Here is a post shared by Antonia Wimbush on the conference entitled “BUMIDOM in Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” to be held at the University of Liverpool on June 22 and 23, 2023. [Attendees must register before June 1, 2023.] There will be keynotes from 3 invited speakers: Audrey Célestine, H Adlai Murdoch, and Jessica Oublié.

As part of the conference there will be the opportunity to visit the exhibition “Leaving for the Metropole: An Odyssey of the Working Class”, curated by Patrick Semiramoth and Willy Vainqueur, and translated by Antonia Wimbush. This will be held at the Kuumba Imani Millenium Centre from June 12-23. There will be a launch event on Monday June 12, from 5-7pm.

The conference is free to attend thanks to generous support from The Leverhulme Trust, the Society for French Studies, the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, and the Society for the Study of French History.

Description: 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of the BUMIDOM in 1963, making it an important time to reflect on the legacies of this organised migration scheme. The BUMIDOM (Bureau pour le développement des migrations dans les départements d’outre-mer) brought 160,000 Guadeloupean, Martinican, Reunionese and Guyanese workers to mainland France between 1963 and 1982. While some experienced migration as a form of social promotion, for many it was exploitative and coercive. Migration often occurred on gendered and racialized lines, as government officials tapped into stereotypes about Antillean men and women and then oriented professional opportunities around these stereotypes. In today’s society where racial discrimination is still rife in France (and elsewhere), it is all the more important to analyse this particular instance of institutional racism and think through what it means to be Black and French today.

The conference will bring together scholars and cultural practitioners from a range of disciplines, including history, cultural studies, and political science. There will be keynotes from 3 invited speakers: Dr Audrey Célestine, Professor H Adlai Murdoch, and Jessica Oublié. [. . .]

For more information, and to register, go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-bumidom-in-interdisciplinary-perspectives-tickets-580741843487