Santiago de Cuba to Host 14th International Conference on African & Afro-American Culture
Within the framework of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Santiago de Cuba, Songo- La Maya’s “Fernando Ortiz” African Cultural Center, Provincial Culture Division and Municipal Culture Division have summoned the 14th Conference on African and Afro-American Culture, to take place at that city’s Heredia Theater, April 12 – 16, 2015.
Click on Santiago de Cuba: A City of 500 Years
The main theme of the event will be "500 Years of African Presence in the Culture of Santiago de Cuba" and, according to the organizers, the meeting is set to gather specialists, scholars and people interested in learning about the presence of that culture and its permanent influence in the Caribbean, Latin America and, specifically, in that city of the country’s easternmost region.
The call targets social sciences researchers, fine artists, doctors, moviemakers, musicians, choreographers, dancers, priests and people that follow African-rooted religions, who will be attending a space to debate on this matter, from a multidisciplinary approach.
Pre-colonial Africa: Migrations, Contacts among Different Regions, Intercontinental Trade; African Ethnicity; Colonial Africa: Main European Establishments; Formation of Countries and Nationalities in Africa; Liberation Wars; Relations between Africa and the World and Social, Political and Economic Structures; are some of the general topics included in the event’s agenda.
The program also includes Atlantic Trade, its Treatment in Today’s Historiography; Slaves and Their Manumission Ways;Palenque and Fugitive Slaves;The Attitude of African People against Trade;Slave Uprisings in Santiago de Cuba;The African Contribution as a Component of National Identity in America and the Caribbean, Recognize Our Historic Subject and its Presence in the Culture of Santiago de Cuba.
Other debate lines include Diachrony and Synchrony on Linguistic, Philosophic, Historic and Literary Studies on Africa;Afro-America and Afro-Caribbean;Studies on the Context in Santiago;Genre, Race and Identity;African People and Afro-descendants in the New World;Urban and Rural Communities in Santiago;History and Present of Afro-rooted Religions;Presence, Permanence and Development in Santiago de Cuba.
The international event is also going to tackle such topics as Africa in the 21st Century;Present Cultural Matters of the Continent;Cuban Medical Experience in Africa;Relations between Medicine and Culture;Psychiatry and Religion;Afro Traditional Medicine, its Evolution and Relation with the New World;Traditional and Natural Medicine in Santiago de Cuba.
The organizers have prepared workshops, such as the one entitled Color & Shape, dedicated to all visual art expressions that show the African mark. This workshop can be attended by painters, sculptors, ceramists, engravers and photographers, with theoretical works on different matters.
Another workshop, Images, on ethnologic movies and video, will be dealing with the treatment given to the African mark in America’s culture, and African filmography, placing special emphasis on its impact in the culture of Santiago.
The Ancestral Rhythm will be debating on African music and dances, with the participation of choreographers, musicians, dancers, musicologists and specialists.
Theater workshop, “Mask”, will dig into the African mark and afro-descendants on stage, with a contemporary vision and the presence of actors, theater directors, scenographers and drama enthusiasts, who will be sharing experiences with Santiago-based theater actors/actresses to assess the African presence in stagings, stage designs, plays and texts.
The work is set to be developed by means of four commissions: History and Ethnology; Religion and Traditional and Natural Medicine; Genre, Race and Cultural Identity and Literature and Linguistic.
The works art to be sent through December 30, 2014 and the presentations will be received until January 30, 2015.
