LACIS Graduate Student Conference

Upcoming Conference:

2012 Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies
Graduate Student Conference:
“Flowing Frontiers: The Dancing Dynamics of the Americas”

View the conference schedule

April 13, 2012
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Memorial Student Union
800 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706
Check TITU for Room Information

The 2012 Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies (LACIS) Graduate Student Conference will focus on the fluidity of interdisciplinary study.  Just as ideas flow, meander, and surge across borders, and just as identity dances, sways, and pivots, so too, does interdisciplinary study engage and challenge the parameters of traditional disciplines.  This conference aims at examining the dynamics of movement among disciplines and across the borders of the Americas, the Caribbean, and Iberia. 

The work of the conference keynote speaker, María Elena Cepeda, truly embodies and exemplifies such examination of movement across disciplines and borders.  Cepeda is an associate professor of Latino/a Studies, as well as affiliated with American Studies; Spanish; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  She is the author of Musical ImagiNations: U.S.-Colombian Identity and the “Latin Music Boom” (New York University Press, 2010), and is currently writing Survival Aesthetics: Latina Beauty and Power in Transnational Context.   

We invite you to share your unique and imaginative work at the 2012 LACIS Graduate Student Conference.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:  Gender, Identity, Borders, Language and Culture, Historical Perspectives, Challenges to Education, Economic Development, Migration and Immigration, Cultural Change and Conflict, Implications of Globalization, Environmental Consequences, Political Trends in Latin America, Nationalism and Ethno-nationalism, etc…  These themes are only guidelines, and we welcome all proposals from any discipline and on any topic that emphasizes the dynamics and fluidity of the study of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Iberia.

For more information on the conference please send an email to: lacisconference2012@gmail.com

Previous Conferences:

2011 LACIS Graduate Student Conference
  reTURN: USA Academia and Latin America: What is your Scholarly Impact?
 
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The University Club, Lower Level
803 State St., Madison, WI
 
Keynote Speaker:
Fernando O. Reati, Professor, Georgia State University
"Disobedience Art in Argentina"
 
As interest in Latin America grows and U.S. based scholars conduct research in Latin America, what responsibility do we (scholars) have to address the issues facing Latin America such as socioeconomic inequality, land and resource management, and political/ethnic conflict? How do we connect academia to making a positive impact? How do you see your research and field of study influencing Latin American policy?

The LACIS Graduate Student Conference is intended as a way for UW Students from diverse fields to share research with one another and with LACIS-affiliated faculty, with the goal of forging cross-disciplinary connections.  The day will feature panel presentations, a keynote address, and roundtable discussion, as well as ample time for questions.
(Coffee, tea and pastries will be offered in the morning and then the conference will break over the noon-hour for attendees to obtain lunch on their own.)