Fourth Annual La Crosse Area Latina/o Collaborative Workshop on
Teaching, Service and Research
Building Inclusive Communities: Improving Immigrant Access to Education, Health, Housing, and Local Government
The Institute for Ethnic and Racial Studies,
The University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
April 26-27, 2013
Call for Papers
Since 2010, instructors, students, and community members from school districts, colleges, and universities in the La Crosse region have held an annual workshop to share best practices in the pedagogy, research, service learning, and international education programs in Latin American and Latina/o Studies. Past conferences have focused on the bicentenary of Latin American Independence, Human Rights, and Diversity.
The organizing theme for the Spring 2013 workshop is Building Inclusive Communities: Improving Immigrant Access to Education, Health, Housing, and Local Government. 2012 witnessed an increase in Latina/o participation in the democratic process, leading political commentators to question the continued value of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and there is a national consensus about the need to reform the immigration process. The Obama administration has recently instituted a deferred action program that offers better work and educational opportunities to immigrant children.
Despite these national advances, communities in the Upper Midwest have yet to come to terms with the changing demographics. While only the influx of immigrants can keep small and mid-sized rural towns afloat, immigrants remain isolated, with few efforts made to incorporate them into the community. Immigrants—both authorized and unauthorized—face numerous and complex barriers that deny them and their families access to educational and social opportunities. Schools and health providers do not always reach out to the growing immigrant and domestic Latina/o populations—and existing outreach efforts do not include non-Hispanic immigrant populations. Immigrant populations are racially profiled, and exploited by employers and landlords.
Community organizations and faith communities are eager to address these injustices, but lack experience or knowledge of best practices in outreach to immigrant communities. Institutions of higher education need to prepare the professionals of the future who can bridge the growing achievement divide between immigrants and local populations. By providing programming on these issues, colleges and universities can provide community leadership that allows institutions of higher education to showcase institutional commitments to inclusivity and service learning.
Our conference will highlight presentations on these developments, and will reflect on transformative opportunities in politics, society, aesthetics, literature and culture. Specific topics we would like to encourage include:
- Contemporary issues of equity, inclusivity and diversity in scholarship of Latin America and U.S. Latino populations
- Immigration, Exile, Transnationalism and Diasporas
- Race and Ethnicity in Citizenship and Community
- Immigrant Families
- Immigrants in schools
- Human trafficking and Human Rights Advocacy
- Indigenous and Post-Indigenous immigrant cultures
- Adult Literacy and Immigrant Cultural Literacy
- Representations of Immigrants and Immigration in literary and mass media
- Communities of Faith and the Immigrant
- Community Organizing, Social Justice and Stewardship
- Service Learning Opportunities with Immigrants
- Latina/o participation in local governments, school boards, and social services providers
In addition to facilitating roundtable presentations and conversations about teaching, service learning, and inter-national education through the individual papers, presentations, and panels, we invite formal conference papers and panels on related scholarly research.
This workshop intends to:
- Strengthen ties within the Latin American Studies community in Southwestern Wisconsin, but also within neighboring states such as Iowa and Minnesota.
- Share teaching ideas, course content, and learning modules about topics relating to citizenship, civic participation, and community
- Allow those with a specific research interest in a particular Latin American topic to present and receive feedback on a working paper or research project.
- Share experiences of service learning and international education programs in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the U.S.
- Foster greater awareness about the growing presence of Latina/o and Immigrant populations in Southwestern Wisconsin, South-eastern Minnesota, and Northeastern Iowa.
The workshop is open to all interested scholars, community service organizations, immigrant advocacy groups, health and social services administrators, and elementary, middle, and secondary educators and administrators in Wisconsin and adjacent states interested in Latin American, Latina/o, and Iberian studies. We welcome scholars and artists from various disciplines such as history, literature, art, social sciences, social work, education, political science, as well as professionals who do work in international studies with an emphasis on Latin America. Proposals on U.S. Latino populations are equally welcome. Selected papers focusing on teaching innovations and methodologies of globalization will be included in a special issue of Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, an on-line, peer-reviewed, academic journal published out of Viterbo University (La Crosse, WI) dedicated to exploring the deeper philosophical, political, social and ethical implications of education.
Deadline and format for submissions: individual paper presentation, panel or roundtable proposals (2-3 presentations per panel, 75 word summary of each presentation, 1-page c.v. for each presenter): March 1, 2013. We will assign a commentator/chair. Notification of acceptance will be forwarded on March 22, along with the final conference program. Please forward submissions to: mgrattan@uwlax.edu
Sponsors
The University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
Department of Ethnic and Racial Studies
Institute for Latin American and Iberian Studies
College of Liberal Studies
School of Education
Viterbo University
Latin American Studies Program
Department of World Languages
AMOS, Inc.
Third Annual
La Crosse Latina/o Collaborative
Teaching, Research, and Service Workshop
Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Friday, April 27, 2012
6:30 PM. Registration. Nursing Center
(NRC 196)
7:00 - 7:10 PM. Welcome Remarks by Glena Temple, Dean
of Letters and Sciences, and intro to keynote speaker by Jesús
Jambrina, Coordinator of the Latin American
Studies program, VU.
7:10 PM. Keynote Address. Bradley S. Epps, Professor of Romance Languages and
Literatures and Department Chair,
Studies in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University.
8:00-9:00 pm. Welcome Reception. NRC Lobby.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
7:30 AM. Breakfast. NRC Lobby/ NRC 195.
All sessions
are in NRC 196.
7:50 AM. Remarks by Barbara Gayle,
Academic Vice President, Viterbo University and Víctor
M. Macías-González, co-chair of LALAC and Director Institute for Latina/o and
Latin American Studies, UW-La Crosse. Program orientation by Jesús Jambrina,
Latin American Studies Coordinator at Viterbo University, NRC 196.
8:00 – 10:00 AM. Social
Sciences and Health Care in Latin America.
Moderator: Vicente Guillot, World Languages and Cultures, VU.
Kathleen Jeffries,
Loras College, Traditional Medicine and Diversity
issues in Health Care.
Rose Kreutz, and
Sheryl Jacobson, VU, Cross Cultural Immersion Experience in
Belize.
Angela Rooker, UWL, Readjustment
back home: Migrant Return in Xalapa, Mexico.
10:00- 10:05 AM. Break
10:05 – 10:45 AM. Round
table: Students’ Role in the Didactic
Discourse: Beyond the Classroom.
Danielle Elland, Nikole Fanta, and Jocelyn
Lutes, VU students
Alison Rosenbaum, VU. A
Statistical Analysis of Latino/a Crime Rate and Recidivism in Wisconsin’s Justice
System
10:50 AM -12:10 PM. Approaches to Teaching Latin American topics
Moderator: Michael Smuksta, History Department , VU
Maribel Bird, VU. Teaching through the News:
Contextualizing Cultures.
Keith Knutson, Political Science, VU, Brazil’s
International Leadership Role in the 21stCentury.
Jason Howard, VU. Too Close for Comfort:
Pedagogical Hurdles in Teaching the Philosophies
of Latin America.
12:10 – 12:30 PM. Lunch.
NRC Lobby, and NRC 195.
12:30 – 2:00 PM. Topics in Latin American Cultural Theory and Politics
Moderator: Brad Epps, Romance Languages Department, Harvard University
Lídice Aleman, Washington University. ¿Qué
hizo el hombre de ti? Georgina Herrera entre identidad y discurso official.
Alfredo Alonso, Luther
College, Literary Biography and Authorship
in Jorge Luis Borges.
Armando Chávez-Rivera,
University of Houston-Victoria. Banquetes, hambrunas,
y palenques en la literatura
antiesclavista del siglo XIX en Cuba.
2:00- 2:10 PM. Break
2:10- 3:40 PM. Mapping
and Assessing Teaching Latin American and Latina/o Issues.
Moderator: Víctor M. Macías-González, UWL
Adriana McCleer.
UW-Milwaukee. Color Blindness and Censorship: The Dismantling of Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program.
Kate McCarthy- Gilmore,
Loras College. Latinos in the Midwest: Development
and Integration through sustainable
models.
Víctor M. Macías-González, UWL. The UW-La Crosse Eagle Mentoring
Program: Lessons from a 2nd
year minority student retention program for highly-motivated students.
3:40-4:00 PM. Conclusion and Assessment
The Workshop is made possible thanks to the Latin American
Studies Program at Viterbo University, the Institute for Latina/o and Latin
American Studies at UWL, the UW-Milwaukee Center for Latin American and
Caribbean Studies, and the Faculty Development Office at Viterbo
University.
Call for Papers
How is diversity experienced in Latin America? How are diversity and inclusivity
experienced in the U.S. Latina/o communities? How do ethnicity and race intersect class, region,
gender, sexuality, and national origin?
This Teaching, Service, and Research Workshop explores
the intersection of these themes in the classroom, and how they affect U.S. citizens’
political imagination toward both the Latin American region and the Latina/o
community.
We look forward to sharing best practices in the classroom, sample syllabi
and learning modules, course materials, bibliographies, iPad applications for
teaching languages, diversity lessons and goals or any other relevant discussion.
Organizers encourage individual papers, panel and roundtable proposal
submissions on, but not limited to, the following topics:
· Representations of urban life in Literature,
Films and the Arts
· Fighting AIDS in Latin America
· LGBT movement in Latin America and among Latina/o populations
· Religious diversity and belief systems
· The African Diaspora narratives and national histories
· Uses of Internet in Latin America
· Representations of Latinas/os in the U.S.,
Europe, Asia, and Africa
· Teaching about and learning from diversity in
Latin America
· The role of the arts and music in nation
building
· Study Abroad Courses
· Intra Latin American immigration, and immigration
policies
· Social services policies
· Latinos in Europe
· Latin American perceptions of the United States
· Local response to Undocumented immigrant
population.
This workshop intends to:
- Strengthen ties within the
Latin American and Latino Studies community in South Western Wisconsin,
but also within neighboring states such as Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
- Share teaching ideas,
course content, and learning modules about topics relating to diversity in
Latin America and the Latino/a community
- Allow those with a
specific research interest in a particular Latin American topic to present
and receive feedback on a working paper or research project.
- Share experiences of
service learning and international education programs in Latin America
- Foster greater awareness
about the growing presence of Latina/o populations in Southwestern
Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and Northeastern Iowa.
- Encourage students
research projects presentations
The workshop is open to all interested CLACS Regional
Faculty Associates, secondary and post-secondary educators in Wisconsin and
adjacent states interested in Latin American, Latina/o studies. We welcome
scholars from various disciplines such as history, literature, art, social
sciences, social work, education, political science, as well as professionals
who do work in international studies with an emphasis on Latin America.
Selected papers focusing on teaching innovations and methodologies will be
included in a special issue of Analytic
Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, an on-line, peer-reviewed, academic
journal published out of Viterbo University (La Crosse, WI) dedicated to
exploring the deeper philosophical, political, social and ethical implications
of education.
The deadline for individual paper, presentation,
panel or roundtable (3 papers and 1 commentator, 150 word summary of
presentation): March 10, 2012.
Notification of acceptance will be forwarded on March 15, along with the final
conference program
Workshop Proposal Online Form
Registration: The $30 registration cost for
participants will cover conference costs, refreshments, dinner, continental
breakfast, and lunch.
Registration cost is waived for Viterbo and UW system faculty and students presenters and attendants, but they still register below for organizational purposes.
Out of town guests
should make reservations in a timely manner at a hotel of their choice and may
be able to obtain a special discount rate of $70 available through the
conference co-sponsor UW-La Crosse. Please use the tax-exempt state
business rate and use the code ES 40706. Please download the certificate
of tax exemption from this website: http://www.wisconsin.edu/fadmin/fppp/wis.htm
and select Appendix H
The
workshop is co-sponsored by the Latin American Studies program at Viterbo University, UW-La Crosse College of Liberal Studies and
Institute for Latina/o and Latin American Studies, and the UW-Milwaukee Center
for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.