Guidelines
[ Note: The following applies to all individually submitted papers. For proposed whole panels, the exact format for papers, presenting time, etc, can be worked out with your Cuban counterparts in that panel if you want a different format. One can think of the material here as a base, but it can be modified in unified panels if the non-Cuban and Cuban panel organizers so desire.]
There is an important tension concerning the length of papers (an internal contradiction for those that like such language). On the one hand, we want to allow as many papers as possible to be presented, given the time available, and have time for discussion. On the other hand, we would like to convey to the Cubans (and they to us) enough depth to address important issues. This means that we allot 10 minutes per presentation (10 minutes of presentation, and 10 minutes of translation, for a total of 20 minutes per paper). How much can one present in 10 minutes? Certainly not the full content of many good papers. So, we developed a "dual paper" approach, asking everyone to write two papers. The first paper will be a regular paper, of the type you might write for a journal. In it you should take what space you need to develop the points you want to make, with as many details as you need to make the points well. You will take about 10 copies of this paper with you in hard copy, to hand out to those Cubans who are interested in a fuller development of your ideas than is possible in a 10 minute presentation. We also hope this year to put up a web site after the conference, and this longer version of the paper (or perhaps both) will go up on the web site. The second paper should be of a length that YOU can read, COMFORTABLY, in 10 minutes. Time yourself. I expect for many that will be around 6 pages, double spaced, but that really depends on you. Please plan to read this in a way that allows you to use your voice to stress what is important. Do not try to read this paper at 100 miles an hour to try to get in as much as possible - your Cuban listeners, and even many of your listeners who speak English as their first language, will not get anything out of your presentation if you do that. The point of this shorter reading-paper is to let the listeners, Cuban and non-Cuban, know what your work is about, and to make a case why it is of interest. It is a "big picture paper." It cannot try to "prove" your argument. Above all, it should not get bogged down in complicated details and complicated arguments. It should be a motivation for people who are interested in your topic to read your longer more detailed paper. The short paper, which is the essence of what you will present verbally, is what we will send to the Cubans in advance for the translators to see and prepare a translation of. We will not do that with the longer paper. The overwhelming majority of the Cubans who attend these conferences can read English quite well, though not all of them can follow the English of complicated arguments when made verbally (some can do that too, of course). Among other things, this will lighten the job of the translators - sometimes in the past we have given them these quite long and complicated papers, which they have diligently translated, and then only presented a small part of the paper to fit in the 10 minutes. I want everyone to bring 10 xeroxed copies of their longer paper with them. One copy will go to the Cuban paper coordinator (Nancy Lopez), so she will have a complete set. I will also have a complete set, but I will get that via email from you, either before you go or after (sometimes people want to change their papers, on the basis of the conversations and discussions they have around their paper in Cuba). I suggest that most of you will get the best results if you write your long paper first, and work out what you want to say, and only after that work on how to highlight its contents in 10 minutes in the shorter paper - but of course how you generate your two papers is up to you. Recall the relevant deadlines: April 1 for the abstract of a proposal for a paper or panel (and this can be bent some, but please not too much), and May 1 for the completed (short) paper (the one they have to translate, so this cannot be bent significantly). Everyone applying for the conference should send to me as soon as possible a 2 to 3 paragraph abstract. We need these to help in the grouping of papers into panels, and for the Cubans to know what sorts of interests people coming will have so they can try when possible to invite some Cubans with similar interests. Hasta la victoria siempre.
contact email: cliff[at]globaljusticecenter[dot]org
There is an important tension concerning the length of papers (an internal contradiction for those that like such language). On the one hand, we want to allow as many papers as possible to be presented, given the time available, and have time for discussion. On the other hand, we would like to convey to the Cubans (and they to us) enough depth to address important issues. This means that we allot 10 minutes per presentation (10 minutes of presentation, and 10 minutes of translation, for a total of 20 minutes per paper). How much can one present in 10 minutes? Certainly not the full content of many good papers. So, we developed a "dual paper" approach, asking everyone to write two papers. The first paper will be a regular paper, of the type you might write for a journal. In it you should take what space you need to develop the points you want to make, with as many details as you need to make the points well. You will take about 10 copies of this paper with you in hard copy, to hand out to those Cubans who are interested in a fuller development of your ideas than is possible in a 10 minute presentation. We also hope this year to put up a web site after the conference, and this longer version of the paper (or perhaps both) will go up on the web site. The second paper should be of a length that YOU can read, COMFORTABLY, in 10 minutes. Time yourself. I expect for many that will be around 6 pages, double spaced, but that really depends on you. Please plan to read this in a way that allows you to use your voice to stress what is important. Do not try to read this paper at 100 miles an hour to try to get in as much as possible - your Cuban listeners, and even many of your listeners who speak English as their first language, will not get anything out of your presentation if you do that. The point of this shorter reading-paper is to let the listeners, Cuban and non-Cuban, know what your work is about, and to make a case why it is of interest. It is a "big picture paper." It cannot try to "prove" your argument. Above all, it should not get bogged down in complicated details and complicated arguments. It should be a motivation for people who are interested in your topic to read your longer more detailed paper. The short paper, which is the essence of what you will present verbally, is what we will send to the Cubans in advance for the translators to see and prepare a translation of. We will not do that with the longer paper. The overwhelming majority of the Cubans who attend these conferences can read English quite well, though not all of them can follow the English of complicated arguments when made verbally (some can do that too, of course). Among other things, this will lighten the job of the translators - sometimes in the past we have given them these quite long and complicated papers, which they have diligently translated, and then only presented a small part of the paper to fit in the 10 minutes. I want everyone to bring 10 xeroxed copies of their longer paper with them. One copy will go to the Cuban paper coordinator (Nancy Lopez), so she will have a complete set. I will also have a complete set, but I will get that via email from you, either before you go or after (sometimes people want to change their papers, on the basis of the conversations and discussions they have around their paper in Cuba). I suggest that most of you will get the best results if you write your long paper first, and work out what you want to say, and only after that work on how to highlight its contents in 10 minutes in the shorter paper - but of course how you generate your two papers is up to you. Recall the relevant deadlines: April 1 for the abstract of a proposal for a paper or panel (and this can be bent some, but please not too much), and May 1 for the completed (short) paper (the one they have to translate, so this cannot be bent significantly). Everyone applying for the conference should send to me as soon as possible a 2 to 3 paragraph abstract. We need these to help in the grouping of papers into panels, and for the Cubans to know what sorts of interests people coming will have so they can try when possible to invite some Cubans with similar interests. Hasta la victoria siempre.
contact email: cliff[at]globaljusticecenter[dot]org
