Second Latin American and Iberian Studies International Graduate Student Conference
Borders, Power, and Transgression
University of California Santa Barbara
April 30, May 1 and May 2, 2020
 
We welcome paper proposals for the Second Latin American and Iberian Studies (LAIS) International Graduate Student Conference, organized by the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). The theme of the conference will be Borders, Power, and Transgression.
 
A border is what separates two things, and the border’s very existence is inseparable both from the power that sustains it and from the possibility of its transgression. In recent years the relationship between borders—political, geographical and symbolic—and state power has taken on a special significance in the public arena. Transgression, for its part, is an ambivalent term, as it may encompass very different ideas—from resistance against oppression to the erosion of institutions on behalf of authoritarianism or corporate profit. Analyzing borders and power must take this ambivalence into account.
 
We invite graduate students to submit paper proposals that address the theme of borders, and its relationship to power and transgression, in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Although this regional focus is specific, we understand “borders” as a broad and fluid concept, encompassing not only geographical or political boundaries, but also questions like gender, race, ethnicity, discursive practices, and more broadly, notions like limit, frontier, division and critique. We welcome contributions from any discipline in the social sciences, the humanities or the arts.

The conference will take place at the UCSB campus from April 30th through May 2nd, 2020.  Tentatively, the first day (April 30th) will be dedicated to workshops and career panels. Paper presentations are scheduled for May 1st and 2nd.

Please send your paper proposal no later than January 15, 2020. Your proposal must include: the title of your presentation and an abstract (250 words maximum).

If your proposal is accepted you will be notified by February 1st. You will then be asked to submit a draft of your paper by April 1st.