“Going Caribbean! New Perspectives on Caribbean Literature and Art” [see Call for papers: Going Caribbean! New Perspectives on Caribbean Literature and Art] is around the corner (and I am very sorry to miss it). This international conference will be held on November 2 – 3, 2009, at the Center for Comparative Studies at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

Confirmed keynote speakers and writers are Ineke Phaf-Reinberger (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin), Kathleen Gyssels (University of Antwerp), Aart G. Broek (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies), Theo D´haen (Catholic University of Leuven), Maarten van Delden (University of California-Los Angeles), Karin Amatmoekrim (Suriname/The Netherlands), Amir Valle (Cuba/Germany), Thomas Glave (Jamaica/USA), and Mimi Barthélémy (Haiti/France).

“In an age of intensifying globalization and interdependencies, ‘being Caribbean’ means more than fashioning a particular identity. Being Caribbean refers to a complex, particular condition, which transcends regional boundaries. Who is Caribbean? And who is ‘going Caribbean’? This conference aims to open up new perspectives through the comparative study of fiction and art from the broader Francophone, Hispanic, Dutch, and Anglophone Caribbean as well as their respective Diasporas.”

For full description, program, and participants’ biographies, see http://www.comparatistas.edu.pt/actividades/2007-2010/act-22—going-caribbean.htm

Photo, Victor Nuno’s “Bairro Alto de Lisboa” from http://www.flickr.com/photos/victornuno/460415501/