The 16th All African Students’ Conference will be held from May 20 to 22, 2004 on the UWI, Mona Campus. The International conference which was first held in 1989 in the USA, seeks to bring together persons, particularly students, from across the world to discuss issues pertinent to Africa and African people from the continent and the Diaspora. This year’s conference is being held under the theme “The Bicentenary of Haitian Independence and the Historical Significance of the Haitian Revolution: Prospects, Possibilities and Perspectives”. This theme serves not only to celebrate the Bicentenary of Haiti’s independence but also to observe 2004 as “The International year for the Commemoration of the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition. Consecutive panels will emerge from such themes as “Historical Background and Significance of the Haitian Revolution”, “Post Revolution Haiti”, “Reparation and Debt”, and “Haiti in the Contemporary Caribbean”.
The opening ceremony takes place on Thursday, May 20 at 6:00 p.m. at the Undercroft of the Senate Building at Mona. The keynote speaker is the Hon. K.D. Knight, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The conference sessions on May 21 and 22 will be held in the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Other distinctive features of the conference will include: a “Bois Caiman” at the Students’ Union. This will be staged the second night of the conference and will include local performers in the arts and other cultural workers presenting their literary and other works as an entertainment package for the participants. There will also be a “Gala Dinner” on the final night. Students from secondary and tertiary institutions in Jamaica are specially invited to attend the conference. Conference registration fee is $600 which covers the conference package and participation in all events.