The Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona is pleased to announce that it will host the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STUART HALL in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences (UWI Mona), the British Council and the Stuart Hall Foundation. Slated for June 1 – 3, 2017, the conference and its related events will seek to honour the work of late intellectual and icon Stuart Hall (1932 – 2014) under the theme Whither the Caribbean?: Stuart Hall’s Intellectual Legacy.

The conference is aimed at providing the perfect opportunity and occasion to reflect both on how the Caribbean and Jamaica influenced Stuart Hall’s thought but also how we might bring this unorthodox paradigm-shifting intellectual’s work home as it were. The goal is to bring together bright minds that can offer contemporary and focused ideas on Stuart Hall and a range of related topics, to foster learning, inspiration and provoke conversations that matter and will create an impact along the lines of his intellectual tradition. This assembly will be one-off and promises therefore to be a landmark event of utmost importance to the continued development of the fields of cultural and Caribbean studies.

As such, the conference will host over 80 academics, scholars, and artists from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia and the Caribbean in honouring the late cultural theorist and sociologist through contributing papers, films and exhibitions that will build on Hall's ground-breaking contributions. We hope to provide attendees and participants with a holistic view of current and developing research in a variety of disciplines through a fulsome programme of films, panels, plenaries, book launches and workshops.

Over its staging, some highlights include the following: -

A Pre-Conference Film Day will feature documentaries and films involving or related to Stuart Hall and will include a special screening of the BBC Series Redemption Song in collaboration with the British Council on May 31^st from 10:00 am in the Neville Hall Lecture Theatre (N1) of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, UWI Mona.  

The conference will officially open on June 1^st at 8:30 am with a special plenary dubbed Conversation with Catherine Hall featuring acclaimed Professor Catherine Hall, widow of Stuart Hall, and a special message from the Vice Chancellor of the UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles.

The book launch of Stuart Hall’s recently released memoir Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands, which is edited by Bill Schwarz, will be hosted on the evening of June 1^st at 6:30 pm.

Professor David Scott will deliver the Inaugural Stuart Hall Distinguished Lecture on the evening of June 2^nd, at 6:00 pm at the Undercroft, UWI Mona.

As a special tribute to Stuart Hall, who was a lover of jazz and the likes of Miles Davis, the organisers of the conference will partner with Dr. Myrna Hague Bradshaw and the International Ocho Rios Jazz Festival to bring An Evening of Jazz with Lorraine Klaasen and the Jamaica Big Band directed by Ms. Marjorie Whylie on June 2^nd, at 8:00 pm at the Undercroft, UWI Mona.

The conference’s closing plenary, Cultural Studies Futures, featuring key international thinkers will be hosted on the closing evening of June 3^rd at 7:00 pm in N1, UWI Mona.

Cultural Studies as Method is a graduate workshop that will be hosted on June 5^th from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Aimed at fostering the development of postgraduate students. The workshop will have ‘Masters in the Field’ present their perspectives on the topic and give valuable comments and feedback to students on their current and ongoing research. 

For additional details and information, please contact the Secretariat at:-

Institute of Caribbean Studies

Faculty of Humanities and Education

University of the West Indies, Mona

Email: icsmona@uwimona.edu.jm | stuarthallconference@gmail.com

Tel: 1 (876) 977 – 1951 | 970 – 6228; Campus Ext: 3228; Website: shc.ics.org.jm