Walter Rodney Conference Committee
Statement on Conference Objectives, Beneficiaries, and Products

Introduction

The Walter Rodney Conference Committee issues this STATEMENT ON CONFERENCE
OBJECTIVES, BENEFICIARIES, AND PRODUCTS in support of its request for financial
support from the Binghamton University community, and other sources, for the
Walter Rodney Conference at Binghamton University, November 6-8, 1998.

Historical Background

The late Walter Rodney, a native of Guyana in South America and the
Caribbean, distinguished himself as a brilliant scholar, when at the tender
age of 23 years, he graduated from the University of London, School of
Oriental Studies, with a Ph.D. degree in History. Dr. Rodney became world
renowned as a historian for his work on the history of the upper Guinea
Coast, and his more popular work on Europe's underdevelopment of Africa. Dr.
Rodney's book on the history of the Upper Guinea Coast represents a break
with the method of all hitherto studies on African History, by focusing on
the history of Africa from the perspectives of Africans. Dr. Rodney came to
teach at Binghamton University after he was denied a job at the University
of Guyana, in his country of birth, where he was finally assassinated on
June 13,1980. It is a fitting gesture that we at Binghamton University host
a conference to celebrate the life and work of one of its late world-class
professors.

Conference Objectives

? To deepen the study of the life and work of Walter Anthony Rodney.
? To heighten awareness of the life and work Of Walter Anthony Rodney.
? To promote the teachings of Walter Anthony Rodney and to generate
discussion/engagement of his ideas in their application to history and the
real world both past and present.
? To preserve the work of Walter Anthony Rodney for future generations.
? To raise consciousness of Walter Anthony Rodney both at Binghamton
University and throughout the SUNY system where so far he has not been given
any official recognition/memory.
? To make connections between social issues at Binghamton University, the
state of New York and in the United States, with themes of Walter's vast
works, to see how they might inform one another.

Beneficiaries

? Graduate and undergraduate students at Binghamton University
? Binghamton University, whose name will be promoted with the great
possibility of attracting more students from the Third World to study here.
? Academia from the archival data that will be generated from the
conference, as well as the conference proceedings.
? Institutional building at Binghamton University through its students and
faculty networking with students and scholars from other Universities both
at the inter-and multi-disciplinary levels. Included in this category are
the Africana Research Center at Cornell, New York African Studies
Association, the Intercollegiate Consortium on African studies based at
Cornell and encompassing Morgan State, Binghamton, and Syracuse
Universities, and the     Working People's Alliance in Guyana; all of whom
have become involved in the conference.

Conference Products

? Conference proceedings to be published as an edited book
? The establishment of the Walter Rodney Virtual Library
? Hands-on training of students in conference organizing
? News Releases
? Intangible products such as facilitation of the reunion of the WPA and its
"Diaspora", and the reunion of graduates of Sociology and other departments
at Binghamton University and ex-faculty connected in some way to Rodney's
legacy at Binghamton University.
? The proposed re-naming of the Student Union building after Walter Rodney
? The proposed Annual Walter Rodney Scholarship at Binghamton University

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 The following is a rough draft of the conference schedule.  Prof. Rupert
Lewis was recently added to the program.  An updated program schedule will
soon appear on our website located at
http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/subjects/africana/wr2.html:
Conference Themes:
Global Capitalism and the Black Atlantic
Post-Colonial Nationalism
Decolonization
Gender and Youth
DAY TIME Session/Event  Location
Friday
November 6, 1998  9:00 to noon  Registration
 noon to 1:30 pm Lunch
 1:30 to 2:00pm  Welcoming Remarks
 2:00 to 3:00 pm Introductory Plenary Session
Walter Rodney and Politics in Guyana. Speaker Eusi Kwayana
 3:00 to 3:15 pm  Coffee Break
 3:15 to 4:45 pm  Socialism and the Caribbean Intellectual/Activist
Tradition:
Walter Rodney, Claudia Jones, and CLR James
Panel: Carole Boyce Davies, John McClendon, Alrick Cambridge
 4:45 to 5:00 pm  Coffee Break
 5:00 to 5:30 pm Round-Up/ Review
 7:00 to 9:00 pm  Dinner/Address:
Walter Rodney and Politics in the African World
Saturday
November 7, 1998 8:30 to 9:30 am  Coffee
 9:30 to 10:30 am  Rodney's Scholarship and the Transformation of the Social
Sciences.
Panel: Tiffany Patterson, Immanuel Wallerstein, Darryl Thomas
 10:30 to 10:45 am Coffee
 10:45 to 12:30 pm  Rodney's Pan-Africanist Journey and
His Return To His Homeland.
Panel: Horace Campbell, Ali Mazrui, etc.
 12:30 to 2:00 pm Lunch
 2:00 to 3:45 pm Walter Rodney and the Working People's Alliance:
Reflections.
Panel: Tacuma Ogunseye, Dennis Canterbury, Nigel Westmaas
 3:45 to 4:00 pm Coffee Break
 4:00 to 6:15 pm Walter Rodney and Youth.
Panel: Alissa Trotz, Asha Rodney, Jesse Benjamin, etc
 6:30 to 7:30 pm Cocktail Reception
 7:30 to 9:30pm Dinner/Address: Intellectuals, Scholars, Political
Commitment and Scholarship:
Speakers:
Sunday
November 8, 1998  9:30 to 10:00 am  Coffee
 10:30 to 12:00 am 1898 and the Americas
 12:30 to 2:30 pm Lunch/ Final Plenary:
Rodney's Legacies and the Future

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