The Promised Land Project (PLP) is a multi disciplinary Community University Research Alliance funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. The PLP studies the history of early black settlements concentrating on the freedom experience of blacks in the Chatham and Dawn Settlements in Southern Ontario, and highlights the ways in which the “Promised Land” communities have shaped Canada's experience and understanding of multiculturalism
The Promised Land Community-University Research Alliance invites community researchers, educators, museum workers, students, artists and academics to submit proposals. The symposium will be built around three central themes:
- Multiple, comparative perspectives on African Canadian history and community;
- Current social justice issues--including work on coerced or indentured labour, race, ethnicity, multiculturalism, the African Diaspora, identity in Canada—and their historical context.
- Examining modes by which African Canadians challenge and celebrate place and space in modern Canada.
Organizers seek a variety of submissions from a broad range of participants across the community-university alliance, and welcome proposals for discussion panels, research papers, poster presentations, artistic work and performance, and discussion of work-in-progress on collaborative initiatives in the areas of education, social justice and public history. Proposals that fit one of the Promised Land Project’s four areas of concentration (History and Archives; Education-Community Links; Media and Theatric Production; Multicultural Dialogue) are particularly encouraged.
Guidelines for submitting proposals:
Please submit a 200-word proposal that describes the theme to be explored in your presentation; the method or approach used to address it; and the format (paper, panel, poster, art work, performance etc.) of your presentation. The proposal should also tell us how your presentation is related to the symposium themes, and identify the general area (History and Archives; Education-Community Links; Media and Theatrical Production; Multicultural Dialogue) to which your work will contribute.
Proposals, along with your name, and contact information, should be sent via email by October 8, 2010, to Devin Andrews, Promised Land Project Community Coordinator, dandrewsplp@gmail.com. Telephone 519.436-0119 x 351.
A decision from the program committee will be made by November 12, 2010. Some contributors to the symposium will be invited to submit material for publication.
About the Project:
The “Promised Land” communities generated powerful ideologies of freedom, identity, and citizenship. From this ideological crucible, black Canadian women and men in the 19th century worked to abolish slavery in the United States, and to protect civil rights in Canada. Though the communities themselves were small, their influence stretched across Canada and to the farthest reaches of the Atlantic world. They were the vital center of a culture of justice that drew interracial support and forged links of freedom across the United States and Britain.
Despite the importance of these communities in creating and defining a pre-model of Canada's multicultural character over two centuries of our past, only fragments of this connected history have been explored. Much of it remains locked in rich but fragile primary sources, and little has found its way into Canada's national memory.
The PLP has a five-year mandate (2007-2012) to preserve primary historical materials and make them accessible; to develop educational materials; to create community projects in the arts and in Public History; to further debates on the historical and contemporary manifestations of diversity in Canada; and to encourage new interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching on themes of slavery, race, identity, and African Diaspora. For more information about the Promised Land Project, visit: www.lamacs.uottawa.ca/plp_e.htm.
In June, Chatham This Week published an article on Devin Andrews’ presentation to Chatham-Kent’s Council that described the project’s progress. You can see the article at http://chathamthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2636150
The Dawn Settlement house of Josian Henson, built in 1842.
Courtesy of Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, Ontario.
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