Congress of Black Writers & Artists 2018

Congress of Black Writers and Artists 2018: An Argument for Black Studies in Canada

Black Congress is a two-day transdisciplinary symposium organized by graduate students at the University of Toronto. This event is hosted by the Women & Gender Studies Institute and funded by the New College Initiatives Fund, Canadian Studies (UTSG), Department of History (UTSG), Centre for Media and Culture in Education, Caribbean Studies (UTSG), Faculty of Arts & Sciences, School of Graduate Studies and the Canada Research Chair in Canadian and Transnational History.

Friday, October 19 - Saturday, October 20, 2018

William Doo Auditorium, New College
45 Wilcocks Street
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2H3

2018 marks the 50 th Anniversary of the Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Montreal, Quebec. Created as a meeting place for Black intellectuals, activists and artists, Congress offered an opportunity to engage in Black radical scholarship, to display Black creative production, for Black people to gather in communion and most importantly, to continue the work towards Black liberation. This work was transnational in its lens as Black people worked through what another world, another life, might look like for Black people the world over.

To mark this important moment in Black Canadian history, we will have a two-day symposium on October 19-20, 2018. The symposium will feature a selection of Black scholars, artists, activists and writers organized in various panels, roundtables and plenaries to discuss the state of Black life and Black study in Canada, and in relation Black communities transnationally. We will feature speakers from the 1968 meeting to reflect on the politics of 1960s and the political climate of our present
moment.

This event will feature a variety of speakers whose collective work span the past five decades. We will reflect on the politics of 1960s and the important work that took place at that time.
Contemporary activists and writers will consider how the work of Black political groups of that time shaped their own practice and the necessity of crafting new strategies to respond to antiblack institutions in the 21st century.

SCHEDULE BELOW:

Friday, October 19th 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

5:00 - 6:00 | Registration

6:15 - 6:30 | Opening Remarks

6:30 - 8:00 | The Fact of Blackness?: Envisioning Black Studies in Canada
(Bedour Algaraa, Michelle M. Wright, Rinaldo Walcott | Moderated by Sam Tecle)

8:00 - 10:00 | Reception
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Saturday, October 20th 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM

9:00 - 9:30 | Registration

9:45 - 11:00 | The Black Radical Tradition in the 21st Century: Localised Organizing, Transnational Itineraries
(Beverly Bain, Monique Bedasse, Chris Johnson | Moderated by Cassandra Lord)

11:10 - 12:30| Werkin’ and Survivin’: Queering Black Lives
(Kai M. Green, Syrus Marcus Ware, Sapphire Woods | Moderated by OmiSoore Dryden)

12:30 - 1:45 | Lunch

1:45 - 2:30 | A Legacy of Black Art featuring RISE Performance
(Faduma Mohamed, Zakisha Brown, Patrick Walters)

2:30 - 3:45 | This Woman's Work: Black Feminist Futures
(Nourbese Philip, Katherine Mckittrick, El Jones | Moderated by Sandy Hudson)

4:00 - 5:15 | Politics, Pedagogy, Praxis: Rethinking Education
(Carl James, LeRoi Newbold, Stanley Doyle-Wood, Ann Lopez | Moderated by Andrea Davis)

5:30 - 6:45 | Keynote: Robert Hill in Conversation with Alissa Trotz

6:45 - 7:00 | Closing Remarks