True-True’ Name: Engaging the Identities of Women of Caribbean
Descent Through Oral Histories and Selected Literary Themes”
C-2
WEDNESDAY
Challenging the Stratifications and Limitations of Genre
2:00 p.m. – 3: 30 p.m.
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: Dr. Akilah Emily Williams, Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta
Campus), Georgia
Dr. Anna S. Blumenthal, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
"Claire Harris's She: The MPD Metaphor and the Post-Colonial Caribbean Woman"
Dr. Catherine Ramsdell, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
"Nalo Hopkinson and the Reinvention of Science Fiction"
Ms. Ruby S. Ramraj, University of Calgary, Canada
"Nalo Hopkinson: Transcending Genre Boundaries
Dr. Paula Smith Allen, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, Oklahoma
"Transnationalism and Religious Historiography in Olive Senior’s Summer Lightning”
WEDNESDAY
C-3
Derek Walcott: Aspects of a Poet’s Evolution
2:00 p.m. – 3: 20 p.m. Room: LANTANA
Chair: Dr. Kristen Mahlis, California State University, Chico
Dr. Swift Styles Dickison: Montgommery Collegy, Rockville, Maryland
“Archipelagan Apprehensions: Poetics and Discourses in the Landscapes of Derek
Walcott’s The Prodigal”
Dr. Kayoko Terayama, Kokugakuin Junior College, Japan
“Derek Walcott and the Sea”
Dr. Robert Bray, Illoinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois
‘From Henri Christophe to the Haitian Earth: Derek Walcott’s Deepening Awareness of
“the Matter of Haiti”’
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WEDNESDAY
D-1 Walcott, Pineau and Kincaid Voicing Caribbean Identities
3:45 p.m. – 5:05 p.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Dr. Sally Barbour, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Dr. Victoria Bridges Moussaron, Centre de recherches Anglophones (CREA) and
University de Charles de Gaulle Lille 111
“Derek Walcott: The Politics of Poetics, Tone and the Colonial Signifier”
Dr. Gerise Herndon, Nebraska Wesleyan University
“Jamaica Kincaid’s Linguistic Negotiations and Cultural Ambivalence”
Dr. Sally Barbour, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
“Gisele Pineau’s Creolite in La Grande Drive des esprits”
WEDNESDAY
D-2
Chair:
The Transnatural and Transcultural Presence of Haiti
3:45 p.m. – 5:05 p.m.
Room: BEGONIA
Dr. Danielle Raquidel (University of South Carolina-Spartanburg):
Mr. Maurice Joseph, State University of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
“Text and Discursive Strategies: Haitian Aesthetics, the New Roman and Poststructuralism”
Dr. Kristen Mahlis, California State University, Chico
“Reflection on a Revolution not in France: Anglo-American Responses to the Haitian
Revolution:
Dr. Geta LeSeur, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona
“The Caribbean’s Separated Twins: Haiti and Santo Domingo in Danticat’s The Farming
of Bones
24
WEDNESDAY
D-3
Cultural Revelations, Pedagogical Demands
3:45 p.m. – 5:05 p.m.
Chair
Room: LANTANA
Dr. Michael Janis, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Philip Bailey, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas
“Reading and Teaching Empathy through Francophone Literature”
Dr. Roberto Strongman, University of California, Santa Barbara, California
“The Colonial Aparatus of the School: Development, Education, and Mimicry in Patrick
Chamoiseau’s Un Enfance CreoleII: Chemin-d’Ecole and Naipaul’s Miguel Street”
Dr. Jean-Luc Desalvo, San Jose State University, San Jose, California
“Designing and Teaching an Online Course Taught in English on Francophone Literature
Through Cinema, with a Special Emphasis on Caribbean culture and Literature”
Dr. Danielle Raquidel, University of South Carolina-Spartanburg
“Memoire de ‘temps-longtemps’ dans Ravines du devant-jour de Raphael Confiant”
OPENING CEREMONIES AND RECEPTION
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE HONORABLE DEREK WALCOTT
7:30 – 10:00 p.m
25
Thursday
A-1
Derek Walcott: Towards an Integral Consciousness
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Dr. Geta LeSeur, University of Arisona, Tuscon, Arizona
Mr. Alvin Thomas, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
“Derek Walcott: The Divided Adam”
Dr. Katsunori Kajihara, Aichi Prefectural University, Japan
“The Sea and History: Derek Walcott’s Oxymoronic Poetics”
Dr. Jim Morrison, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky
“Friday in Defoe, Walcott, and Coetzee: New Perspectives on Shipwrecks”
Dr. Nagueyalti Warren, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
“The Sacred Votive in the poetry of Derek Walcott”
Thursday
A-2 Beholding “the Future in the Instant”: A New Generation Reflects on Novels
by Earl Lovelace and Paule Marshall
9:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m.
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: Micah Moon, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. Trevor Thomas: Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Rejuvenation of Self: Avey Johnson’s Spiritual Journey in Paule Marshall’s Praisesong
for the Widow”
Mr. Ralph Woodfolk, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Eve and Bolo: Overcoming the Destructive Nature of Colonial Oppression:
Anthony Dean, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“The Futile Loners: Lovelace’s Aldrick and Bolo”
26
THURSDAY
A-3
Análisis de narradores puertorriqueños, cubanos y dominicanos
contemporáneos
9:00 – 10:20 a.m
Room:
LANTANA
CHAIR: Danielle Raquidel, University of South Carolina-Spartanburg
Dr. Victor Simpson, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados
“Mordiendose la cola: Puerto Rican Narrative of the Mid 20th Century”
Dr. Nalda Báez, University of Texas Pan American“Exilio e identidad en tres obras de
escritores dominico-americanos”.
Dr. Nalda Báez, University of Texas Pan American“Exilio e identidad en tres obras de
escritores dominico-r. Candide Carrasco, Nazareth College of Rochester, Rochester, New
York “Zoe Valdés: Bailar con la vida y acabar con la literatura de papa
THURSDAY
B-1
With or Without a Compass: Literal and Figurative Voyages to and from
the Caribbean
10:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
CHAIR: Chair: Dr. Brenda Flanagan, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina
Dr. Sandra Campbell, Carleton University, Ontario, Canada “Lady Brassey’s 1883 Visit
to Bermuda: Gender, Race, Class and Place in a Imperial Female Travel Writer’s
Account of Bermuda”
Dr. Leah Creque, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Canada “No North Star: The Compass of
Caribbean Canadian Writers”
Dr. Renu Juneja, Valparaiso University, Indiana“Naipaul’s Islamic ‘Travelnama”
27
THURSDAY
B-2 “Infra-Textual” Considerations of Topography, Gender and Death
10:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Room:
BEGONIA
CHAIR: Dr. Consuella Bennett, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Robin Vander, Xavier University, New Orleans, Louisiana
"The Postmortem Narrative: Chronicling Life and Culture in Caribbean and Latin
American Fiction."
Ms. Stanka Radovic, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
“Squatters in the Cathedral of the Written Word”
DR. Carine Mardorossian, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
“Crossing Gender in Maryse Conde’s Histoire de le Femme Cannibale and Celanire
Cou-Coupe”
THURSDAY
B-3 Cuatro aproximaciones a la narrativa cubana
10:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Room:
LANTANA
Chair: Dr. Viki Román-Lagunas, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois
Dr. Ana Isabel Rueda García, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee
“De Cuba a New York: un viaje sin identidad en el panorama familiar de Dreaming in
Cuban”
Dr. Rubén Gómez, Saint John Fisher College Rochester, New York
“Viaje a la semilla: en el cielo con diamantes de Senel Paz”
Dr. Dennis Seager, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, Oklahoma
“Leonardo Padura Fuentes: la escualidez y el mimetismo narrativo”
12:15 p.m. – 2:00
L
U N
C
H
E
O
N
(SPEAKER: TBA)
28
THURSDAY
C-1
Historical, Theoretic and Imaginative Sites of Identity
2:00 – 3:40 p.m
Chair:
Room:
BOUGAINVILLEA
Dr. Carol Marsh-Locket, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Rebecca L. Lee: University of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri
“Gender, Dictatorship and Memory: Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of Butterflies (1994)*
and Ramon Alberto Fererras’ Las Maribal (1982)”
Dr. Delores Stephens, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“To ‘Let Be’ or not To ‘Let Be’: Male protagonists’ Struggle with Transcultural and
Transnational Identity in Novels by Elizabeth Nunez”
Dr. Fatima Mujcinovic, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah
“Judith Ortiz Cofer’s Silent Dancing: Recreating the Past Through Storytelling”
Dr. Rosalie Kiah, Norfolk State University, Virginia
“Salient Themes in the Short Stories of Karl Sealy”
THURSDAY
C-2
Journeys to the Historical Present
2:00 – 3:20 p.m
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: Dr. Leah Creque, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Carol marsh-Lockett, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
“The Other Side of Paradise: Ian Strachan’s God’s Angry Babies”
Dr. Atsuko Furomoto, Nara Women’s University, Nara-shi, Japan
“The Function of Water in The Farming of Bones”
Dr. Michael Janis, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Male Feminism and African Matriarchy in Sembene and Chamoiseau”
29
THURSDAY
D-1 Conversations Between Religion, Art and History
3:45 p.m. – 5:05.p.m.
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Phillip Bailey University of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas
Dr. Kately Demougeot, Montgomery College, Rockville, Maryland
“Edwidge Dantical’s Brother, I’m Dying and the Art of Storytelling”
Dr. Bill Clemente, Peru State College, Peru, NE
“Earl Lovelace’s Blue and Bango, the Artistic Transformation of the Martyr and the
Clown, Brief Conversations to Salt”
Dr. Brenda Flanagan, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina
“The 4th Wife of Iman Haji: Island Women in Polygamous Islam””
THURSDAY
D-2
Interior Esplanades and Bulwarks: Further Reflections on the Fiction of
Earl Lovelace and Paule Marshall
3:45 p.m. – 5:05 p.m.
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: Anthony Dean Harris, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
Mr. Micah Moon, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“The Role of Spirit in Transcending the Curse of Education in Earl Lovelace’s The Wine
of Astonishment”
Mr. Vincent Gilbert, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Linking the Diasporic Chain”: A Comparison of Paul Marshall’s Praisesong for the
Widow and James Baldwin’s Giovani’s Room”
Mr. Elkanah Reed, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
“Ivan Morton: The Assimilated Negro”
30
THURSDAY
D-3
Religiosidad, seducción y urbanidad en la literatura caribeña
3:45 P.M. – 5:05 P.M.
Room:
LANTANA
Chair: Dr. Candide Carrasco, Nazareth College of Rochester, Rochester, New York
Dr. Marcela Saldivia-Berglund, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
“Nina, Virgen y prostituta: las adolescentes seductoras en la ficción de García Márquez”
Dr. Amarilis Hidalgo de Jesús, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania“ Blumesburg, .
. Pennsylvania
“Urbanidad y convivencia en El retrato de Isolina y otros cuentos sin estrés de Amanda
Díaz de Hoyos”
Dr. Caridad Rodríguez-Torres, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
“Africania y sincretismo religioso en la literatura cubana”
THURSDAY
AN EVENING WITH ST. LUCIAN WRITERS
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
31
FRIDAY
A-1 Taking Another Look at Hip Hop: Helping Our Youth Empower
9:00 – 10:20 a.m
Themselves
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Dr. Jon Yasin, Bergen Community college, Paramus, New Jersey
Dr. Sherrise Truesdale, Minnesota State University
“Criical Pedagogy for Educating the Gangsta”
Dr. Jon Yasin, Bergen Community college, Paramus, New Jersey
“Doin’ for Self: How and Why the Hip Hop Generation Has Empowered Itself”
Mr. Maurice Pendleton: Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota
Hip Hop Illustration
FRIDAY
A-2 Las islas que no dejan repetirse: las realidades maravillosas en
Marya y Alejo Carpentier”
9:00 – 10:20 a.m
Room: BEGONIA
Chair: Dr. Carmen Torres-Robles, Purdue University, Indiana
Dr. Elena Grau-Lleveria, Coral Gables University, Coral Gables, Florida, California,
Moraga, California
“Carpentier y Montero ante su fetiche haitiano: cuando el ganso canta para el cisne”
Dr. Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
“De Alejo Carpentier a Mayra Montero: el voudu, la política y lo real maravilloso”
Dr. John Waldron, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
“El deseo por el otro en Mayra Montero y Alejo Carpentier”
Dr. Claude-Rheal Malary, Saint Mary’s College of, Albuquerque, New ) “Carpentier y
Montero ante su fetiche haitiano: cuando el ganso canta para el cisne”
32
FRIDAY
B-1
SPECIAL SESSION.
10:45 – 12:05 p.m
Room: BOUGAINVILLEA
Chair: Dr. Robert Lee
MONSIGNOR DR. PATRICK ANTHONY
Gregorias, Apilo! D-unstan St. Omer: The Man and His Work
L UNCHEON
Speaker: Dr. George Nyamndi, University of Buea, Cameroon
Corporeality as Ideological Trope in African Drama
12:15 – 1: 50 p.m
Closing Remarks: Dr. Jorge Román Lagunas, Purdue University Calumet
33
ICCL wishes to Thank…
The Honorable Derek Walcott
SLTB for sponsoring the opening reception
Jorge on Radio Saint Lucia
Arts & Crafts Cooperative for the exhibition
Sunshine Bookstore for the book tables
Adrian Augier for contributing his venue, The Grotto
Samaans Park, for the readings
Local media
34
Index of Participating Institutions
Aichi Prefectural University,
Arizona State University
Bergen Community college
Boston University
Bowie State University
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
California State University
Carleton University
Clayton State University
Centre College
Centre de recherches Anglophones (CREA)
Colorado State University
Coral Gables University
Cornell University
Emory University
Florida International University
Kokugakuin Junior College
Georgia State University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Minnesota State University
Montclair State University
Montgommery Collegy
Morehouse College
Nara Women’s University
Nazareth College of Rochester
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Norfolk State University
North Park University
Northeastern Illinois University
Oklahoma State University
Peru State College
Purdue University Calumet
Ripon College, Ripon
Saint John Fisher College
Saint Mary’s College of Albuquerque
San Jose State University
Santa Clara University
Savannah College of Art and Design
State University of Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Tennessee State University
Towson University, Maryland
University at Buffalo, Buffalo
University de Charles de Gaulle Lille 111
University of Arizona
University of Buea
University of California
35
University of Calgary
University of Central Arkansas,
University of Massachusetts
University of Miami
University of Missouri
University of New Mexico
University of South Carolina-Spartanburg
University of Texas Pan American
University of the West Indies
University of Vermont
Virginia Technological University
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University, Lexington
Westminster College
Xavier University
36
List of Participants
Dr. Akilah Emily Williams
Dr. Alison Ligon
Mr. Alvin Thomas
Dr. Amarilis Hidalgo de Jesús
Dr. Ana Isabel Rueda García
Mr. Anthony Dean
Dr. Anju Kanwar
Dr. Anna S. Blumenthal
Dr. Atsuko Furomoto
Dr. Bill Clemente
Dr. Brenda V. DoHarris
Dr. Candide Carrasco
Dr. Caridad Rodríguez-Torres
Dr. Carine Mardorossian
Dr. Carol marsh-Lockett
Dr. Catherine Ramsdell
Dr. Cherie Meacham
Dr. Claude-Rheal Malary
Dr. Consuella Bennett
Dr. Danielle Raquidel
Dr. Dennis Seager
Dr. E, Delores Stephens
Dr. Elena Grau-Lleveria
Dr. Eleuterio Santiago-Díaz
Mr. Elkanah Reed
Dr. Fatima Mujcinovic
Dr. Favio Lopez-Lazaro
Dr. Fran Botkin
Dr. George Nyamndi
Dr. Gerise Herndon
Dr. Geta LeSeur
Dr. J. Torres-Pou, Florida
Dr. Jean-Luc Desalvo
Dr. Jeffrey C. Barrett
Dr. Jim Morrison
Dr. John Waldron
Dr. Jon Yasin,
Dr. Jorge Roman Lagunas
Dr. Kately Demougeot
Dr. Kathleen Bulgar-Barnett
Dr. Katsunori Kajihara
37
Dr. Kayoko Terayama
Dr. Keith Mitchell
Dr. Kristen Mahlis
Dr. LaJuan Simpson
Dr. Leah Creque
Dr. Linda Clemente
Mr. Marc Muneal
Dr. Marcela Saldivia-Berglund
Dr. Maria Smorkaloff
Mr. Maurice Joseph
Mr. Maurice Pendleton
Mr. Micah Moon
Dr. Michael Janis
Dr. Nagueyalti Warren
Dr. Nalda Báez
Dr. Patrick Anthony
Dr. Paula Smith Allen
Dr. Philip Bailey
Mr. Ralph Woodfolk
Dr. Rebecca L. Lee
Dr. Renu Juneja
Dr. Robert Bray
Dr. Robert Lee
Dr. Roberto Strongman
Dr. Robin Vander
Dr. Rosalie Kiah
Dr. Rubén Gómez
Ms. Ruby S. Ramraj
Dr. Sally Barbour
Dr. Sandra Campbell
Dr. Sherrise Truesdale
Ms. Stanka Radovic
Dr. Stephanie Batcos
Dr. Swift Styles Dickison
Mr. Trevor Thomas
Dr. Victor J. Ramraj
Dr. Victor Simpson,
Dr. Victoria Bridges Moussaron
Dr. Viki Roman-Luganas
Mr. Vincent Gilbert
Dr. William Teipe
Dr. Yoko Mitsuishi
38
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