Conference

The LSA conference is an exciting event, held every two years during the summer at different geographic locations across the United States. The conference draws together over 500 academics, students, artists, writers, filmmakers and community activists whose work is dedicated to supporting, understanding, and engaging issues relevant to Latino/a/x people in the United States. The conference provides a generative and creative space for fostering community and broadcasting the lively and critical work that defines the field of Latina/o/x studies.

Each conference is slightly different depending on contemporary challenges facing Latina/o/x communities, the scholarship surrounding those issues, and the location of the conference. Plenary sessions are integral aspects of the conferences as well as presentations. Presentation formats include regular panel presentations, roundtable discussions, workshops, poster sessions and other creative venues depending on the interests and needs of the membership. Professional development workshops and panels on recent books in Latina/o/x studies are likewise integral to conference proceedings. In 2018, a subcommittee of the Program Committee formed the LSA Plaza as a dynamic space to get together with long-time friends and colleagues – and find new ones – over coffee and conversation. The community building inherent in the LSA Plaza includes a chance to browse and buy books, meet acquisition editors from different presses, watch films and meet filmmakers, listen to live music, attend poetry and book readings, experience local Latinx art, and interact with a variety of community groups. The Poetry en la Plaza events, which highlighted a series of poets reading from their work over several days, proved to be very popular and may become a permanent – and prominent – feature of the LSA Plaza.

Participants at past conferences have noted their unique character, particularly the sense of support and comradery among participants. Bringing together a diverse group of people in the community allows members to have conversations across disciplinary and institutional borders. The conference affords those interested and engaged in Latina/o/x Studies the opportunity to share work, exchange views, and share in meaningful conversations with scholars, teachers, students, writers, artists, and community activists in the field.