February 25, 2020
La Academia del Pueblo, an annual academic forum hosted by the Wayne State University’s
Center for the Latino/a and Latin American Studies, seeks to establish mutually beneficial
connections between the academy, engaged citizens and urban communities. This year’s
theme invites scholars to explore historic, contemporary and futuristic technologies influencing
Latina/o/x communities. In this age of unprecedented innovation, we are particularly
interested in Latina/o/x engagement of technology for empowerment and how the state
deploys its authority through technological applications in communities of color. Participants
are encouraged to employ analytical frameworks premised upon intersectionality and/or
other methodological approaches that shed light on the multiple forces at work, such as
class, gender, race and ethnicity. Research proposals that emphasize participatory action and
collaboration between the academy and the community are especially welcome.
The conference committee invites submissions of abstracts for poster boards and panel
presentations from educators, undergraduate and graduate students, artists, filmmakers and
community members conducting Latina/o/x and Latin American research. Scholars are invited
to incorporate one or more of the following themes listed below:
• New technology that empowers marginalized communities
• Access to and development of knowledge economies
• Social media and social justice
• Racialized experiences in video games
• Latina/o/x experience with new healthcare technology and trials
• Digital inequality in primary, secondary, and STEM education
• Hacking communities in the Americas
• Technology for resilience and resistance
• Techno-Feminism and Latina/o/x-Futurism
• Algorithm bias and artificial intelligence development
• Filtering fake news and information inequality
• Surveillance and virtual incarceration
• Queer identities in digital spaces
• Technology and US immigration policy
• Afro and Indigenous digital expressions of Latinidad
• New media and integration of creative expressions
• Digital literacy and elders of color
• Technological development and media representations of Latinas/os/x
Abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted to go.wayne.edu/academia details
by February 28th, 2020. Decisions by the conference planning committee will be
communicated by March 6th, 2020. The 11th annual La Academia del Pueblo Conference
will be held at the main campus of Wayne State University on April 18th, 2020.