Deliberating Latin@ Studies, Building on/including Chican@ Studies, and Developing Coalitions of Solidarity in Search for Social Justice and the Production of Knowledge

Presenters Stephanie Alvarez, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Associate Professor Gerardo Aldana, University of California Santa Barbara, Professor Sheila Contreras, Michigan State University, Associate Professor Aída... [ view full abstract ]

Presenters
Stephanie Alvarez, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Associate Professor
Gerardo Aldana, University of California Santa Barbara, Professor
Sheila Contreras, Michigan State University, Associate Professor
Aída Hurtado, University of California Santa Barbara, Luis Leal Endowed Chair
Lourdes Torres, DePaul University, Vincent de Paul Professor


This roundtable brings together scholars from across the U.S. to discuss and deliberate Latin@ Studies as a discipline and its connection with Chican@ Studies. The participants come from various ethnicities, have varied types of degree programs (undergraduate, master’s and doctoral) and serve very diverse student populations; rural South Texas, California, Chicago and Michigan. As both Latin@ and Chican@ Studies become more entrenched in academia it is important to both reflect on the grass-roots origins and purposes of self-empowerment and social justice and wonder how to best ensure that this core remain central to its mission. Recent student movements across the nation such as the #StudentBlackOut movement and their demands for ethnic studies as part of the solution to ending racism on campus are a timely reminder to reflect on our core missions. We also ask how can we tap into Latin@ and Chican@ epistemologies to practice epistemic disobedience and combat the “Western Institutional” consumption of “our” disciplines? Moreover, this discussion will deliberate ways in which we in Latin@ and Chican@ Studies can meet the urgent needs of our local and regional communities while at the same time break down what can often be viewed as the insularity of our regional approaches and experiences to develop coalitions of solidarity. One such possible coalition of solidarity that will be discussed is the opportunity of developing a domestic exchange program with other Chican@ & Latin@ Studies programs to expose our students to regions of the U.S. & the different experiences that Chiacn@s & Latin@s have throughout the country. Lastly, we aim to share the ways in which we have negotiated the difficult terrain of carving out spaces in academia for transformative learning, social justice, and scholarship production in Latin@ and Chican@ Studies.

*Note if committee feels workshop is more appropriate description, this is acceptable to presenters as well.