The Centre for Caribbean Thought, the University of the West Indies in collaboration with the Department of Africana Studies, Brown University and the University of California, Los Angeles present the 6th annual “Caribbean Reasoning” Conference titled “M. G. Smith and the Emergence of Social Anthropology and Social Theory in the Caribbean and Beyond”. The Conference takes place from June 11-13 at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
 
M.G. Smith was an internationally distinguished social anthropologist and social theorist, and a major figure in the development of post-1945 social science. He was also at the forefront in the rise of a postwar generation of intellectuals and artists in the colonial world. The conference aims to analyze the significance and consequences of the specific contributions of M. G. Smith, covering the period 1949-1993, in Africa, the Caribbean, United States of America, and United Kingdom.

The programme will feature about twelve panels and an opening keynote address by Orlando Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology, Harvard University. The panel presentations explore topics relating to all aspects of the life and work of M. G. Smith under five topical areas of M. G. Smith’s career and writings. Sub topics include: Slave-trading system of the central Sudan; Anthropology, race and nation; Magic, witchcraft, and religion; Norman and Edna Manley and the awakening of cultural nationalism in Jamaica; Afro-Caribbean spirituality; Creolization; Gender and family; History, culture and land; Politics of sexuality; Race, pluralism and meaning of cultural difference and National identity and development in plural societies.