Three Day Conference on the Presence of Africa in the Caribbean, the Antilles and the United States Fulfills Expectations

The three-day academic conference “The Presence of Africa in the Caribbean, the Antilles and the United States,” organized by Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister institution in Santo Domingo, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), with support from the Ministry of Culture, UNESCO and the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), came to a successful close on Wednesday, July 20,
2011.

The conference convened representatives of academia from the Caribbean, the Antilles, the United States and the Dominican Republic to present recent scholarship on the history of the African Diaspora in the region, in an effort to elevate discourse regarding the historical trajectory of persons of African descent throughout continent, and to further understanding of how this trajectory continues to shape modern-day society.

The
inaugural act, celebrated Monday, July 18, commenced with the dance and music performance “Afrodescendencia, raza de resistencia,” by Teatro Popular Danzante, which was received with delight by all seated in the auditorium at GFDD/FUNGLODE headquarters in Santo Domingo.

Following the performance, head of the organizing committee of the conference, Franklin Franco, expressed the immense importance of a conference of this
nature and caliber in the country. He commented that President Fernández was the driving force behind the coordination of the international gathering, stating that the first encounter of this kind – which both he and President Fernández were involved in, he as a professor, and the President as a student — had occurred at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) 37 years ago, with participation by Dominican, Haitian and African scholars,
and that this event coordinated by the foundation sought to advance dialog initiated over three decades past.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Leonel Fernández affirmed that the gathering will permit a new generation to learn about the region and the country’s African heritage and the diverse world that we all form part of. He
declared that the transatlantic slave trade could best be described as an African Holocaust in the American Continent, during which the years that would ensue would represent capture, forced displacement, oppression, acculturation, and brutal, inhumane treatment of persons of African descent. The President concluded by stating that despite this historic legacy of oppression and negation of basic human rights and civil liberties, a great body of literature arose which defined Negritud, or
Blackness, as a vindicative element of the racial and social condition of persons of African descent.

An evocative moment of the President’s remarks was his reveal of a gift given to him by President Barack Obama during an official meeting at the White House. The gift is the autobiography of Fredrick Douglas, US freed slave,
abolitionist, writer and intellectual, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, published in 1845. He alluded to the significance of the gift for the Dominican Republic, pointing out that in addition to Douglass’ striking accomplishments as a writer, thinker and political activist, that he also served as United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic’s neighboring nation of Haiti.

Three days of academic exchange:

Over the course of the three days, intellectuals, educators, students and the public participated in panel discussions on the subjects of:

– Africa and the Slave Trade
– Transculturation of Persons of African Descent in the Dominican Republic
– African Cultural Expression in the Dominican Republic
– Africanness in the Dominican
Idiosyncrasy
– Black Political Culture in the Twentieth Century
– Hispaniola in North American Academic Narrative on Black African Presence in the Americas

Panelists assessed the centrality of the slave trade to Old and New World economic order.

Members of academia praised the contributions of literary greats Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Fratz Fanon and Jean Price Mars.

Scholarship presented the contributions of migrants from the Antilles to Dominican folklore, gastronomy, literature and the plastic arts.

Papers examined processes in the Americas of mestizaje, migration, cultural assimilation and cultural transculturation. Employment of African religions, in particular voodoo, as a mode of Black political mobilization was amongst the many topics explored.  

The relevance of the Haitian
Revolution of 1791 and the subsequent creation of the Haitian State to subsequent historical moments was underscored time and again throughout sessions.

Color, “race” and class systems in American societies during both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were also recurrent themes in the papers presented.

The three days of debate and reflection concluded with the presentation of papers on the manifestations of race and Black activism during the Early Cuban Republic, as well as the significance of the land ownership within Black nationalist thought in the United States in the late sixties and early seventies, and the underrepresentation of Hispaniola in US scholarship pertaining to Black presence in the Americas, published between 1930 and 2010.

On
Wednesday, July 20, the closing act of the conference featured the theatrical performance “Anacaona” by Ruth Emeterio, as well as words by the Honorary President of the organizing institutions, President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernández.

The evening officially concluded with the screening of the film Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, which featured a question and answer session with
the Director of the Tracing Center, James DeWolf Perry.

An outcome of this conference will be the publication of all the papers presented. The publication will be available in English and Spanish, and will serve as an important point of reference for both scholars and students alike.

See Program