Confluence of Cultures or Convergence of Diasporas: An International Symposium. Marrakech, Morocco 20-22 May 2011
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011The symposium proposes to examine the interconnections and convergence of cultures under conditions of slavery. While slavery tended to impose the culture of the master society on enslaved people of foreign or alien origin, whenever the enslaved population was of sufficient size, we are more accurate in considering the clash of cultures, as when Muslims were enslaved in Christian lands, or people of Yoruba culture were enslaved in Brazil or Cuba. In these situations, we can talk of enslaved populations being in diaspora, with sufficient cultural memory to link with a homeland. We want to examine slavery through a paradigm that explores the convergence of diasporas. The symposium assembles specialists of slavery under different historical regimes, whether in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic world, or the Indian Ocean.
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