2019 FOURTH INTERNATIONAL BABAYLAN CONFERENCE
MULING PAG-UUGAT
LEARNING LAND, UNLEARNING EMPIRE:
RECOVERING “INDIGENOUS” ROOTS AND CREATING KAPWA RELATIONS IN THE SETTLER COLONIAL DIASPORA
Hosted by the Center for Babaylan Studies and Kapwa Collective
Wahta Mohawk Territory
YMCA Camp Pine Crest
Torrance, Ontario, Canada
September 20-22, 2019
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CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Across intellectual, artistic, and practice-based communities, the term ”indigenous” has been taken up as a nexus-point that urges reflection and action. This deceptively simple question of the term’s meaning is especially pressing for diasporic and other allied communities who find themselves living on other native peoples’ lands. This includes first to third-generation citizen-subjects of a colonial state, populations increasingly enveloped in urban infrastructure, generations impacted by technology, and societies reduced in their capacity to live in balance with their environments (which is most of us!).
In this gathering we invite folks to explore the question: What does it mean to do “indigenous work” as diasporic Filipinos within these challenging contexts? How does an understanding of our impact as “settlers” on the indigenous lands we occupy in the diaspora guide us toward the intention of honoring what it means to be “rooted in place”? How do we move towards a way of being that aligns our own liberation work in collaboration and mutual accountability with the land’s Original Peoples and other historically marginalized and displaced peoples? How do we integrate this task with the related project of grounding ourselves in Earth Community and learning respectful co-existence with all living beings within our respective land bases? In figuring out a contemporary ethos based on what we can understand about ancestral spirit worlds and lifeways, generations of Native and diasporic peoples are coming together with a common interest in returning to wholeness and healing of wounds caused by historic and ongoing violence and our contemporary culture’s disconnection and isolation. Therefore we pose the question: How do we responsibly navigate the waters of remembering and work to recover our “Indigenous Spirit”? How do we draw from our Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices to find insights and wisdom?
We are accepting proposals for 60-minute workshops (creative/interactive), 60-minute panel or roundtable discussion; 15-20 minute paper presentations, and 15-20 minute storytelling/personal narrative presentations. Collaborative proposals are welcome and encouraged. Please address one or more of the following themes:
Theme 1: Listening to the Land
Theme 2: Art and Healing Practices as Spiritual, Cultural, and Liberation Movements
Theme 3: Contending with White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, Orientalism, and Patriarchy
(Refer to detailed guidelines on CfBS website for more information regarding these themes:
https://www.centerforbabaylanstudies.org/4th-annual-babaylan-conference)
Deadline for Submission Extended to April 30, 2019
We encourage applicants to use the below form for proposal submissions. If you have barriers or challenges to submitting your proposal online through the below form and wish to contribute a submission in an alternative format, please contact
cfbscore@babaylan.net with your request, and we will consider alternative submissions on a case by case basis.
The Program Committee will review all submissions and accepted proposals will be notified in Spring-Summer 2019. All presenters must register for the conference. Details to be announced soon. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will join us in Torrance, Canada in September 2019!
For more info, please check the conference Facebook page or the CFBS website:
www.centerforbabaylanstudies.org 