"Performing Memory, History and Identity in the Black World" February 23rd and 24th, 2012

Welcome to the Central Pennsylvania Consortium Africana Studies Conference. This year our theme is "Performing Memory, History and Identity in the Black World". We welcome abstract submissions, especially from graduate students. We look forward to welcoming you to Dickinson College.

Increasingly, scholars are making connections between Africana Studies and Performance Studies, noting that both of these fields employ methodological approaches that lie beyond the scope of traditional disciplines in order to investigate and illuminate the complex identities, histories and memories of individuals and communities that have been historically marginalized or rendered invisible within mainstream academia. In “Black Studies and the Racial Mountain,” Manning Marable famously proposed that Black Studies should be descriptive, corrective and prescriptive, not only adding to the body of scholarship about black communities and reversing misrepresentations, but also challenging and transforming structures that perpetuate inequality within our societies. This stance resonates with Dwight Conquergood’s challenge that Performance Studies incorporate imagination, inquiry and intervention. This conference seeks to build upon the bridges that connect Africana Studies with Performance Studies, explore the varied and exciting approaches that scholars and activists employ in their work, and create a forum for discussing new directions and trends in the study of black subjectivity, history and identity. 

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