The Fifty-Fifty Research Project and Conference

For some Commonwealth countries, August 2012 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of their Independence from Great Britain, and while fifty years is a short time in a nation’s history and development, it is ample time for reflection and review of failures and successes. At the half century mark, new nations can evaluate the progress made or failed in terms of quality of life for their citizens, justice and issues of crime as well it provides a clear springboard for the future with guidance to dissuade repetition of mistakes.

 With this background, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), UWI Mona, has organized the Fifty-Fifty research project, with the suiting tagline ‘Surveying the past to inform the future.’ The project will include a series of seminars and thematic studies aimed at reviewing the past fifty years of independence and will culminate with a grand conference on August 20-25, 2012, in Kingston, Jamaica, under the theme Fifty-Fifty: Critical Reflections in a Time of Uncertainty.

The ICCLR has been charged with the Caribbean Language Rights and Policy issues cluster with Professor Hubert Devonish as chair. This is an opportunity to bring much needed light to the topics/issues which are overlooked but so vital to every person of the region. Subsequently, persons actively involved in language research and policy are encouraged to submit abstracts.  The themes for the Language Panels will be (i) language rights and language politics in the Caribbean, and (ii) language, culture and identity.

The dates for submission are below. Please email abstracts to Arlene Supersad:

Arlene.supersad@uwimona.edu.jm

Deadline for submission of abstracts:  December 15, 2011

Notification of acceptance of abstracts:   February 1, 2012

For more information, check the SALISES conference website: http://thesalises5050project.blogspot.com/