Kennesaw State University’s American Studies Program, Center for Regional History & Culture, and Shaw Industries Chair invite proposals for a conference on Latino/a labor and American culture. Globalization is not a new phenomenon for the peoples of the western hemisphere. From the beginning of European colonization, the economies of the New World have been integral parts of a larger global marketplace. The United States, in particular, has had a long experience of economic exchange with Latin America and the Caribbean involving workers and culture. More recently, many places in the American South have become new destinations for Latino/a immigration. This conference seeks multi-disciplinary/interdisciplinary proposals for papers that examine any aspect of the integration of labor markets between the United States and Latin America, including causes and consequences. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the experiences of workers from either or both sides of the Rio Grande or the Caribbean; the impact of trade policy; examinations of union-organizing campaigns; biography; the cultural impact of labor migration; the politics of migration/emigration/immigration; historical perspectives on any aspect of Latino/a labor in America.

The keynote speaker for the conference is Gilbert Gonzalez, University of California- Irvine. Professor Gonzalez has authored or edited several books, including Guest Workers or Colonized Labor? Mexican Labor Migration to the United States (2006), Culture of Empire: American Writers, Mexico, and Mexican Immigrants, 1880-1930 (2004), and (co-editor) Labor Versus Empire (2004).

Send one-page paper or panel proposals via e-mail to Randall Patton at rpatton@kennesaw.edu by January 5, 2008. We encourage discussions of works-in-progress. Small stipends to help defray travel costs are available on a competitive basis to presenters.