The Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA) is pleased to invite submissions for our biennial conference, “(Im)mobility and Memory in Latin America and the Caribbean.” This conference will explore the dynamic interrelations between memory and mobility in the region, focusing on how both movement and stasis shape, and are shaped by, cultural, social and historical processes. We seek to examine how memory—individual and collective—becomes a contested terrain in relation to both mobility and immobility.
Conceptualizing Memory:
In this conference, we are imagining Memory as encompassing not only personal and collective recollections but also broader questions of heritage, patrimony, and history. How are tangible and intangible forms of patrimony – such as monuments, artifacts, oral traditions, and historical narratives – remembered, preserved, or transformed in contexts of movement, migration, or displacement? How do communities in Latin America and the Caribbean negotiate their cultural and historical legacies in the face of (im)mobility? We invite participants to consider these and other questions as they relate to the politics of memory, heritage, and identity.
We invite cultural and social anthropologists, ethnographers, archaeologists, linguistic anthropologists, biological anthropologists, and related fields to contribute to this cross-subfield conversation. Submissions may engage with the following questions and topics, although other relevant themes are welcome:
- How do movements, migrations, and displacements shape personal and collective memories in Latin America and the Caribbean?
- How is cultural patrimony—both tangible (e.g., monuments, artifacts) and intangible (e.g., traditions, languages)—impacted by the forces of mobility or immobilities in the region?
- What role does memory play in ongoing struggles for justice, rights, and recognition in Latin America and the Caribbean?
- How do material remains (archaeological, cultural, biological) inform our understandings of past and present mobilities and immobilities?
- What linguistic strategies are employed to navigate, negotiate, or resist mobility, and how are they remembered and transmitted across generations?
- In what ways do (im)mobilities intersect with racial, gendered, and class-based identities in the region, and how does this intersection affect collective memories and heritage?
- How do environmental changes, political economies, and global connections foster or hinder movements within Latin America and the Caribbean, and what is the impact on cultural heritage and memory?
SLACA is a multilingual professional association. Thus, although there will be no formal translation services, oral presentations may be given in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or English. We ask that slides be prepared in one of the other languages to facilitate dialogue.
Submission Guidelines:
We invite individual submissions for paper or poster presentations. Proposals should include:
- For individual papers: a title, a 250-word abstract, and the presenter’s name, affiliation,
- and contact information. Abstracts are accepted in all languages listed above, but a version in Spanish must also be provided.
- For posters: a title, a 250-word abstract, and the presenter’s name, affiliation, and contact information. Abstracts are accepted in all languages listed above, but a version in Spanish must also be provided.
Submission Deadline: December 6, 2024
Notification of Acceptance: Mid-December, 2024
Please submit your proposals through our conference management system. For questions regarding submissions, please contact the SLACA Congreso Program Chair, Renata Hryciuk.
We look forward to your contributions and a vibrant exchange of ideas on the theme of (Im)mobility and Memory in Latin America and the Caribbean.