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Gender
in the 21ST Century– Focus of
2003 Mona Academic Conference
“Gender in the 21st Century: Perspectives, Visions and Possibilities”
is the theme for the 2003 Mona Academic Conference to be held from
August 29 to 31 at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona
Campus. The conference is being organised by the Centre for Gender
and Development Studies, UWI, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Sponsored by the Office of the Principal, the conference also commemorates
the institutionalization of Gender Studies at the university. Chair
of the planning committee, Pro Vice Chancellor, Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie
noted that from 1982 to 1993 when the Centre came into being, Women
and Development Studies groups on all three campuses of the university
have carried out research, taught courses, sought funding and worked
with a variety of organisations, all with the common objectives
of introducing a programme of Women’s Studies in the university
and improving women’s lives.
The conference, to be held in the Social Science Lecture Theatre,
Faculty of Social Sciences at Mona, will bring together academics
and researchers in the field of gender studies, government officials
and private sector interests to discuss gender issues under the
sub-themes Pushing Boundaries: Redefining Masculinities and Femininities;
Pushing Boundaries: Images, Representation and Identities; Pushing
Boundaries: New and Emerging Issues; Bridging Epistemologies, Constructing
New Paradigms; Setting New Agendas: The Scholarship of a New Generation
and Setting New Agendas: Within and Beyond the Academy.
The conference’s opening ceremony on Friday, August 29 at
the Undercroft, Senate Building at Mona will feature a keynote address
by the Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados, the
Hon. Mia Mottley. Also slated to address the audience, which will
include local, regional and international luminaries as well as
new and returning students, will be Jamaica’s Minister of
Education, Youth and Culture, the Hon. Maxine Henry Wilson.
Plenary presenters on Saturday, August 30 will be former Regional
Programme Director of UNIFEM, Dr Joycelin Massiah, and former Tutor/Coordinator
of the Women and Development Unit (WAND), Dr. Peggy Anthrobus. On
Sunday, August 31 the day will start with plenary presentations
by Dr. Saskia Wieringa of the Institute of Social Studies in The
Hague and Mrs Hermione McKenzie of UWI Mona.
Over thirty interesting presentations will take place during the
conference. For example, Professor Rhoda Reddock of UWI St. Augustine
will speak on Caribbean Masculinities and Femininities: the Impact
of Globalisation on Cultural Representations while Professor Errol
Miller will revisit the Male Marginalisation Thesis. Dr. John Campbell,
Lecturer in History at Mona is one of five presenters from a new
generation of scholars and his presentation is titled “Not
Without Meh Man” Notes Towards the Creation of a 21st Century
Caribbean Feminist Methodology.
Three books will also be unveiled at the conference. At the opening
ceremony Minister Henry Wilson will launch Governance in the Age
of Globalisation, edited by Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of
UWI, Mona, Professor Kenneth Hall and the Michael Manley Professor
of Public Policy and Public Affairs, Professor Dennis Benn. Dr.
Joycelin Massiah will launch Gender Equality in the Caribbean: Reality
or Illusion, edited by Coordinator of the Centre for Gender and
Development Studies, UWI, Professor Barbara Bailey and Ms. Gemma
Tang-Nain of CARICOM, on behalf of the Secretariat. During a break
in the conference proceedings on Saturday, August 30 at 4:00 p.m.
Professor Neville Duncan, Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute
of Social and Economic Studies, Mona will present the third book,
Standing Tall: Affirmation of the Jamaican Male – 24 self
portraits, written by Erna Brodber.
The public is invited to attend the conference which is free of
cost.
For more detailed information on the conference
visit the conference website at www.mona.uwi.edu/notices/monaconf
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