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Conference Announcement "Towards Critical Multiculturalism: Dialogues Between/ Among Canadian Diasporas" 5th Congress of Polish Canadianists Polish Association for Canadian Studies University of Silesia Jagiellonian University Cracow (Poland) 7-9 October 2010 __________________________________________________ The Canadian policy of official multiculturalism has been recognized as unique in the world of multiethnic states. Many international comparisons of national performance show that the Canadian solution has yielded very good results in such areas as quality of life, human development, public education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights. No wonder there is much interest in the multicultural politics all over the world, yet in Canada, it has become a sharply contested issue. Many critics claim that the federal model of multiculturalism has failed to control racism against ethno-racial minorities and hence a more “radical” or “critical” multiculturalism is needed which would restructure power relations and envision a reciprocal process among all groups. Recent studies on diaspora in Canada have focused predominantly on the examination of relations between the dominant culture and a variety of minority groups and Indigenous peoples. While the results of such research are essential for critical examinations of Canadian multiculturalism, the predominance of the approach in effect both underlines and supports unequal power relations between the majority and minority groups. The problem becomes particularly clear in view of the fact that no sufficient work has been done on the exploration of encounters between/among various Canadian diasporic groups and First Nations people. New comparative frameworks are urgently needed to examine various transdiasporic practices which aim at reconceptualization of current Canadian national discourses and at forging and developing a successful transcultural communication. Topics: - Comparative diasporic poetics - Transculturality / Trans-culturation - Critical multiculturalism - Historical and sociological perspectives on transdiasporic contacts - Literary, cinematic and media representations of transdiasporic / transcultural encounters - Inter-diasporic dialogues among writers and artists of various backgrounds - Writing / Performing hybridity: new art forms / Transdiasporic art practices - Identity, ethnicity, gender, class and inter-cultural / transcultural negotiations - Negotiating transnational identity and belonging - Production and consumption of intercultural performances - Cultural hybridity and liminality - Hybridity/métissage within a framework of transcultural translation - Ethnic and Indigenous relations / 'Mixed race' identities - Relations among differently racialized communities in Canada - Cultural diversity and biodiversity Confirmed Keynote Speakers: - Roy Miki (writer, critic, editor, Governor General Award winner for poetry) - Smaro Kamboureli (Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies of Canadian Literature, Director of the TransCanada Institute, University of Guelph, critic, editor, poet) Co-chairs: - Eugenia Sojka (University of Silesia, Katowice) - Anna Reczyńska (Jagellonian University, Cracow) - Krzysztof Jarosz (University of Silesia, Katowice) Contact: [email protected] Conference Website: http://www.ptbk.org.pl/index.php?strona_id=82 __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
