"Practices of representation always implicate the positions from which we speak or write – the positions of enunciation. What recent theories of enunciation suggest is that, though we speak, so to say ‘in our own name’, of ourselves and from our own experience, nevertheless who speaks, and the subject who is spoken of, are never identical, never exactly in the same place. Identity is not as transparent or unproblematic as we think. Perhaps instead of thinking of identity as an already accomplished fact, which the new cultural practices represent, we should think, instead, of identity as a ‘production’, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation. This view problematises the very authority and authenticity to which the term, ‘cultural identity’, lays claim".
Hall S. in Rutherford, J (222:1990).
Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist and one of the founders of Cultural Studies and the "New Left Review" in Britain. He left a lasting international legacy on discourses on culture, race, identity and media that is particularly resonant at this moment in time.
John Akomfrah is a Ghanaian-born British writer, director and filmmaker whose body of work speaks to many of the themes that Stuart addressed.
Dr. Daniel McNeil, Professor of History, Migration and Diaspora Studies at Carleton University, will introduce John Akomfrah’s 2013 film The Stuart Hall Project and take part in a Q&A with artists, activists and academics inspired by Hall's commitment to creative, explorative and provocative intellectual work. Professor McNeil will also engage with SFU faculty and graduate students with regards to The Unfinished Conversation, a three-screen installation directed by Akomfrah, and the multiple ways in which Hall has inspired intellectuals inside and outside of academia to do some fresh thinking about time, space and belonging.
FREE EVENTS:
October 14, 12:15-2:00pm Buchanan Penthouse (B501) University of British Columbia, Point Grey Campus Hosted by Dr. Handel Wright and Dr. Alejandra Bronfman Seminar by Dr. Daniel McNeil and discussion with grad students and faculty Lunch served
October 14, 6:00-9:00pm SFU’s Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Studio Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Hosted by Dr. Laura Marks and Dr. Henry Daniel Seminar by Dr. Daniel McNeil and discussion with grad students and faculty
October 15 5:30pm SFU’s Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Public screening of John Akomfrah’s The Stuart Hall Project
7:00-10:00pm SFU’s Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema Goldcorp Centre for the Arts Panel roundtable discussion
Panel Chair: Dr. Handel Wright - Professor and Director, Centre for Culture, Identity & Education, UBC
Respondents: Dr. Daniel McNeil - Professor of History, Migration and Diaspora Studies, Carleton University Dr. Laura Marks - Dena Wosk University Professor, Visual and Cultural Studies, SFU/SCA Dr. David Chariandy - Associate Professor of English, SFU Dr. Adel Iskandar - Assistant Professor of Global Communication, SFU Dr. Alessandra Santos - Assistant Professor of Ibero-American Literatures and Cultures, UBC
Reception to follow
These events are organized by Dr. Henry Daniel, Professor of Dance and Performance Studies at SFU, and Dr. Alejandra Bronfman, Associate Professor of History at UBC, with financial support from the School for the Contemporary Arts at SFU, the Dean’s Office in the Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology, Institute for Performance Studies, Department of English, School of Communication, Department of History, Institute for the Humanities, School for International Studies, Centre for Imaginative Ethnography, Centre for Policy Studies on Culture & Communication, and the Faculty of Arts at UBC.
