CLAW History
In 1994, the College established the Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World to promote scholarship on the Lowcountry, the Atlantic World, and the connections between the two, to strengthen the College’s instructional program, and to promote public understanding of the region and its place in a broader international context.
Congratulations!
South Carolina African American Heritage Commission awarded the Carolina Lowcountry & Atlantic World Program (CLAW) their 2008 Project Award at their annual meeting on January 22, 2009 for our work on the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007-2008.
College of Charleston awarded Dr. Simon K. Lewis (center), co-director of CLAW, the 2009 Alexander M. Sanders Jr. Presidential Legacy Award for Outstanding Public Service at the annual Excellence in Collegiate Education & Leadership (ExCEL) presentation on March 31, 2009.
What's New in Fall 2009?
Mark your calendars for the following appearances:
- September 17: Drs. Jack Bass and W. Scott Poole (College of Charleston) authors of The Palmetto State: The Making of Modern South Carolina
- September 24 & 25: Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black (Carnegie Mellon University) author of Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora
- October 8 - 9: Dr. James Walvin (University of York, UK) author of The Trader, the Owner, the Slave
CALL FOR PAPERS
February 18 - 20, 2010
Women in the Iberian-American Atlantic (1500-1800)
The Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World (CLAW) at the College of Charleston calls for papers on Women in the Iberian and Latin American Atlantic World. The conference will take place in Charleston, South Carolina, from Feb. 18 to 20, 2010. This interdisciplinary conference welcomes papers on Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American history, literature, cultural production, etc. We hope to examine questions such as: Who were the women that traveled from the Iberian Peninsula to the New World or vice-versa? What ideas did they bring with them? What influence did women who did not physically travel have on the Atlantic world? What role did women play in creating an Atlantic network? What can women’s experience in the Atlantic World tell us about the Atlantic cultural production, literary exchanges, economy, race relations, religion, etc., between 1500 and 1800?
Three Keynote Speakers:
- Lisa Vollendorf: Professor of Spanish, California State University at Long Beach.
- Allyson Poska, Professor of History, University of Mary Washington.
- Bianca Premo, Associate Professor of History, Florida International University.
Logistics: The symposium will take place from Thursday to Saturday. The three keynote speakers will each give a plenary talk. We will also have 5 or 6 additional panels of select participants. This symposium is open (and not limited) to professors of literature, history, political science, anthropology, and sociology. We particularly encourage new scholars and graduate students to submit proposals. The format of the sessions will be roundtable discussion. One month before the conference each participant will submit their completed paper to be posted on a secure site. During the session each participant will be allotted 10 minutes to discuss the main points of their paper. There will be a respondent for each session and ample time for discussion. There is the possibility for a volume of selected papers from the conference to be published in our Carolina Atlantic World Series by the University of South Carolina Press (For more info. see www.sc.edu/uscpress )
Charleston, South Carolina is a prime location for this conference. It was a major city in the Atlantic World with strong connections to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean as well as other parts of North America. South Carolina was also site of Santa Elena (1566-1587), the northern most Spanish settlement during the colonial period and the capital of La Florida Province.
Please submit one-page proposals in English and one-page c.v. to Dr. Sarah E. Owens, Dept. of Hispanic Studies as an attachment to owenss@cofc.edu by August 1, 2009.
For more information, contact the conference coordinator, Dr. Sarah E. Owens (College of Charleston).
Hines Prize: Call for Manuscripts
Do you have a manuscript in hand or in preparation that would fit the scope of our book series? Do you know others who do?
If your manuscript is for a first book you should consider entering it for the competition for the fourth biennial award of the Hines Prize given to the best first book relating to any aspect of the Carolina Lowcountry and/or the Atlantic World.
The prize carries a cash award of $1,000 and preferential consideration by the University of South Carolina Press for the Program's book series.
The Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Book Series
Next Deadline: May 1, 2011
For Students:
Student Research Travel Grants (click for information)
For Educators:
June 22 - 28, 2009, Montgomery, Alabama
US Partnership - UNESCO Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project National Meeting and Teachers' Institute
The focus of this summer's institute is "The Long March to Montgomery: Slavery and Freedom in the Alabama Black Belt." It is sponsored by the Rosa Parks Civil Rights Museum, Troy University (Montgomery AL), The George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center (Penn State University), The Alabama Department of Archives and History, The Alabama Humanities Council Super Teachers Program, and the Southern Poverty Law Center/Teaching Tolerance.
Are you looking for books, websites and information about the Transatlantic Slave Trade? Visit our extensive bibliography and links pages.
UNESCO’s African Passages
In 2004, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project (TST) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged each participating member state to develop a “Site of Memory” website about their region as an educational resource for teachers and other educators around the world. An important aim of UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project is the preservation and protection of places of memory related to the Slave Trade. Over 100 schools in 23 nations around the Atlantic World participate in this project.
A “site of memory” is a contemporary geographic or physical location with cultural, spiritual, or historic elements that can be interpreted to teach some or all of the themes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It can include buildings, the natural environment or the site of a significant event.
UNESCO’s African Passages is intended to be a prototype “Site of Memory” website. Focusing on the Ashley River Historic District of the Lowcountry surrounding Charleston, South Carolina, it explores the journey of Africans from freedom to slavery, the transformation of the landscape and development of wealth generated by the work of enslaved Africans, and the surviving traditions of those individuals in contemporary South Carolina.
UNESCO’s African Passages is a multimedia presentation and demonstrates not only the past contributions of enslaved people but reveals as well the enduring legacy of those contributions—in people, in music, in naming practices, in the built environment—as part of our effort to reveal the "living" past. Created and refined through a collaboration of academic and public historians, historic site and museum professionals, interested individuals and educators from around the world, this website contains spoken word and musical recordings, a series of primary documents—including maps and plantation records, as well as a detailed educational component with lesson plans and additional activities for teachers’ use in integrating the materials into their classrooms.
Related Links:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
www.unesco.org
More about UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project
www.unesco.org/education/asp/tst
The UNESCO Slave Route Project
www.unesco.org/culture/slaveroute
