2019: Tracing the African Diaspora - Places of Suffering, Resilience and Reinvention

The Charles W. Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies at Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina, presents its 1st Annual International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora (IGGAD) Conference. This year’s theme—Tracing the African Diaspora: Places of Suffering, Resilience and Reinvention—examines significant social, political and cultural experiences among African American communities and various African and Caribbean nations in the past, present and envisioned future. Papers will contribute new knowledge and understanding in the broad areas of racial identity, feminism, transnational migration, gender studies, public health, religion, slavery, Afrofuturism, Pan-Africanism and Gullah/Geechee. Such discourses will expand our understanding of the uniqueness of the African Diaspora and the commonalities that bind societies within this global phenomenon together.

The IGGAD conference will bring together academics and practitioners from interdisciplinary areas of study, who offer their ground-breaking contributions in the form of scholarly papers, films, performances and spoken poetry. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Sheila S. Walker, cultural anthropologist and filmmaker, and there are exciting performances planned by singers Ron and Natalie Daise, The Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, Step Afrika and Charleston, South Carolina’s poet laureate Marcus Amaker. Of special importance is our conference's emphasis on the community-based participatory model, which recognizes the relevance of cultural practitioners and community participation. To this end, we anticipate critical dialogues and shared learning among scholars, artisans and community members.

Full Conference Schedule

Browse the contents of 2019: Tracing the African Diaspora - Places of Suffering, Resilience and Reinvention:

Panel Discussions: Revisiting Black Women Writers of the Gullah Geechee Renaissance
Welcome to Brookgreen Gardens
Transatlantic Memory
Transatlantic Identities
Spoken Word
Community Sing Services
A Collection of Short Performances
Repatriation Event
Reinterpretations of Gullah Geechee Culture
Reimagining the African Diaspora
Heir's Property Session: Resolving Heir's Property and Sustainability Managing Land
Partial Truths: Toward a Better Understanding of Invisible Institutions Present in Gullah Culture
Musical Salute to Gullah: Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters; Aunt Pearlie Sue; Ron and Natalie Daise
West African and Gullah Geechee Musical Examinations
Panel Discussions: Through the Eyes of Gullah: Memory and the Aesthetics of Gullah Culture
Lightning Talks
Lecture and Performance
Latin American Expressions of Blackness
Talk yuh talk: Language and Language Use Across Space and Time
Keynote
Panel Discussions: Inheritance of the African Diaspora
Gullah Homecomings
Panel: Gullah Geechee Research in the Golden Isles, Georgia
Full Conference
Gullah Folklore and Rootwork
Film Festivals
Enslaved Traumas and Resistance
"Dying to Eat"
Panel Discussions: World Drumming Workshop
Panel Discussions: African Diaspora Consortium: Utilizing Research and Best Practices to Enhance Educational Outcomes Across the African Diaspora
The "Circle of Culture" Within the Pray's House
Toward an Understanding of Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage
Contemporary Issues Facing Gullah Geechee Communities
Panel Discussions: Africa and Her Diaspora: Dialogue Across the Atlantic
African Diasporic Rebellion through the Visual Arts
Archeology and Tracing the African Diaspora: Current Work in the Lowcountry and Its Implications
Perseverance in the Record: Archaeological Examples of Institutional Continuity from Guinea to South Carolina
Afrofuturistic Imaginings of the Transatlantic Identities African Diaspora