LAMACS

A Retrospective on African Canadian History

Speaker: Lawrence Hill
June 14-16, 2012
Ticket Price: $16.50 inclusive

As part of the fifth annual Promised Land Symposium “Claiming the Promise: A Retrospective on African Canadian History”, the symposium is offering an evening with award winning and international best-selling Canadian author Lawrence Hill. Among his work including Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing is the critically acclaimed and influential The Book of Negroes.
 Lawrence Hill’s talk this evening will touch on various topics from his personal experiences growing up in suburban Toronto and the effect of that experience on his creative work; his experiences writing about and researching “Black History” in this country and; the themes of this year’s Promised Land Symposium. 
 
Also this evening a special award ceremony will take place as representatives of Distinguished Women in International Service recognize the winners of a local youth Black History writing competition.   Read the rest of this entry »

Articulations of memory in cinemas

Friday 02 September – Saturday 03 September 2011
University of Ottawa, Canada

Download the Programme PDF or the timetable in French or English.

The subject of this interdisciplinary and bilingual (French and English) workshop is the articulations of memory in African, diasporic, national, and black cinemas. Representations of memory are linked with the questions of identity and identity structures, because they not only shed light on the past but also reflect on the actual constructions of the past. In our multicultural societies, audio-visual representations of memory seem to question individual identities (Histoires de Sable by Hyacinthe Combari 2004; Corps Plongés by Raoul Peck 1998; Ezra by Newton Aduaka 2006), as far as collectives ones (Camp Thiaroye by Sembene Ousmane 1988; Summer of ‘62 by Medhi Charef 2006; Africa United by Eric Kabera 2010). Through these examples, cinema can be a recording medium in which complex and trans-temporal structures of memory are “rebuilt” or “reinterpreted”.

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A Distinguished Visiting Researcher in Residence Public Seminar

Thursday November 17
Arts 509
5:30
70 Laurier Ave. West

Professor Fethi Mansouri
Director, Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation Deakin University, Australia

Presented by The Audiovisual Media Lab for the study of Cultures and Societies (LAMACS) and Laboratory of African and Diasporic Studies (LEAD) University of Ottawa, Canada

Transnational ties and their consequent configurations for citizenship and intercultural relations are shaping the way new social and political relationships are being constructed within the nation state. This lecture will examine our understanding of the interrelationship between transnational practices and local integration among migrants in the west. It will explore whether an upholding of transnational ties can in some cases work against developing a sense of connection to one’s local environment. It will also examine the complex relationship between transnational practices and related cultural identities on the one hand and issues of national belonging and active citizenship outcomes on the other. In doing so, the seminar will reflect on whether transnationalism in general can be posited as a potential conduit toward local integration, despite the obvious tensions relating to social inequality among migrant communities in western émigré societies.

Biography
Professor Fethi Mansouri, Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, holds a Chair in Migration and Intercultural Relations, School of International and Political Studies, Deakin University. He is the author of several publications that deal with questions of diaspora and identity including Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West, (2007). His 2004 book Lives in Limbo: Lives in Limbo: Voices of Refugees under Temporary Protection was short-listed for the 2004 Human Rights Medals and Awards.

Sponsored by: The Faculty of Arts
The Office of Vice-President Research

For more information email:
Lamacs@uOttawa.ca
(613) 562-5800 ext. 2985
(seats are limited RSVP)

Reframing multiculturalism for the 21st century’s realities

Monday 21 November – Tuesday 22 November 2011
University of Ottawa, Canada

Citizens of multicultural nations often struggle to realize and establish an identity that bridges both their complex past with the uniqueness of their multiple cultural connections as well as their (trans)national belongings. Indeed, in many cases, multiculturalism, as a political structure based on institutionalizing social justice and social equality in many nations is being challenged, not merely because such politics for equality and social justice have failed to establish their main objectives, but because the ideal of such politics must not disregard the human capacity to resist, negotiate or embrace.

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This first five year term of the lab has been devoted to the three philosophic pillars of AMLAC&S: (1) the research and the development of questions linked to identity representations and multicultural societies; (2) a partnership development on the national and international level and (3) training in proximity and providing open minded experiences.

In celebration of five years of operations we have produced a quinquennial report that explores the numerous achievements and future projects that the lab has been involved with.

You can get your own copy of the report in print (email us if you wish to receive a copy), PDF or alternatively view it online.

The Promised Land Project: Why are Americans Interested in African Canadians of the Mid-Nineteenth Century?

We welcome one and all to our lectures — pull up a chair, indulge your mind, speak your piece. The presentation, in French will lasts 30 minutes, and will be followed by a bilingual question-and-answer period.

The Underground Railroad: This presentation stems from a SSHRC-funded project for which Dr. de B’béri is principal investigator. The project is entitled “The Promised Land: The Freedom Experience of Blacks in Chatham and Dawn Settlements”, and focuses on Canada’s “historical amnesia” vis-à-vis the contributions of nineteenth-century black pioneers in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, and the role a multicultural group of blacks, whites, and First Peoples played to end slavery and to fight for civil rights in Canada, the United States and abroad.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Cascades Salon, Canadian Museum of Civilization For more information, please contact John Willis: john.willis [at] civilization.ca

The newest edition of the Promised Land Chronicle is now available.
Download Issue 6

Revisiting the Promise: Place and Space in African Canadian Communities

The Promised Land Community-University Research Alliance invites community researchers, educators, museum workers, students, artists and academics to submit proposals for presentations at its fourth annual Public Symposium, Revisiting the Promise: Place and Space in African Canadian Communities, to be held May 6-8, 2011 at the Black Cultural Centre in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The symposium will be built around two central themes:

1. Multiple perspectives on African Canadian history and community, including comparative perspectives;
2. Current social justice issues–including work on coerced or indentured labour, race, multiculturalism, the African diaspora and identity in Canada—and their historical context;

We seek a variety of submissions from a broad range of participants across the community-university alliance, and welcome proposals for discussion panels, research papers, poster presentations, artistic work and performance, or discussion of work-in-progress on collaborative initiatives in the areas of education, social justice and public history. Proposals that fit one of the Promised Land Project’s four areas of concentration (History and Archives; Education-Community Links; Media and Theatric Production; Multicultural Dialogue) are particularly encouraged.

Guidelines for submitting proposals

Please submit a 200-word proposal that describes the theme to be explored in your paper/presentation; the method or approach used to address it; and the format (paper, panel, poster, performance etc.) of your presentation. The proposal should also tell us how your presentation is related to the symposium themes, and identify the general area (History and Archives; Education-Community Links; Media and Theatrical Production; Multicultural Dialogue) to which your work will contribute. Proposals, along with your name, and contact information, should be sent via email by October 8, 2010, to Devin Andrews, Promised Land Project Community Coordinator, dandrewsplp@gmail.com Telephone 519.436-0119 x351. A decision from the program committee will be made by November 12, 2010. Some contributors to the symposium will be invited to submit papers for publication.

Find out more about the project.

2010 International Symposium

Immigration debates and the rise of human mobility in many European and North American countries, but as well in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa reflect a number of transnational discursive productions, such as the perception of porous national borders, socio-economic insecurity, and rising political instability. As a response to this rise in immigration flows and human mobility, many émigré-societies (excluding France) have heavily relied on multiculturalism as social policy response to deal with settlement’s related issues of new immigrants, but also to reflect on different social topics such as the meaning of citizenship, social justice, intercultural tensions and related social problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Boulou Ebanda de B’béri

Presses Université d’Ottawa, June 2010

Depuis trois décennies le monde anglo-saxon a considéré sérieusement les Cultural Studies comme une analyse des pratiques quotidiennes et de la production de sens.

Mais la production analytique en français dans cette discipline est restée presque absente. Les mondes francophones ont déjà vécu plusieurs événements qui auraient intéressé les Cultural Studies au XXIe siècle : les manifestations sociales de l’hiver 2006 et de l’automne 2007 en France, les mouvements migratoires d’Africains vers l’Europe et le débat sur « les accommodements raisonnables » au Québec entre autres. Pour tous ces événements, nous avions entendu s’élever plusieurs voix qui offraient des articulations généralistes de différentiation de nous à l’autre et des idiomes comme « ces gens-là », « les enfants issus d’immigration », « nous ne voulons pas accueillir la misère du monde » et bien d’autres. Read the rest of this entry »