Annual Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture Conference

Founder and Coordinator

Dr. Elba D. Birmingham-Pokorny

             In 1988 Dr. Elba D. Birmingham-Pokorny created an Annual Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture           Conference with the purposes of :

·        Providing a forum for scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are interested in the study of  the African contributions to the languages and cultures of the Americas.

·        Creating a space for the dissemination the works of neglected Afro-Hispanic writers.

·        Bringing about an increasing awareness of the considerable contributions of Blacks to the development of the Spanish-speaking countries.

·        Fostering a more pluralistic vision on part of educators involved in foreign languages and cultural studies.

             At continuation a brief sipnosis of the conference:

            First Conference  

Theme:  “The Black Image in Latin American Literature.” 

Place:      Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, November 4-5, 1988.

Keynote Speaker:  Afro-Panamanian Writer Dr. Carlos Guillermo Wilson.

Second Conference

Theme:  “The Black Image in Latin American Culture.” 

Place:      Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, November 3-4, 1989.

Keynote Speaker:  Dr. Heriberto Dixon.

Third Conference:

Theme:  “The Image(s) of the Afro-Hispanic Woman in Latin American Literature and Culture.”

Place:      Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, November 2-3, 1990.

Keynote Speaker:  African-American Critic Dr. Richard Jackson.

Fourth Conference

Theme:  “After 500 Years, The Search for the Afro-Hispanic Identity in Latin American Literature and Culture:  Illusion, Reality or Possibility…” 

Place:  Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Arkansas, November 1-2, 1991.

Keynote Speaker:  Afro-Costa Rican Writer Quince Duncan.

Fifth Conference

Theme:  Afro-Latin American Studies and Crosscultural Similarities in the Americas.” 

Place:     Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Arkansas, October 30-31, 1992.

Keynote Speaker:  Puerto Rican Writer Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez.  

Sixth Conference

Theme:  “The Representation of the Other and the Issues of Race, Gender, and Text in American, Panamanian, Puerto Rican and Cuban Literature and Culture.”

Place: Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Arkansas, November 5-6, 1993.

Keynote Speaker:  African-American Critic Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis

Seventh Conference

Theme:  “The Frontier of Color in The Literatures and Cultures of the Americas of the Twentieth Century.”  Place:       Shreveport, Louisiana, November 4-5, 1994.

Keynote Speaker:  Afro-Panamanian Writer Dr. Carlos Guillermo Wilson.

Eighth Conference

Theme:  “The Various Expressions of the Biological-Cultural Mixing of the Indo-Afro-European Roots in the Literature and Cultures of the Americas.” 

Place:     Shreveport, Louisiana, November 3-4, 1995.

Keynote Speaker:  Puerto Rican Writer Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez.   

            Ninth Conference

Theme:  “Text, Gender, Social Identity, and the Indo-Afro-European Body in the Literatures and Cultures of the Americas.”

Place:  Shreveport, Louisiana, March 14-15, 1997.

            Keynote Speaker:  Dr. William Megenney.

            Tenth Conference

Theme:  “Race, Gender, and Identity in Postcolonial Discourse.” 

Place:      Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, May 25-31, 1998.

Keynote Speaker:  Dr. Luis Beltrán Vicerrector of International Relations Universidad de Alcalá

            Eleventh Conference

Theme:  “Songs of American Selves:  Forgotten Bodies, Rescued Text(s), Subaltern Voices and Identities of the Millennium.” 

Place: The Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, July 4-10, 2000.

            Keynote Speaker:  Afro-Cuban Writer Marta Rojas.

            Twelfth Conference

Theme:  “Afro-Hispanic Literature, Songs, and Voices of the New Millennium:  Foregrounding Diversity in an Emerging Worldview.”

Place:  The Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain,  December 17-19, 2001. 

            Keynote Speakers:  Afro-Ecuadorian Writers Luz Argentina Chiriboga and Nelson Estupiñán-

            Bass.

            Thirteenth Conference

            Theme:  "Place and Displacement in the Reconstruction of Diasporic Identities:  Marginal 

            Discourse and Representation of Nation and Society in Afro-Hispanic and Latin American

            Literature." 

            Place:  Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, December 17-19, 2003.

            Keynote Speaker, Afro-Dominican Writer Blas Jiménez.

            Fourteenth Conference

Theme:  "From Postcolonialism to Globalisation: Negotiating Nations, Identities, Sexualities, and Homoerotic Desire in Contemporary Hispanic Cultures and Literatures".

Place: Valle de Antón, Republic of Panama

Keynote Speaker: Panamanian Writer Dr. Rosa María Britton.

Fifteenth Conference

Theme:  "New Configurations of Genders:  The Political and Erotic Discourses in Hispanic and Afro-Hispanic Women Writers".

Place:  Quito, Ecuador, January 8-12, 2007.

Keynote Speaker:  Luz Argentina Chiriboga