José Antonio Aponte and His World
NYU, May 8 - May 9, 2015
aponteconference.wordpress.com
Twitter #AponteNYU

"From myriad locations in the humanities, historians, anthropologists, philosophers, literary scholars, and art historians have explored the figure of Aponte as artist, intellectual, revolutionary, and theorist. In addition to this scholarly interest, Aponte has also been re-enshrined as a national figure in contemporary Cuba, following a 2012 bicentennial that commemorated his death at the hands of colonial authorities. However, given the recent scholarly and public focus on Aponte, there has not yet been a conference dedicated to the interdisciplinary scholarly perspectives that have sought to advance the study of the singular “book of paintings” and its visionary creator. “José Antonio Aponte and His World: Writing, Painting, and Making Freedom in the African Diaspora” brings together scholars to discuss the current state of “Apontian” studies and suggest future directions for scholarship. It includes, as well, scholars doing work on questions of historical memory, the intellectual history of the enslaved, and the relationship between text, image, and politics in other settings in order to put Aponte’s history in conversation with a wider world, much, indeed, as his own “book of paintings” tried to do."

The conference will take place in the auditorium of the King Juan Carlos Center at New York University, 53 Washington Square South. Click here for a Google map. The closest subway is the West 4th station where the A, B, C, D, E, F trains stop. For more information, please contact lmr273 [@] nyu [.] edu.

Linda Rodriguez (Artistic Production, Race, and History in Colonial Cuba, 1762-1840) and Matt Childs, (The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery), are  on panels. A primary organizer is Ada Ferrer, who created the #AponteNYU hashtag on the anniversary of Aponte's execution. Search #AponteNYU. Ada Ferrer is the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, And Revolution, 1868-1898. Ivor Miller from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, will attend and present on the Abakwa in Aponte's rebellion.