Aquà Estamos!/We Are Here!: Movements, Migrations, Pilgrimage and Belonging
The 2013 MALCS Summer Institute Program Committee invites submissions for its annual Summer Institute to be held this year at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. This is only the third time in its 30-year history that MALCS has been located in the U.S. Midwest. We take seriously the location where we find ourselves—the geographical, historical, contemporary, intellectual, cultural and political place where we are—for the 2013 Summer Institute.
Two thousand years ago, native people created magnificent earthworks in this region that were sites of pilgrimage for travelers from as far as thousands of miles away. This land was also home to the Shawnee, Delaware and Miami people, and hunting and trading grounds for over forty indigenous nations. It has been home to Mexican immigrants since at least the 1920s, Puerto Rican migrants since at least the 1950s, and many Caribbean, Central and South American migrants who continue to settle in Ohio today.
While Latina@s are perceived as newcomers to this and other areas, at this Summer Institute we want to critically examine the histories and heritages of our belonging, our indigenous roots and knowledge and contemporary pathways. As Chicanas, Latinas and Native American women, trans and gender non-conforming people we want to recognize and interrogate the complexities of our origins, departures, migrations and returns to this area, and we invite all MALCS members to consider these questions in multiple contexts – local, regional, national, hemispheric.
In the 21st century, Latinas and Native American women face important questions related to these historic realities as well as current ones. We want to consider: Why are we here—in the academy or other institutions, in the Midwest or other regions? Where are we going? How are we creating space for Chicanas, Latinas, and Native Americans in higher education? How do we create effective community where we are? What are the challenges of academic inclusion/ institutionalization versus community organizing? What can we learn from new identities, cultural changes and communities being formed and those that are being lost? In knowing ourselves how can we know others better?
We invite proposals focused on, but not necessarily limited to, the following topics:
- Knowledge in the Digital Age
- Indigenous Histories
- Education, Literacies, and Critical Pedagogies
- Migration and Technology
- Healing, Religion, Spirituality and Indigenous World Views
- Access and Inequality
- Identities, Hybridity, Intersectionality and Invisibility
- Career Pathways
- Power, Community, Social Activism and Decolonial Politics
- Environmental Justice
- Latinas & IndÃgenas in Transnational and Global Contexts
- Theater and Social Performance
- Research Focused on Underrepresented Populations in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine
- Gender, Sexualities, Queer and Trans Movements and Belonging
- Support Networks and Best Practices
- Underrepresented Faculty and Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Medicine (STEAM)
Please submit an abstract of 200 words, a one-page cv/resume, contact information and a completed submission form by February 1, 2013. Â To submit a proposal for a paper, panel, workshop or roundtable visit https://casosu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cZvGjvHQ4ZnvNuB
Presenters will be notified in March 2013.
More information on 2013 Summer Institute  will appear here.