Emerging Sexualities & Race: Response to Sexuality in Jamaica conference ... organizer says debate on homophobia acrimonious

An upcoming conference at Warwick University scheduled for October 2011 is calling for papers with the aim for informed opinions on Jamaica's homophobia etc coupled with the English Speaking Caribbean, the conference is slated address the so called highly publicized assertions being made about the situations here on the rock and the Caribbean basin.

The organizers describe as an acrimonious debate the discussions over the last nine years framing Jamaicans as homophobic that initially focused on a group of artists which was then broadened to include the rest of society covering legal, policing and criminal justice, prevailing religious beliefs and other aspects of culture. The organizers are Dr. Robert Beckford or Warwick University and Dr. Perry Stanislas of De Montfort University of Leicester both in the United Kingdom, Dr. Stanislas bachelor degree's topic focused on "Homophobia and the Christian Church told an online publication representative that there is a need for much more research and focus on this area, he added that widely held views about homophobia in Jamaica is largely uninformed as when he did his Bsc he learnt a great deal about British homophobia which has historically resulted in much more extreme behaviour than has taken place in Jamaica.

The British police used to carry out raids on gay men in their private spaces for indecency and other reasons they even transported the same laws into the colonies but not one black police organization has ever conducted a raid on a private space in Jamaica.

You don't live here Mr. Man, do you?

They continue that they need to have this conference as an academic response because of the issue of sexuality in Jamaica and other issues in Jamaica supposedly to include race. Dr. Stanislas suggests that international activists particularly from Western agencies have placed the issues on the agenda and have basically misconstrued the matters on homophobia in Jamaica.

One wonders which activists is he referring to when he was quoted:

"We need to separate the actual facts of homophobia from racism which is driving the agenda of some activists. There is popular homophobia in Jamaica but it is a direct outcome of the structural violence which has been experienced in that country in terms of the impact of macro and midrange policy and how it attacks masculinity in poor urban areas which creates the context for the emergence of dancehall"

Dr. Stanislas continued that Jamaica statistically is safer to be gay than to be a straight male, female or child who are killed in the hundreds every year.

Papers for the following themes are welcomed the organizers suggest:

1) Theology and Sexuality in Jamaica, the English Caribbean and its Diasporas

2) Policing, Criminal Justice Human Rights and sexuality in Jamaica

3) Caribbean music forms and sexuality

4) Historical powers of sexuality in Jamaica and the English speaking Caribbean

5) Literature and sexuality in Jamaica

6) Media representation and sexuality in Jamaica

7) Politics and sexuality in Jamaica

8) Sexuality in visual cultures

9) Education youth and sexuality

10) Public health and sexuality

The conference will be held at the University of Warwick on October 21 - 22 2011 those wishing to present papers should prepare and send a 250 word proposal to Dr. Robert Beckford r.beckford@warwick.ac.uk by June 30, 2011 authors who have been accepted will be notified by July 31, 2011.

A selection of papers will be considered for publications in an edited collection.

Enquiries can be sent to: pstanislas@dmu.ac.uk