INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM CENTENARY OF AIMÉ CÉSAIRE
Aimé Césaire/La Négritude: Poetics, Africana History/Identities, and Political Thoughts
October 16-17, 2013
Carnegie Building, Conference Room A Howard University (Washington, DC)
PROGRAM
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
11:00 a.m. – 4 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Registration
African Art Exhibit
12:00 – 12:20 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Opening Remarks
Dr. Wayne Frederick, Provost
Dr. Barbara Griffin, Vice-President for Student Affairs Dr. Gary Harris, Dean, Graduate School
Dr. Segun Gbadegesin, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. James Davis, Chair, Department of World Languages and Cultures Dr. Lorenzo Morris, Chair, Faculty Senate
Dr. Clément Akassi, Host Committee, and Program Chair
12:20 - 12:25 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Musical Introduction
Performance by students of Changó, Howard University Spanish Cultural Society
12:25 – 1:00 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Keynote Address
Josy O., Keynote Speaker (Writer, Haiti)
“L’influence de Césaire sur les écrivains d’origine haïtienne d’après 1946”
Keynote Speaker introduced by Fred Williams, Howard University
Bilingual Interpretation (French-English) Provided
1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Plenary Session. Universalism of Aimé Césaire: Africa, Europe, Latin America
Chair: Luis Miletti, Clark University
Khady Diène, University of Maryland College Park
“Césaire, négritude and Littérature-monde”
Maryline Sephocle, Howard University
“Reception of Aimé Césaire in Germany”
Aisha Cort, Flint Hill School
"Rethinking Caliban: Aimé Césaire, Sergio Giral and Negrometraje"
2:45 – 4:00 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Special Plenary Session. Tracing Images and Thoughts of Aimé Césaire Through Howard University
PowerPoint and Video Session arranged by the Founders Library and the Interdisciplinary Research Group on African and African Diaspora Studies (Department of World Languages and Cultures).
Organizers: Howard Dodson, Howard University Maryline Sephocle, Howard University
4:15 – 7:15 p.m. Screening Event Carnegie, Conference Room A Aimé Césaire: A Voice for History. Dir. Euzhan Palcy. 1994. Documentary.
Documentary presented by Mbaye Cham, Howard University
PROGRAM
Thursday, October 17, 2013
9:45 a.m. – 3: 00 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A Registration
9:45 – 11: 00 a.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Plenary Session. Discourse, Resistance, and Literature in the Twenty-first Century:
Césaire’s Legacy and the Contemporary Moment
Session arranged by HU English Department Chair: Shauna Morgan Kirlew
Anta Sène, Sénégal/Howard University
“A Fractal Analysis on Aimé Césaire’s Discourse On Colonialism: An Innovative Tool of preserving African Archives in the 21st Century”
Gregory Hampton, Howard University Shauna Morgan Kirlew, Howard University
11:15 – 12:30 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A Plenary Session. Chants d’ombres: The Shadow of Négritude in African Diaspora Cultural Expressions
Chair: Zekeh Gbotokuma, Morgan State University Verny Varela, Howard University
"Identity and Négritude through Currulao, Afro-Colombian Music from the Pacific Coast"
Mesi Walton, Howard University
“Negritud in the Americas through the Art of Dance today”
Fred Williams, Howard University
“Aimé Césaire’s Literary Impact and Legacy in Haiti”
12:30 – 1:15 p.m. Recess
1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A Plenary Session. Exploring Black Power and Political Thoughts
Chair: Araba Johnston-Arthur, Austria/Howard University Antonio Murillo, Howard University
“La Negritud in Colombia: The Legacy of Aimé Césaire. How it took Root and how it is still Alive"
Quito Swan, Howard University
“Towards Ture: Discourse on Howard University and Black Radical Diaspora”
Amphas Mampoua Mbow, American University of London
“Political Thoughts of Aimé Césaire”
2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Special Plenary Session. Notebook of a Return to Césaire’s Native Land
Chair: Clément Animan Akassi, Howard University Zekeh S. Gbotokuma, Morgan State University
“Césaire’s Presence: Recollection from a Pilgrimage to Césaire’s Native Land”
During this special session, Gbotokuma will present a video, exhibit photos, and comment on his bilingual book entitled Césaire, Césairologie et l’humanisme universel/Cesaire, Cesairology, and universal humanism. The aforementioned are phenomenal reflections of his first historical trip to Fort de France/Martinique, in June 2003, to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Aimé Césaire.
Luis Miletti, Clark University
“Negritud: Seminal Concept for Scholarly Approaches on Afro-Latin American Issues”
During the special Session, Miletti will present Negritud, his peer-reviewed journal and show how such a seminal concept informs the research and the vision about African Diaspora in Latin America.
4:00 – 5:15 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Plenary Session. Cultures, Political Sciences, and Global Black Consciousness Session arranged by HU Political Sciences Department
Chair : Amphas Mampoua Mbow, American University of London
Daryl Harris, Howard University
“The Cultural Dynamics of Resistance in Black Politics”
Lorenzo Morris, Howard University
“Comparative Race Consciousness between France and U.S.”
Kola Abimbola, Nigeria/Howard University
“Cultures and Democracy in Africa”
5:25 – 6:00 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Plenary Session. A Staged Reading of Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest
Session arranged by HU Theatre Arts Department Respondent: Aisha Cort, Flint Hill School
Performers: Professor Kim James Bey, and students of HU Theatre Arts
6:00 p.m. Carnegie, Conference Room A
Cultural Activities and Reception
PROGRAM
Josy O., Keynote Speaker Notes biographiques
Marie-José Glémaud est née en 1939 aux Cayes en Haïti où elle a commencé sa carrière de professeur de français et de littérature. Épouse du sociologue et écrivain Émile Ollivier, elle a immigré au Québec en 1964 où elle poursuit son métier d’enseignante au Collège classique d’Amos, à la polyvalente de Beauharnois et finalement au Cegep de Saint-Laurent, où elle enseignera jusqu’à sa retraite en 1996.
Détentrice d’une maîtrise en lettres de l’Université McGill et d’une double scolarité de doctorat en lettres et en communication de l’Université de Montréal, elle a publié pendant plus de trente ans de nombreux articles et critiques littéraires au Québec et à l’étranger.
Elle a été publiée dans la revue de la diaspora haïtienne Collectif Paroles, les revues québécoises et françaises : Notre librairie, Études francophones, Études littéraires, Dires, la revue interculturelle Images et le journal Le Devoir.
Principale collaboratrice de l’œuvre littéraire de son mari, engagée dans les causes féministes, la promotion de la littérature migrante au Québec et spécialiste de la littérature de la Francophonie, elle est fréquemment invitée à prononcer des conférences dans des colloques spécialisés et dans des activités littéraires à travers le monde.
Après le décès de son époux, en 2002, elle se lance à son tour dans l’œuvre romanesque et produit sous le pseudonyme Josy O, un premier recueil de nouvelles, Fragments, publié aux éditions Plume et encre en 2007, puis un roman, Chronique d’une saison torride, paru aux Éditions Mille eaux en 2012.
À la fois théoricienne et praticienne de la littérature de la francophonie, Josy O apporte clarté et richesse à l’analyse en mettant en lumière dans l’œuvre littéraire des Noirs de la francophonie l’influence du milieu, de l’époque et de l’histoire. Comme écrivain émergent, elle cherche à dégager à travers la matérialité du texte, l’originalité des sources et la genèse psychologique ou historique des personnages, un discours critique sur les enjeux universels, les mythes et les tabous de notre époque.
Biographical Notes
Marie-José Glémaud was born in May of 1939 in Cayes, Haiti, where she began her career as a French language and literature professor. Married to sociologist and writer Emile Ollivier, they immigrated to Québec in 1964. She then pursued a teaching career at the Collège classique d’Amos, at Beauharnois high school, and finally at Saint-Laurent College, where she taught until her retirement in 1996.
She holds a master’s degree in literature from McGill University and a doctorate in literature and communication from the University of Montréal. She also published numerous articles in journals for more than thirty years. Some of her work includes articles in the Haitian diaspora main publication Collectif Paroles, some Québec and French journals, Notre librairie, Études francophones, Études littéraires, Dires, the intercultural review Image, and a respected Montréal newspaper, Le Devoir.
As the primary collaborator in her husband’s literary work, an active proponent of feminist causes and Québec migrant literature, and a francophone literature specialist, she is frequently invited to speak at conferences around the world.
After her husband passed away in 2002, she turned to the fiction genre under the pseudonym Josy O, and wrote a collection of short stories, Fragments, published in 2007 by Plume et encre publishers. She then wrote a novel, Chronique d’une saison torride, published by Editions Mille eaux in 2012.
Both a theorist and practitioner of francophone literature, Josy O offers a clear and rich analysis, shedding light on the literary work of blacks in the French-speaking world, and emphasizing the contextual, historical, and social influences that informed and impacted their work. As an emerging writer, she aims to transcend the physical text, the originality of sources, and the psychological or historical origins of people in order to formulate a critical discussion of universal themes, myths, and the taboos of our era.
