Radical Caribbeans Conference 2013

Etymologically, the word radical is derived from the Latin radicalis, to have roots. In that sense, this conference proposes to explore the roots of Caribbean life and culture, but from a "radical" perspective, invoking the word's usage as "a change or action relating or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough." Rather than approaching the greater Caribbean through its metropolises or mainstream critical apparatuses, a radical perspective of the Caribbean entails restaging our analytical perspectives to look at Caribbean life and culture through alternative prisms that disconnect, reconnect and electrocute how the region has traditionally been framed. Thus we welcome papers that follow rhizomatic trajectories, from and away from the city through the countryside, into the diaspora and maybe back again: how are those in these geographical, ideological, and cultural other intersecting spaces transforming the Caribbean radicalis?Our impetus is to push the boundaries of what and how we understand the Caribbean, beyond the glittering facade of the lettered city and its grounded denizens onto other landscapes that have always been in its shadow and the travelers that configure its outer parameters.