No subject

[Anton Wagner]

CARNIVAL, ‘PEOPLE’S ART’ AND TAKING BACK THE STREETS
			July 30-August 3, 2008, Toronto, Canada

Accolade Centre at York University and Koffler centre at the University of
Toronto
		     www.CarnivalConference.ca


Spreading from Trinidad through the Caribbean, to Canada and England as well as
Germany, and with analogues in Brazil, the United States and elsewhere,
Carnival has developed into one of the most important global expressions of
popular identity. Both as celebration, and as resistance art, it builds on the
collision of cultures of Christian European colonizers and enslaved West
Africans. The claiming of public space in the use of the street is a statement
of presence that is as much political as artistic.  Organized to coincide with
the Caribana Festival on the streets of Toronto, this conference addresses such
important issues as Globalization and Commercialization, the formation of
Diasporas, Pan-Cultural Hybridity, the origins and development of Carnival,
Gender and Racism, the nature of Postcolonialism today.

Held as part of the Caribana Festival and Parade, and with the International
Steelpan Association, the conference is designed to merge theory and practice.

The conference will explore the social, political and cultural aspects of
Carnival and street theatre, as well as themes of exclusion/otherness,
exoticism and cross-cultural acceptance, connections across the Diaspora, and
comparisons between Carnival in Africa, the Caribbean, South and North America,
Europe and the UK. While taking African Carnival and its spread across the
Caribbean to other continents as its base, this conference is also intended to
focus on the widest socio-cultural aspects of this performative street art: the
negotiation of hybrid identity in the post-colonial context; anthropological
views of historical developments, the politics of carnival and street theatre,
economics and commercial pressures.

Panels include:
    *	     Carnival in Canada		*	Myths and Images of Africa
    *	     The Trinidad Carnival Tradition   *	Magic and Social Protest
    *	     Economics and Carnival   *	Caribana: Sociopolitical Dynamics
    *	     European Carnival Traditions  *	Carnival and Global Spread
    *	     Caribana: history, performance 	*	New Orleans Mardi Gras
    *	     Carnival in South America		*	 Carnival Design
    *	     Africa: Carnival and Street Theatre * 	Theorizing Carnival
    *	     Carnival Dance		*	 Caribbean Carnival  Traditions
    *	     Steelpan – the Future 		*	 Steelpan & Society

Seminars and Workshops are being held on:
    *  	     Five Countries – One Street	 *   	  Women in Calypso
    *        Play Back We Story in Mas Style 	 *   	  Carnival Design
    *  	     Producing Carnival	 *	  Anthropological Approaches to Carnival
Special Features:
       *	      George Maharaj’s Calypso Exhibition
       *	   Notting Hill and Caribana Exhibtion
       *	      Book Display
       *	   Carnival Jewelery Design
       *  	   Readings by Caribbean Authors
       *	   Steelpan Performances
       * 	   Interventions by Swizzlesticks Theatre
       *	    Showings of JAB and Calypso Dreams

Special Guests include: PETER MINSHALL, TONY HALL, HONOR FORD SMITH, KEITH
NURSE, JOSEPH ROACH

Advance Registrations through www.CarnivalConference.ca – one-day admissions:
$60 at the door

CONTACT: Prof. Christopher Innes, 125 Winters College, York University –
carnival conference at yorku.ca