The Cultures and Letters of the Black Diaspora
Callaloo is currently putting together materials for an issue to be published in the Summer of 2007 as the third of four special issues celebrating the journal’s Thirtieth Anniversary. The guest editors for this issue seek essays and creative work focused on the cultures and letters of the black diaspora, including reflections on literature, art, film, music, theater and dance. Essays can be critical responses to theories of the black diaspora as well as considerations on the cultural production of those of African descent around the world. Essays can also explore the global phenomena of the Atlantic slave trade and colonialism in relationship to the black diaspora as a transnational, regional, and/or global historical formation.
Of particular interest are essays and creative works that address the nuances and vicissitudes of the black diaspora both as a historical formation and as a concept. Toward this end, topics that complicate our understanding of blackness as quotidian by investigating how the diaspora intersects with, and translates, other realities including language, gender, region, nation, work and labor, sexuality, and religion, will likely be considered along with those that engage Africa.
Possible topics may include, but certainly are not limited to:
*The African influence in musical forms including batuque, son, plena, hip-hop, and méringue/merengue típico
* The presence of orixás/orishas or Africa in religious practices such as Candomblé, Santería, and Vaudou
* Blackness in the global metropolis, such as London, Los Angeles, Paris, and New York
* The relationship between slavery and/or colonialism in the formation of the black diaspora
* Cinemas of the black diaspora by filmmakers such as Souleyman Cissé, Haile Gerima, and Idrissa Ouédraogo, among others
* Literary production from Olaudah Equiano to Dionne Brand, Mary Prince to Tayeb Salih, Aimé Césaire to Buchi Emecheta, Derek Walcott to Edwidge Danticat, Langston Hughes to Paule Marshall, among others
Essays submissions should be 4000-5000 words and include a 150-200 word abstract. Poetry, fiction, and/or creative responses may be significantly shorter. All manuscripts must follow the Callaloo submission guidelines and be postmarked no later than Saturday, January 14, 2007, to:
Callaloo / The Black Diaspora
Department of English
Texas A&M University
4227 TAMU
College Station, TX 77483-4227
For this special issue, overseas submissions may be sent via email to
Please direct questions and any other correspondence to Ivy G. Wilson and Ayo A. Coly, guest editors, at:
wilson.166@nd.edu (Ivy G. Wilson)
ayo.a.coly@dartmouth.edu (Ayo A. Coly)
