Sowing the Future of Chicana/o Studies:

Symposium Information

The Symposium will be held April 17th, 2020 from 10:00am-4:00pm, in Scripps Cottage, and at other locations on the SDSU campus on that day.

Successful submissions will focus on meaningful research questions, and show a clear connection to the field of Chicana/o studies and focusing on/highlighting Chicana/o/x voices and community issues, leveraging research as a means to speak towards how we might sow the seeds of more liberatory futures for our Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x communities and world. We encourage the submission of student research (including both qualitative and quantitative empirical research, historical work, and performative/artistic research) from a variety of disciplines that explores the Chicana/o/x condition, in its past, its present, and future.

We invite research from across disciplines that locates itself in Chicana/o Studies, and engages with various types of oppression including, but not limited to, racialization, patriarchy, heteronormativity, ableism, colorism, linguicism, capitalism, nationalism, and other forms of systematic oppression rampant in society; and, of course, the intersections of these lenses of oppression.

Proposal submissions are due Sunday, March 8th at 11:59pm, and should be abstracts of no more than 500 words describing the research, and its' significance to the field of Chicana/o studies.

Students will be notified of proposal acceptance status by March 20th.

Completed, in-progress, and evolving projects are welcome. That means you are welcome to submit something you completed in a past semester, or something you are currently working on. We encourage and invite you to align course projects you have for this semester with this work, and we will not request for you to submit a full paper prior to the symposium (though we hope that your proposal submission will help you either complete or advance a course paper, project, or artistic piece, with an eye towards moving your research even further forward).

Projects completed as a pair/partnership are welcome.

Coaching to Prepare for the Symposium: In addition to this session, a further Coaching session on Research presentations will be held to ensure all student-participants feel well-supported as we approach the symposium itself. Time, date, and location of this session is TBD.

For further questions, please contact Profe Domínguez at michael.dominguez@sdsu.edu. We are here to help!

Submission Categories

To help us organize our symposium, student-researchers will be asked to categorize their proposal under one of the following:

• Qualitative Social Science: Includes qualitative work in sociology, education, political science, linguistics, law & legal study, etc.

• Quantitative Social Science: Includes quantitative focused work in public health, economics, political science, kinesiology, etc.

• Humanities: Includes work in literature, art and/or music studies or history, history, etc.

• Artistic & Performative Research: Includes research-driven artistic creations, embodied or performative research presentations, and other non-traditional types of knowledge production.

Types of Presentations

Given our limited time and space, there are 4 types of sessions we will hold as part of the symposium in which you might present your work:

• Panels: As part of a group of 4-7 researchers with related work, you will have ~10 minutes to present your research orally, accompanied by Powerpoint slides or another presentation tool. After all presenters have finished, a moderator will help you all field questions from the audience.

• Poster Session: You will create a poster displaying your research, that will be included in a larger poster session with other students' research-posters. During this session, you will stand near your poster, getting to share and discuss your work informally with attendees.

• Exhibit Installation (For Artistic pieces): We will host an exhibit of student visual art as part of the symposium, with a dedicated reception time during which you can share and discuss your work informally with attendees.

• Performance (For Artistic pieces): We will host sessions dedicated to performance, and non-traditional research presentations. After all presenters have concluded, a moderator will help you all field questions from the audience.

During submission, you will be able to express a preference, though accepted proposals may be placed on any type of session depending on the number of proposals received and facility constraints.

Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be used in assessing submissions for possible inclusion in the symposium:

• Technical Quality: The proposal is well written, free from errors, and the ideas and organization of the submission are clear.

• Research Quality: The submitted proposal outlines a clear research problem, a clear research question, identifies key research methods, and discusses significant findings (or what these are anticipated to be), with clarity and focus.

• Analysis: The proposal clearly demonstrates the author is centering Chicana/o studies in their research, with inquiry into intersectional experiences/issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. as primary elements of the research analysis.

• Innovativeness and Impact: The research question, methods, and/or problem that the proposal addresses are intriguing and compelling, and reflect unique and original student research and inquiry work.

To Submit

When you are ready, you can submit your proposal (Consisting of a title, Abstract (500 word max), and personal information) to the linked button: