16105: Bellegarde-Smith: CFP: Conference of Caribbean Economists (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>


Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003
From: Audra Diptee <adiptee@chass.utoronto.ca>
Subject: CFP: Conference of Caribbean Economists

CALL FOR PAPERS

The VIIIth Conference of Caribbean Economists will be held in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in November 2003.

The theme is "Diaspora, Migration and the Global Caribbean Economy."

Overall objective
The Association of Caribbean Economists (ACE) has embarked on a number of
projects and initiatives that are premised on the theme of Diasporic
Economics as a new and emerging theme with relevance to all language areas
of the Caribbean. The VIIIth biannual ACE Conference scheduled for
November 2003 will bring together a wide range of scholars and researchers
to report on research methodologies and initial findings. The Conference
will create greater awareness of the impact and prospects for diasporic
economic relations and offer the opportunity to prepare a work program
that includes training seminars and publications targeted at public
policy-makers, NGDOs, the academic community, and the wider public.

Main theme
Migration and the creation of an extra-regional diasporic community in the
North Atlantic countries has been a key survival strategy for Caribbean
people since the twentieth century. It is estimated that the Caribbean
region exports more people as a percentage of its population than any
other region in the world. It is observed that the growth of the Caribbean
Diaspora helps to relieve population pressure, alleviates unemployment,
funnels remittances to home countries, creates export markets for
specialty and cultural goods and services, facilitates technology
diffusion from core economies, and generates diasporic tourism.

Diasporic relations, however, are not an unqualified success. There is
much concern about issues such as "brain drain" that depletes poor
economies of valuable human capital (e.g. professionals and entrepreneurs)
and subsidizes the labor reproduction costs of rich economies. There is
also some concern that remittances may increase external dependency,
promote Western consumption styles and cause inflationary pressures.

In addition, it is argued that migration and diasporization have presented
new security and health risks to the Caribbean economy associated with
mobile populations like seasonal farm workers, deported criminals, return
migrants, sex workers and tourists. Gender relations are impacted as well
by the shift in labor markets in the core economies towards services as
reflected in the growth of female migrants in jobs like domestics, nurses
and teachers.

These issues have only recently gained saliency in academic research.
There is no denying that diasporization has lead to the emergence of a
"Global Caribbean Economy" that transcends the boundaries of the Caribbean
Basin. The diasporic economy contributes to the growth and diversification
of the Caribbean political economy as well as the strategic repositioning
of the region's international relations.

The contribution and potential of diasporic relations to Caribbean
development requires further documentation, measurement, and evaluation.
There is also a great need to identity ways in which the trends and
processes of diasporization can be enhanced to the benefit of the region.
The Conference will also require an appreciation of the changing
geopolitical and economic context for immigration into the countries of
the North Atlantic.

The Conference will give special attention to the case of host country
Haiti, including such topics as the geopolitics of aid and migration, the
role of the Diaspora in Haitian development, and globalization and
Caribbean regionalism seen against the background of 200 years of Haitian
sovereignty.

Submission of paper proposals
Abstracts of no more than 250 words are to be sent to the address below no
later than 31 July 2003. Abstracts should include name, institutional
affiliation, full postal address, phone/fax numbers and e-mail address.
Listed below is a range of possible themes and issues for panelists.
        Financial remittances   Diasporic tourism       Cultural exports
Specialty goods exports Diasporic trade diplomacy       Diaspora and
security        Immigration policies            Migration economics
Gender and overseas work        Economic diplomacy      Technological
diffusion       Brain drain and brain gain      Mobile populations and
health  Diaspora and sovereignty

More information
For further information on the Conference, please contact:
Keith NurseInstitute of International RelationsUniversity of the West
IndiesSt. AugustineTrinidad and TobagoTel: 868 662-2002, ext. 3235Fax: 868
663-9685Email: knurse@fss.uwi.tt        Judith WedderburnFriedrich Ebert
StiftungPO Box 735Kingston 8JamaicaTel: 876 960-6580 / 7153Fax: 876
960-7297E-mail: fes@cwjamaica.com
Updated information, including the exact dates of the Conference, will
also be available on the ACE Website at http://www.sta.uwi.edu/ace.