Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA)
Conference Date: May 29–31, 2023
Location: York University
Deadline: January 15, 2023
Our Theme: Nah! On The Possibilities of Ongoing Refusals
The annual meeting of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) will take place in person May 29 – 31, 2023 as part of the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (May 27 – June 2, 2023) at York’s Keele and Glendon Campuses in Toronto. The theme for Congress 2023 will be Reckonings and Re–Imaginings. Drawing on the lessons of Black Lives Matter, the Federal Anti–racism Secretariat, Idle No More, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Congress 2023 aims to focus on what is needed to live in non–hierarchical relationships that can truly honour our human differences, while protecting the land, water and air we all need to live together. This theme also reflects the vision of Associate Professor Andrea Davis, Academic Convenor for Congress 2023, and her collaboration with members of the York University community.
Our conference committee has chosen the exclamation ‘Nah’ as an expression, response, and exhortation of Black refusals. As a colloquial use of language, our call aims to push the
boundaries of how we contend with reckonings and re–imaginings in a cultural context where Blackness remains ignored, challenged, and in some cases, diminished by pervasive anti–Blackness, both in formal and informal settings. The experience of Blackness related to (body)language – as a form of expression, political action, and meaning–making – is invoked in our call. Refusal is broadly understood to encapsulate refusals of form (language/artistic expression/media), “in the break” (Moten, 2003) from disciplinary boundaries, and operating outside/within the context of neoliberal diversity and inclusion frameworks. Refusal is taken to be a “generative stance” (Tuck & Yang, 2014) which encourages radical imaginings beyond established boundaries. Through imaginative articulations of ‘Nah’ we aim to delve into and depart from past/ongoing practices that precipitate the need for reckonings and reimaginings.
The possibility of ongoing refusals acknowledged by a nod, an intentional and explicit or subtle rejection, a calling deixa pra lá, or a pleading non mais, all create space for counter–narratives and Black re–existence.
How can we move the conversation on Black lives beyond rhetoric to actionable strategies that aim for structural change? How might ‘Nah’ be a productive response to inadequate policies, practices, and politics? Where are the structures, spaces, sounds of Black lives currently operating that deserve recognition and could serve as templates for intersectional justice? Can we even begin to reckon and imagine when much remains to be named and acknowledged?
Programme:
With this in mind, the Black Canadian Studies Association welcomes individual papers, panels, round table sessions/discussions, posters, art installations, performances, and interactive workshops from a wide range of disciplines that engage with either the Congress theme or BSCA theme.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
1. Reflections on the non–happenings of 2020 and social change
2. Indigenous and Black solidarities and co–resistance
3. Performative allyship, slacktivism
4. Environmental racism, geographies of race and space
5. Black invisibilities
6. The POC, BIPOC erasure/dilution/avoidance of Blackness
7. Disrupting intersectionality–as–diversity narratives
8. Black visuality, visual/aesthetic culture, and image–making as refusal
9. Performing Blackness through sport, dance, and/or movement
10. Problematizing the singular narrative approach to Black histories
11. Demands for exceptionalism and the problem of Black Excellence rhetoric
12. Neoliberal erosions of collective work and collective gains
13. Disrupting “comfortability” and a refusal to settle for status quo
14. Critiques of Black conservative movements in Canada and/or beyond
15. Reflection on the consequences of assimilation and semi–integration
16. Redefining Black Canadian Studies
17. Blackness in the academy/post–secondary education
18. Black Canadian media studies and the politics of refusal
19. Black politics and protests
20. Celebratory acts of resistance and Black joy
Submissions:
Participants should submit a 250–word abstract proposal by Jan 15, 2023 to
blackcanadastudies@gmail.com with the subject line: BCSA CONFERENCE ABSTRACT 2023.
Kindly include your name, contact information, affiliation, as well as details about the proposed topic for your submission. Those proposing panels (3 – 4 papers) should submit a 250–word description of the panel, as well as abstracts for the constituent papers; the names, affiliations, and email addresses of each of the presenters; and the name of the moderator/chair. Those proposing round table sessions/discussions should submit a 250–word description of the session and the names, affiliations, and email addresses of each of the presenters.
Membership/Fees:
You are encouraged but not required to be a member of the BCSA to submit an abstract
proposal. However, if your paper is accepted, you will be required to become a member (the BCSA has flexible membership options with reduced/sliding rate). The BCSA relies on
conference fees in order to maintain programming, organize community events, and deliver yearly conferences. Our conference fees are structured to allow for ongoing programming while limiting the financial burden on students and community members. Attendees are encouraged to access institutional conference funding wherever possible. In cases of limited institutional funding BCSA will consider requests to waive fees. Kindly pay your membership fee by
December 15, 2022.
To present at the BCSA conference you must pay:
(1) BCSA membership dues
(2) Congress registration fees
(3) BCSA conference fees