2024 Conference Re)Membering & Restoring Resistance in Ethnic Studies
California State University Bakersfield
October 31- November 3, 2024
(Re)Membering & Restoring Resistance in Ethnic Studies.
The Association for Ethnic Studies (AES) invites community leaders, teachers, students, academics, early scholars, teacher practitioners and grass root organizers to join us for the 52nd annual AES conference focusing on: (Re)Membering & Restoring Resistance in Ethnic Studies. The Conference will consist of film screening, paper and panel presentations, and workshops. AES is an avant garde committed to drawing upon ethnic studies scholarship and praxis to address questions facing Black, Chicana/o/x, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American, immigrant, Arab, Muslim, transgender/genderqueer, and marginalized communities. We call upon Ethnic Studies communities to (re)member and restore resistance through humanizing and liberatory theories, methodologies, and pedagogies to study and challenge how the contemporary social and political context has diminished, targeted, and appropriated our commitments to social transformation.
This year’s theme “(Re)Membering & ( Re)Storing Resistance in Ethnic Studies” draws upon Cynthia B. Dillard and Amber M. Neil’s (2021) “Still Following Our North Star: The Necessity of Black Women’s Spiritual (Re) Membering in Qualitative (Re)search”. Dillard & Neil remind us that:
“(Re)search for Black women begins with a deep, persistent search for one’s self, one’s humanity. It is a spiritual desire to (re)member who we are and whose we are, a courageous search again in the mind, body, and spirit (Dillard, 2006, 2021). When Black women (re)member in qualitative inquiry, our (re)search helps us see ourselves as African people and envision our work more clearly. It likewise alerts us when our humanity is being assaulted. It is our process of examining the spirit of our work and the internal yearnings and questions that drive our inquiry…”
Aligned with Dillard & Neil’s epistemological stance, we invite ethnic studies practitioners, educators, activists to consider how (re)membering is call to “look both inside and outside of ourselves” (p.1187) and deeply activate our senses to the ancestral, present, and futurist humanities needed to embody Ethnic Studies. Following Revilla (2021), we imagine the possibility of restoration. We consider ethnic studies as a space for restoring and protecting our spirits and renewing our commitments to student and community grassroot movement building through “liberating educational process,” rooted in reconstructing the systems and structures at the center of Western imperialism and Eurocentrism (Hu-Dehart, 1993).
The conference is being hosted by the Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University Bakersfield. The city of Bakersfield, California is a historical location given the associations with residential redlining, school segregation, and farmworker struggles in the surrounding communities (Rosales, 2016).
Special sessions will be dedicated for early-career academics, pre-doctoral and doctoral students, and k-12 Ethnic Studies teachers and practitioners.
AES welcomes all participants, including community activists, professors, graduate/undergraduate and high school students, independent scholars, first-time presenters, artists, and community healers.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
Topics:
- Historical memory of resistance
- Retaliation against resistance
- Healing and resistance
- Imperialism and Colonialism and its Impact on K -12 Youth.
- Intersectionality and labor
- (Im)migration and Ethnic Studies
- Spirit Murder in Ethnic Studies
- Spirit Protectors in Ethnic Studies
- Youth Resistance and Radicalism (P-20)
- Transformational Ethnic Studies Teaching
- Politics of Resistance in Ethnic Studies
- Ethnic Studies Literacies
- Ethnic Studies Pedagogies & Methodologies
- Incarceration and Abolition
FAQ
Registration
Online Conference Registration: Click Here
Can I register onsite?
Yes, there will be onsite registration.
Schedule Overview
Thursday October 31, 2024,
3:00-6:00 PM Conference Opening Reception
Friday November 1, 2024, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
8:30 AM – 9:50 AM Welcome & Continental Breakfast
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM Concurrent Session
11:30 AM – 12:45 PM Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Keynote
2:15 PM – 3:30 PM Concurrent Session 2
3:45 PM – 5:00 PM Concurrent Session 3
Saturday November 2, 2024, 9:00 AM- 6:00 PM
Breakfast 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Welcome & Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Community Conversation
10:15 AM -11:30 AM Concurrent Session 4
11:30 AM – 12: 45 PM Lunch & Awards
1:00 PM – 2:15 PM Concurrent Session 5
2:30 PM – 3:45 PM Concurrent Session 6
4:00 PM – 5:15 PM Concurrent Session 7
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM Closing Keynote
Sunday November 3, 2024: Optional breakfast/ off campus
Housing and Travel
How do I make hotel reservations?
Conference Reservations are made after registrations. When you call to reserve let them known that you are attending the Association of Ethnic Studies Conference/CSUB. There are only 60 rooms reserved: 30 standard studio at a rate of $129 plus tax per night and 30 one-bedroom suites at a rate of $139 plus tax per night. You will have until October 17th to make the reservations at the rates we are given. Hotel information: Homewood Suites by Hilton (there is a shopping center across the street from this hotel) Has restaurants, stores, and Starbucks). 1505 Mill Rock Way, Bakersfield, CA 93311. 661-664-0400
Are there other hotel options?
Second option is Home2 Suites by Hilton. Hotel information: Home2 Suites by Hilton ( This one is across the street from an Italian restaurant, gas station and down the street is a shopping center) 8227 Brimhall Road, Bakersfield, CA 93312. 661-368-2527
What is the best airport?
Meadowsfield Airport is the primary airport. There will most likely be a connecting flight through LAX or SFO. Airport Website: https://www.meadowsfield.com.
Best way to travel from LAX
Driving is about 120 Miles. Amtrack is a 2.5 Hours and leaves every 3 Hours.
Will I need a rental car?
Some conference attendees will choose to rent car because they are driving from areas that are close by. Ride share is a good option for this conference.
For more information, please get in touch with the AES National Office at naes@ethnicstudies.org
On the Value of AES Conference
Hear from past conference attendees.