We welcome papers and performances from scholars, artists, and activists interested in exploring this theme in broad theoretical, practical, and cultural terms. We will consider the predicaments and possibilities of “Land” in the context of Maroon and Indigenous histories and cultures worldwide. Presentations from all fields and genres are welcome, including history, geography, political science, anthropology, ethnography, law & criminal justice, ethnomusicology, education, literature, film, art, sustainability studies, Indigenous studies, economics, spirituality, religion, and ecocriticism. Participants will work closely with each other and the Maroons of Charles Town to explore the relevance of Indigenous knowledge to contemporary life and the future of our worlds.

This conference takes place in Charles Town, Buff Bay, Portland, Jamaica, surrounded by Jamaica’s beautiful Blue and John Crow Mountains, and we meet in the Asafu Yard, a sacred place for drumming and dancing.  Offering a unique combination of scholarly panels, Taíno Ceremony, African Ancestral Veneration, and cultural events, the conference brings Maroons and other Indigenous Peoples together with scholars and locals to examine the ways their legacies have endured, creolized, and resonated in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Canada, Australia, South America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

 The conference sub-themes include but are not limited to:

• Land Rights, Human Rights, and Social Justice (land justice, climate justice, and water justice)
• The Environment (conservation, stewardship, protection, and restoration)
• Relationships between and among Maroons and other Indigenous Peoples
• Intergenerational Trauma and Healing (wellness, plant medicines, and herbalism)
• Migration and Culture (mobility, displacement, and intergenerational knowledge)
• Representations of Land, Ancestral Connections, and Indigeneity (in literature, art, music, film and folklore)
• Ancestral Connections (material, spiritual, and ideological)
• Sustainability and Land Management (community-led development, food security, and policy)
• A Borderless Indigenous Community (interconnections/reciprocity between humans and land)

Please send abstracts of 250-300 words and a short bio by March 31 to fbotkin@towson.edu, marooncharlestown77@gmail.com, and marcus.goffe@gmail.com