Confronting Slavery: Towards a Dialogue of Cultural Understanding

Portuguese Text

Spanish Text

The objective of this conference is to analyse and discuss the multiple meanings of the experience of slavery in different cultural situations. The ways in which individuals resisted their bondage, adapted or otherwise preserved their heritage, and nonetheless adjusted to the cultural setting of slavery varied across time and space. The ideological dimensions of the slavery legacy often condition the manner by which people relate to one another. The conference takes as a theme the experience of slavery as a form of cultural confrontation and interaction. The confrontation was unequal because power and authority were concentrated in the hands of those who owned slaves, but the enslaved had their own cultural heritage that cannot be denied.

In examining the variations in the experiences of slavery, the conference seeks to confront slavery in a form that encourages dialogue across cultures and civilizations in the modern era, whether in the Americas, Africa, the Mediterranean, Dar al-Islam or the Indian Ocean. The conference is in accordance with the priorities of UNESCO, which has recently appealed for enhanced dialogue between civilizations, cultures, religions and peoples, noting that “recent events have once again highlighted, in some cases tragically, the crucial importance of this issue.” According to Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, education "must reinforce tolerance, mutual understanding, respect for human rights and democracy, an education that contradicts all manner of stereotype," This need for dialogue is particularly critical in understanding the diversity of experiences in the relationships that prevailed between cultures and civilizations as revealed in examining issues of slavery and the legacy of slavery.

Sponsors:

Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo
http://www.tresculturas.org/

The Harriet Tubman Institute, York University
http://www.yorku.ca/tubman/Home/index.html

Laboratório de História Oral e Imagem, Universidade Federal Fluminense
http://www.historia.uff.br/labhoi/modules/tinyd3/index.php?id=3

Academia Brasileira de Letras
http://www.academia.org.br/