Following the sporadic series of conferences on the Indian Diaspora in the Caribbean since 1975 held mainly in T&T, a group of academics are planning to organise one conference every year in various parts of the region. This year's conference will be held in St Vincent on June 1-3 on the theme The Indian Diaspora in St Vincent and the wider Caribbean. The conference will coincide with Indian Arrival Day in St Vincent on June 1, which has been formally recognised by St Vincent and the Grenadines Parliament since 2007.
The St Vincent Chapter of GOPIO (The Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin) will be the main host and organiser of the conference. GOPIO was founded in New York in 1989 initially to fight human rights violation of People of Indian Origin (PIO). GOPIO has now set its priorities in pooling the resources, both financial and professional, for the benefit of PIOs in the countries they live.
The conference aims to bring together academics, scholars, students, teachers, organisations and people with an interest in the Indian Diaspora in the Caribbean to discuss their research findings. Space will be provided for less formal presentations from activists and practitioners in the field in order to contribute to the limited store of public knowledge on Indians in St Vincent. Possible topics can include: conversion, resistance, discrimination, politics, history, family histories, migration, literature, gender, orature, performance, art, sports, recreation, accommodation, survival, the media, etc. Each paper to be presented must focus on, or at least make reference to Indians in St Vincent.