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Seventy Morrison scholars as readers gathered in Fort- de- France, Martinique from June 22 to June 27 to explore the intellectual and cultural connections between noted Martiniquais political leader, poet and playwright Aimé Césaire and American Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. The Symposium: “The African Diasporic Vision of Aime Cesaire and Toni Morrison.” Was sponsored by the Toni Morrison Society in collaboration with the Martinique Tourism Authority. The Symposium featured keynote speakers acclaimed Haitian-American novelist and short story writer Edwidge Danticat and acclaimed French novelist, poet, and essayist Daniel Maximin.

The three-day Symposium held in the historic Aimé Césaire Theater in Fort- de- France, Martinique, included sessions on the “Diasporic Vision of Morrision and Césaire,” “The Influence of Morrison on other Writers and Artists of the Diaspora,” “ Aimé Césaire and the History and Legacy of the Negritude Movement”, and “The Future of Cultural and Intellectual Connections in the African Diaspora.” The symposium concluded with a rededication of the Bench by the Road that the Society placed for Aimé Césaire on the occasion of his 100 th Birthday in 2013 and Closing Luncheon to thank sponsors and participants and to present a Founder’s Bench by the Road Award to Muriel Wiltord, Society member and Director Americas of the Martinique Tourism Authority who provided invaluable leadership and support for the Symposium.

The four Symposium Sessions were informative presentations in small settings that brought to life the vision and these two writers and their continued influence on political thought and artistic production in the Diaspora. The Symposium included important scholars and artists in the Diaspora, including US scholars Farah Jasmine Griffin, Carole Boyce Davies, Judylyn Ryan, Meredith Gadsby, Carolyn Denard, Autumn Womack, Walter Earl Fluker, Philathia Bolton, Gary Widler, Rhone Fraser, and international scholars Rocio Cobo-Pinero from Spain, Ashleigh Harris from Sweden, Surafel Abebe from Ethiopia, and Caribbean Scholars Myriam Moise, Elisabeth Landis, and Malik Muhammad all faculty at the Université des Antilles in Martinique.

There were also artistic presentations by Martiniquais poet, Marie Line Ampigny who read from works by Morrison and Cesaire at the opening session; Laurent Valère , who designed the Anse Cafard Memorial and Caribbean maskmaker Sylviane Eneleda, who led a mask making master class for participants. and “This Summer Symposium,’ says Carolyn Denard Symposium Chair and Board Chair of the Society, fulfilled our hopes for an international cultural interchange among scholars engaged and interested in the study of the work of Morrison and Cesaire, and artists whose work feature the history of the African Diaspora. It was truly an exciting moment of cross- cultural, intellectual interchange among scholars engaged in the study and research of important aspects of the work of Toni Morrison and Aimé Césaire.

Symposium participants agreed with this assessment, as one attendee noted in the Symposium evaluation. “This was such an inspiring event! I felt so rejuvenated by all of the conversations, insights, reconnections with old colleagues, and opportunities to meet new scholars!”.

In addition to the exciting Symposium held at the Aimé Césaire Theater each day, Symposium attendees were able to visit significant sites in Martinique that documented the history of the slave trade and its impact and legacy among the people of Martinique, including the Slave Savannah Outdoor Museum in Les Trois Ilets and the Anse Cafard Slave Memorial in Diamant. See full conference program here

“This was an enlightening conference,” said another attendee. “I came away wanting to more deeply explore both the Morrison and Cesaire canon and the importance of understanding the relationship of black writers in the African Diaspora.”

Institutional and organizational sponsors for the event in addition to the Toni Morrison Society and the Martinique Tourism Authority, included the French Consulate of Atlanta and Villa Albertine, Spelman College, the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, the History of Black Writing, the Toni Morrison Collective at Cornell University, the English Department at Howard University, Oberlin College, The Africa Institute in the United Arab Emirates and Dr. Ruth J. Simmons.

See 2024 Summer Symposium Photos here.

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