The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center at SUNY Stony Brook invites presentation proposal for its ninth annual graduate student conference to be held on Friday, April 9, 2010 at Stony Brook Manhattan. Using the theme, “1810-2010: Two Hundred Years of Postcolonial Futures,” the conference seeks to use the bicentennial of numerous Latin American independence movements to examine and debate the degrees of rupture and continuity in the region’s two centuries of post colonialism.

Similar to the years 1810 and 1910, many Latin American states, political and social movements, and citizens will use the year 2010 to mark a moment of rupture with the past and an opportunity to imagine alternative futures and utopias. Despite many advances since independence, 2010 will also mark two centuries of promises of futures never realized in Latin America. Since 1810, many proclaimed moments of change and rupture have been constrained by colonial and neo-colonial cultural, political, and economic legacies. Important questions that this conference seeks to address include (but are not limited to): To what degree self-proclaimed moments of change and rupture in Latin America have, in fact, only proven to be tools of performance and co-optation by states or other powerful groups? What are the racial, political, and economic legacies of colonialism that constrain revolutionary moments? How have Latin Americans succeeded in undertaking fundamental and historical changes in their societies? How has the discourse of change and rupture led to unintended legacies in concepts of race, class, and gender? What roles have institutions of learning, science, and technology played in moments of social change and continuity? How, and to what extent have these two hundred years of postcolonial futures been represented, contested, and explored by artists, writers, intellectuals, and performers? How have art and culture shaped -and been shaped by- the interaction between colonial legacies, republican ideologies, and postcolonial imaginaries? All of these questions take on added importance as we seek to engage and rethink the contemporary nationalist discourse emerging in the upcoming independence bicentennials in several Latin American nations.

By stimulating cross-disciplinary discussions, the conference invites graduate students to examine and transcend the boundaries of the own academic fields. The multi-disciplinary nature of this conference also provides an opportunity for graduate students to interact with other scholars outside their traditional fields of study and academic specialties.

Presentation proposals should be 200 to 300 words in length, in either Spanish or English, and should include a cover page with name, academic affiliation and contact information. Panel proposals and alternative, non-paper presentations will also be given consideration.

Please submit proposals electronically to sbulaccgrad@yahoo.com

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2009