African Islands Conference
Convener: Toyin Falola
Saturday, October 25, 2014
The University of Texas at Austin
Garrison Hall, 4.100
Scholars have produced some excellent work in recent years on the cultures and politics of the continent’s notable islands and chains, but there have been few collaborative engagements that examine these geographic areas across linguistic and spatial divides. This conference is part of a larger effort to look at all of Africa’s islands by examining the special geographic, cultural, and economic positions that define these spaces. Island chains like the Comoros and those of Cape Verde, the giant Madagascar, and even coastal locations like the Island of Mozambique and Zanzibar have histories and experiences that clearly separate them from the mainland. Though distinct, they share historical and contemporary experiences specific to their identity as elements both part of and separate from the continent. They have served as liminal areas and gateways between peoples in constant transition. Their relative isolation and compact size demanded greater cultural exchange and reformulation among diverse populations, creating unique identities that set islanders apart from close continental neighbors.
Therefore, the African Islands Conference at The University of Texas at Austin seeks to bring together scholars from a range of fields to discuss the past, present, and future of African Islands. We are certain that this will be a lively discussion and welcome scholars and students from all disciplines to participate in this exchange by attending panels, offering questions, and engaging with some of the preeminent voices in the field.
Preliminary Schedule
10:00-11:45 am: African Islands as Strategic and Economic Spaces
Chair: Mark Lawrence, Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin
The Significance of African Ports and Islands during the Second World War
Ashley Jackson, King’s College London
The Canaries to Africa: The Atlantic Strategy: To Be or Not To Be
Germán Santana Pérez, Universidad Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Sugar, Cocoa, and Oil: Economic Success and Failure in São Tomé and Príncipe from the 16th to the 21st Century
Gerhard Seibert, Center of African Studies, The Lisbon University Institute
An Island in the Middle of Everywhere: Bioko under Spanish Colonial Domination
Enrique Okenve, The University of the West Indies
Amilcar Cabral, Cape Verdean Identity, and the Politics of Liberation
R. Joseph Parrott, The University of Texas at Austin
1:00-3:45 pm: Social Relations and Spatial Incursions
Chair: Barbara Harlow, Department of English, The University of Texas at Austin
Post-Slavery Social Relations in Madagascar
Denis Regnier, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Two African Islands
Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College
The Bijagos Islanders of Guinea-Bissau
Joshua Forrest, La Roche College
Africans Writing in Spanish and the (Silent) Voice of the Subaltern
Michael Ugarte, University of Missouri
Cape Verdean Identities in Flux: Popular Culture and Island Identities in Mid-Twentieth Century New England
Danielle Sanchez, University of Texas at Austin
4:00-5:45 pm: African Islands in a Global Context
Chair: Sumit Guha, Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin
Imagining an Island
Robert Garfield, DePaul University
The African Atlantic Islands to Caribbean Islands during the Ancien Regime
Juan Manuel Santana Pérez, Universidad Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
The Comoro Islands: An Indian Ocean Nexus
Iain Walker, University of Oxford
The Mascarenes and Global Labor Migration During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Richard Allen, Framingham State University
Monsoon Metropolis: Migration, Mobility, and Mediation in the Western Indian Ocean
William Bissell, Lafayette College
6:00: Keynote
The Cartography of African Islands
Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College
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