CALL FOR PAPERS

LATINA/O FOCUS GROUP (LFG) SESSIONS

Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference 2015

Montréal, Québec, Canada  |  July 30 - August 2, 2015

Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel

ATHE 2015 Conference Theme: Je me souviens (I Remember)

The Latina/o Focus Group (LFG) of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) invites proposals for the 2015 ATHE conference to be held in Montreal, Canada. The theme, “Je me souviens (I Remember),” as an organizing idea seizes the city of Montreal’s terse but vivid motto in an effort to convene a conference that embraces the ideas and multiple possibilities ascribed to and forged within conversations investigating memory. The LFG concurs that there are productive provocations in this theme and seeks proposals that rigorously and creatively engage the subject of memory and its many facets. As Latina playwright Cherríe Moraga notes, “it is through art that cultural memory is transmitted. Our storytellers are the memory-carriers.” As just one example, Moraga’s incisive thinking identifies the distinct and powerful role memory plays in U.S. Latina/o, Latin American, and indigenous populations and, as such, the powerful and enduring role it plays in these populations’ cultural expressions.

The subject of memory (and, consequently, forgetting) saturates U.S. Latina/o, Latin American, and indigenous performance and scholarly projects. The LFG invites theoretical, critical, or creative/practice-based session proposals and will give special attention and consideration to submissions that:

• Propose innovative investigations of the intersections (in terms of both form of session and content of session) between memory and performance that concern U.S. Latina/o, Latin American, and indigenous populations and their cultural productions.
• Convene conversations/sessions that propose discussions that adamantly seek to cross-pollinate the conversation among U.S. Latina/o, Latin American, and indigenous performance topics, objects of study, and theoretical ideas.
• Offer panels/sessions that are multidisciplinary in nature: that utilize session participants from diverse ATHE Focus Groups or offer panels comprised of participants from separate institutions.
• Offer panels/sessions with no more than four participants (not including a session Chair, which would constitute the fifth person on the panel). Panel/session proposals with no more than four scheduled participants will be given leading priority for selection.
• Offer practice-based/creative ideas that engage the topic of memory directly.
• Incorporate vibrant and non-traditional methodological approaches to paper presentations and creative/practice-based approaches to conference presentations/discussions.

As mentioned at the 2014 membership meeting, participation by presenters in the LFG has grown tremendously. Therefore, selecting from our many submissions becomes a challenging process for conference planners as the process becomes more competitive. As our membership grows we cannot guarantee that panels (and single paper submissions) will be accepted. With limited spacing available, we offer the following advice to help you plan your submissions:

• Make sure your session is in compliance with submission instructions (see LFG ATHE website for further information). Do not leave details out of your proposal since this may affect your submission’s ranking. Also, be specific in your paper abstracts and panel descriptions.  
• Offer full, cohesive panel sessions of paper presentations (as opposed to individuals offering single paper submissions for consideration). Single paper submissions will not necessarily be able to find a secure position in this year’s LFG conference selections.
• We strongly encourage potential participants to have conversations for forming panels and finding possible panel participants with both Irma Mayorga, LFG Representative, (historia34@yahoo.com) and Jimmy Noriega, LFG Conference Planner, (jnoriega@wooster.edu) early in the process.
• We also encourage potential participants to participate in the dialogue and seek collaboration using the LFG ATHE blog site: http://www.athe.org/group/LFG 

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

Complete Sessions/Panels: November 1, 2014. Submit your session proposal directly to ATHE online at www.athe.org — more information about procedures on LFG ATHE blog site: http://www.athe.org/group/LFG.

++ Please submit a separate copy of your proposal to Conference Planner Jimmy Noriega at jnoriega@wooster.edu when you submit your ATHE online proposal. This allows the LFG to help curate your session through the submission process.

Individual Papers or Presentation Proposals: October 17, 2014 (send your proposal to Jimmy Noriega at jnoriega@wooster.edu).

• For information regarding AV equipment, grants for AV needs, MD panels, and other submission details, please visit this page.

PRE-CONFERENCE

Please note, there will be no LFG pre-conference for ATHE 2015. We strongly encourage LFG members to attend pre-conference events to be held by other focus groups this upcoming year. We are always conscious that our membership’s creative and scholarly interests are wide-ranging and diverse. This “break” year affords the opportunity for members to nourish their wide interests.

A NOTE ON COMMUNICATION

>>> ATHE has retired ALL ATHE Focus Group email listservs. <<<

ATHE has a new website that hosts focus group “pages” or “forums” where focus groups post all information and communications. Joining the LFG forum page is easy. Registered, dues paying ATHE members will obtain full functionality of the new website. Non-members can also access particular elements of the site (see below).  

How to affiliate with the LATINA/O FOCUS GROUP on the ATHE website for all communication for registered ATHE members, i.e., you have paid your ATHE membership fee for 2014:

1. Go to the ATHE homepage (www.athe.org).
2. Sign into your ATHE account. (If you don’t remember your username or password, use the “Contact Us” function at the very top of the page.) Once you are logged in, continue to Step 3
3. Hover over the “Groups” tab.
4. Hover over “Focus Groups L-S.”
5. Select “Latina/o Focus Group.”
6. In the top left corner of the Latina/o Focus Group page, you should see two menu items: “Directory & Features” and “Join Group.” Select “Join Group.”
7. You are now affiliated with the Latina/o Focus Group and will receive communications! You can now participate in our forum discussions, post blogs, and take advantage of the other site functions we will be launching in the coming weeks and months. Please note that we will continue to work on updating and streamlining the site information and coordinating it with the wonderful LFG resource/website created by Kimberly Ramirez. We will now be sending important conference & non-conference announcements via this medium. 

What if you are not a registered (dues paying) member of ATHE but want to participate in LFG discussions on this new site? ATHE has introduced a new Participation-Only Website Registration, which is absolutely free of charge. You can sign up for this at http://www.athe.org/?page=Join_ATHE.

If you have any questions about this new “forum” communication (member or non-member alike), we encourage you to contact ATHE’s Communications Manager, Shaun Franklin-Sewell, at comm@athe.org.