UG mulls establishing working group to facilitate positive interchange programmes

– as 3rd Diaspora Conference set for May 2025

Following the success of the University of Guyana (UG)’s second Diaspora Conference, the tertiary institution is already planning to host its third conference of this kind in May 2025 under the proposed theme “Matters Diaspora- Technology and Diaspora in the 21st Century.”

“[We are] establishing immediately an international multi-disciplinary working group to begin its planning and resourcing,” Vice-Chancellor, Paloma Mohamed-Martin related during the second conference’s closing ceremony.
Marking the university’s 60 years in existence, this most recent conference was held under the theme “Calling 592: Honouring, Researching, Reigniting Diaspora.”
For three days, the Vice-Chancellor explained, attendees and participants acknowledged the loss of Guyana’s human capital through migration and the nuances of the dynamics of diasporic engagement as well as recognised the Guyanese diaspora’s resilience, innovation, cultural diffusion and transformation.
As such, a number of actions were identified as immediate next steps to take to advance these discussions.
“Ensure that we are true to the exhortation of our national poet Martin Carter that ‘all are involved or all are consumed’ for an inclusive work agenda of key aspects of the dominant and subaltern experiences of diasporas in the Caribbean and Latin America,” Mohamed-Martin listed.
She added the need to work with other parts of the world as well in addressing areas of business, culture, the specific roles and conditions of academics in the diaspora, women and gender, indigenous people, youth, and those who may not be in the highest socioeconomic strata in these countries.
Keeping the university’s key focus in mind–its students–the Vice-Chancellor also highlighted plans to establish a working group within two months to facilitate positive interchange between UG students and other youths from the primary and secondary diasporas.
“[A critical action to be undertaken is also] to link and facilitate the continuous exposure of scholars and students wishing to develop expertise in diaspora and migration studies in order to ensure the highest quality and systematic scholarship and action in this area, in particular the role of technology in matters of the diaspora,” Mohamed-Martin said.
Other key actions include creating an international working group within one month to spearhead the establishment of an International Institute for The Study of Diasporas and Migration at UG; supporting the work of the Diaspora Engagement Unit and other state departments of Guyana through research, training, and discussion and; mandating the UG Press to publish selected papers and abstracts of the conference as the first publication of the UG_IISDM within one year.
Efforts will also be made to ensure all recorded presentations are distributed within a month as a test of a possible new model of conferencing being pioneered by the university as well as work with relevant and interested partners to create a local and regional database of scholarly items to support the existing study, policy development and actions around the ecology of diaspora work.
This most recent conference included a series of discussions and conversations with Guyanese and members of the Guyanese diaspora at the helm, including a book launch of a “Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage,” a session on “Best Practices from Our Diplomatic Partners in Diaspora Diplomacy,” and one on “Reimagining Borders. Reimaging Self: Radical Identity in the age of globalization.”