Monday, July 16, 2012

Cheikh Anta Diop Conference



24th Annual Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference
Re-igniting the Pan-African Imperative:
Fortifying a Consciousness of Victory
October 12-13, 2012
Holiday Inn, Historic District
Philadelphia, PA
Sponsored by the Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement
 
The historical narrative of African peoples’ ongoing quest for a liberated and righteous world is characterized by its imperatives toward social justice and ensuring human dignity.  The 2012 Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference welcomes scholars, activists, educators, and the community to contribute papers and to convene around the theme of reigniting a Pan-African vision and reasserting an African ethic to move beyond the rhetoric of (1) “the age of Obama” and (2) “the African Renaissance” as an effort to more precisely confront the many global challenges facing African people. This year’s theme is a reminder that we achieve victory through the uncompromising processes of applying consciousness, engaging in activism, and inspiring behaviors that are consistent with the ethical principles that have guided our struggles.  We encourage scholar-activists to translate this consciousness of victory into intellectual initiatives that will help transform the Pan-African world.
 
The Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement (DISA) is committed to utilizing scholarship in order to qualify and advance African agency at all levels. Each year, the Conference theme facilitates panels and papers on various aspects of African and African Diaspora cultures, histories, thoughts and practices from within the Afrocentric intellectual framework. Outstanding books, articles, and other Afrocentric research initiatives are recognized each year at the Awards Luncheon 
 In line with the theme of this year’s conference we are inviting papers and presentations that address the following topics:
1.     Unearthing Sankofa in the Age of Obama—Assessments and Critiques of History, Public Policy, Foreign Strategy, and Domestic Social Justice
2.      “Occupy Africanity”—Achievements of and Challenges to Africanity and the Legacy of Black Activism, Advocacy and Direct Action Engagement
3.     The Rhetoric and Political Distractions of “African Renaissance” Discourse
4.     The African Critique of Constricted Societies—The Meaning of and Public Responses to New Technologies and Contemporary Social Controls
5.     The Role of African Culture in the Political and Economic Movements for African Liberation
6.     The Afrocentric Paradigm as Restorative Discourse and the African Intelligentsia
7.     Early and Recent Histories of the Re-Colonization of African Peoples and Lands
8.     Advancing Pan-African Ideals in Contemporary Black Expressive Cultural productions
9.     The Asantian Literature and the state of African Cultural Identity Studies
10.   Pan-Africanism as a Pedagogical Tool for African Liberation in the K-12 Curriculum
 
Requirements for Abstracts100 words limit; name, affiliation, academic title, email address; paper title, thesis and methodology. Please send via email as a Microsoft Word attachment; and please indicate if you need an LCD projector. Abstracts are due August 1, 2012: 
Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement
P.O. Box 1156
El Cajon, CA 92022
Abstracts@DiopianInstitute.org

Notification of paper acceptance will be sent August 31, 2012.
 
Unearthing Sankofa in the Age of Obama—Assessments and Critiques of History, Public Policy, Foreign Strategy, and Domestic Social Justice
An Afrocentric assessment of the Sankofa paradigm and contemporary issues for African Descended Peoples; applying the “Return to the Source and bring to the future” principal; evaluating the importance of “learning from the past” to the ethics and relevance of the Age of Obama and the African world experience.
 
“Occupy Africanity”—Achievements of and Challenges to Africanity and the Legacy of Black Activism, Advocacy and Direct Action Engagement
A critical reexamination of historical examples of Black Social Activism; analysis and appraisals of the contemporary United States “Occupy” (Populist) movement within the African philosophical perspective.
 
 The Rhetoric and Political Distractions of “African Renaissance” Discourse
Contextualizing self—conscious cultural reclamation and political struggles; political mobilization, organization, discourses; theoretical and empirical works exploring the intersection between the foundations of, and challenges to, African agency
 
The African Critique of constricted Societies—The Meaning of and Public Responses to New Technologies and Contemporary Social Controls
Evaluating the utilizing of new media technologies in the advancement of the Pan-African agenda; research and theory on technology, knowledge and advancement of African societies; Understanding the implications of social media, high security, virtual worlds, “technochange” (rapid, complex systems development and change) and the ethical use of Information Technology
 
The Role of African Culture in the Political and Economic Movements for African Liberation
Analytical discussions of Traditions and Innovation in the Realization of an Global African Cultural Resurgence; Afrocentric critiques of principal decision-makers, monetary debt, effective leadership, policy development, and power dynamics
 
The Afrocentric Paradigm as Restorative Discourse and the African Intelligentsia
Appraising Afrocentricity and an energized liberation movement; reviewing the processes locating knowledge, culture and class constructs within indices of advancement
 
Early and Recent Histories of the Re-Colonization of African Peoples and Lands
Includes, but is not limited to the regional discussions of, strategic observations of Pan-Africanists from the 21st century war in North Africa to the East African food crisis; topics includes: water, strategic minerals, multinational corporations,  human rights, continental and Diasporic unity, governmental integrity, health resources, environment/conservation
 
Advancing Pan-African Ideals in Contemporary Black Expressive Cultural productions
The role of artistic expression/aesthetics in African liberation; imagination, visualization and reality—theater, dance, literature, art (including digital), film, music, photography/images in locating the African personality and perspective
 
The Asantian Literature and the state of African Cultural Identity Studies
Interrogating the critical theoretical constructs of Asantian Afrocentricity in recognizing African cultural knowledge, African being in the world, Afrocentric narratives, and Intergenerational continuity
 
Pan-Africanism as a Pedagogical Tool for African Liberation in the K-12 Curriculum
Elucidating the Pan-African Personality for application in academic endeavors;  shaping thought in African communities; assessing instructional deficiencies; empowering community knowledge and harnessing digital learning; redefining black bodies and black consciousness; liberating ineffective educative realms
 
For more information send email to Info@DiopianInstitute.org or call 619-384-9868.

Adisa A. Alkebulan, Ph.D.
Department of Africana Studies
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-8132
619-594-5174
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Attachment(s) from Adisa
2 of 2 File(s)

Memorial Day, 2007



Memorial Day, 2007

I am a veteran
Not of foreign battlefields
Like my father in world war one
My uncles in world war two
And Korea
Or my friends in Vietnam
even the Congo “police action”
veteran none the less
Exiled, jailed because I refused
To visit Vietnam as a running dog for imperialism
I visited Canada , Mexico and Belize
Then Federal prison for a minute
But veteran I am of the war in the hood
The war of domestic colonialism and neo-colonialism
White supremacy in black face war
Fighting for black power that turned white
Or was always white as in the other white people (white supremacy type II)
war it was and is
Every day without end no RR no respite just war
For colors like kindergarten children war
For turf warriors don’t own and run when popo comes
War for drugs and guns and women
War for hatred jealousy
Dante got a scholarship but couldn’t get on the plane
The boyz in the hood met him on the block and jacked him
Relieved him of his gear shot him in the head because he could read
Play basketball had all the pretty girls a square
The boyz wanted him dead like themselves
Wanted him to have a shrine with liquor bottles and teddy bears
And candles
Wanted his mama and daddy to weep and mourn at the funeral
Like all the other moms and dads and uncle aunts cousins
Why should he make it out the war zone
The blood and broken bones of war in the hood
No veterans day no benefits no mental health sessions
No conversation who cares who wants to know about the dead
In the hood
the warriors gone down in the ghetto night
We heard the Uzi at 3am and saw the body on the steps until 3 pm
When the coroner finally arrived as children passed from school

I am the veteran of ghetto wars of liberation that were aborted
And morphed into wars of self destruction
With drugs supplied from police vans
Guns diverted from the army base and sold 24/7 behind the Arab store.
Junior is 14 but the main arms merchant in the hood
He sells guns from his backpack
His daddy wants to know how he get all them guns
But Junior don’t tell cause he warrior
He’s lost more friends than I the elder
What can I tell him about death and blood and bones
He says he will get rich or die trying
But life is for love not money
And if he lives he will learn.
If he makes it out the war zone to another world
Where they murder in suits and suites
And golf courses and yachts
if he makes it even beyond this world
He will learn that love is better than money
For he was once on the auction block and sold as a thing
For money, yes, for the love of money but not for love
And so his memory is short and absent of truth
The war in the hood has tricked him into the slave past
Like a programmed monkey he acts out the slave auction
The sale of himself on the corner with his homeys
Trying to pose cool in the war zone
I will tell him the truth and maybe one day it will hit him like a bullet
In the head
It will hit him multiple times in the brain until he awakens to the real battle
In the turf of his mind.
And he will stand tall and deliver himself to the altar of truth to be a witness
Along with his homeys
They will take charge of their posts
They will indeed claim their turf and it will be theirs forever
Not for a moment in the night
But in the day and in the tomorrows
And the war will be over
No more sorrow no more blood and bones
No more shrines on the corner with liquor bottles teddy bears and candles.
--Marvin X
25 May 2007
Brooklyn NY

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Black Arts Poets Unite for Freedom and Justice


Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Marvin X and Everett Hoagland, some of the leading voices of the Black Arts Movement of the Sixties, will be featured in Stand Our Ground: Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander. The ultimate purpose of the book is to raise funds the justice campaigns of both cases and to raise awareness about the persistence of racial injustice.
“We are honored and excited to have these legendary world-renowned poets involved in this important project, says Ewuare X. Osayande, creator and editor of the book. “These poets have spent their entire careers as writers doing exactly what we are attempting to do with this book – speak truth to power and to empower the people. Their involvement is an affirmation of the mission and aim of Stand Our Ground: Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander.”

Marissa Alexander Offers Support and Encouragement to Stand Our Ground

In a hand-written letter dated June 21, 2012 Marissa Alexander, African American mother unjustly serving a 20 year sentence for defending herself in Florida, extends her support and appreciation to Ewuare X. Osayande, creator and editor of Stand Our Ground: Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander, a project that seeks to raise $50,000 for both cases.
“I am so blessed to have your support. I think that what you are doing for Trayvon and I is absolutely phenomenal! …

Stand Our Ground Seeks Poems, Organizations and Donations

The Mission:

1. Raise Funds
  • Raise $10,000 to publish the book. This will enable us to print 3,000 copies of the book.
  • Raise $50,000 from sale of the book. All the proceeds will go to both families to aid in their pursuit for justice.
Your donations will make this possible! Join us! Donate today!
2. Raise Awareness
Trayvon Martin is the unarmed 17 year-old African American young man who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in February this year while walking home from a neighborhood convenient store. It took a national outcry before Zimmerman was arrested a month later. He is currently awaiting trial. For more information on the case, click here.
Marissa Alexander is an African American mother currently serving a 20 year sentence for defending herself against her then husband Rico Gray in 2010. She was denied the controversial “Stand Your Ground” defense although she didn’t kill anyone and had a license to carry the gun she used to fire a warning shot against Gray who had earlier attempted to strangle her. For more information on the case, click here.
Both of these Florida cases expose the duplicity and ingrained racial/gender bias of a criminal justice system that continues to deny African Americans equal justice before the law.
With the publication of this book, we seek to rouse the conscience of this nation and rally consistent attention on these cases and cases like them across the country. We believe as the great activist Ella Baker once said, “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”
We hope you will join us. Currently, we have initiated an international call for poemsorganizations and donations. Check out the site and learn how you can show your support.
Thank you!