2015 Critical Race Studies in Education Conference Vanderbilt University Law School Nashville, Tennessee May 27-29, 2015 Race! Civil Rights! Social Justice! Democracy?

 Critical Race Studies in Education Association 

www.crseassoc.org 

2015 Critical Race Studies in Education Conference 

Vanderbilt University Law School 

Nashville, Tennessee 

May 27-29, 2015 

Race! Civil Rights! Social Justice! Democracy? 

The Critical Race Studies in Education Association advocates for interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and activism to combat systemic racism within and outside of educational institutions. The Social Justice Program at Vanderbilt University Law School will host this conference. We seek proposals that utilize critical race theory and critical race studies frameworks. Our annual conference focuses on critical examinations of systemic racism and resistance to it within the context of the shifting social, historical, cultural, and political realities within the United States and globally. 

1) Community Organizing for Social Justice: This strand centers the work and research of grassroots people, educators, and scholars to push back against inequitable structures, policies, and practices. Rather than take a stance that diminishes the intellectual and political insights of marginalized groups, CRT espouses a commitment to authentically engaging those insights, experiences, and activities. This strand provides an opportunity to examine the limits of and opportunities for all stakeholders to engage in direct action partnerships with community members/activists and not simply assume the power to speak for or on behalf of those communities. 

2) Advancing CRT and Critical Race Studies Methodologies and Methods: This strand focuses on the importance of praxis and the need to develop the skills and competencies of a CRT/critical race studies toolbox. What are the theoretical, methodological and practical developments of CRT that expand our capacity to explore dilemmas and tensions of considering race, social class, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, disabilities and other intersectionalities and positionalities? How do we approach and complete this work within particular spaces? 

3) Immigration, Citizenship, Language & Power: This strand examines the multiple discourses surrounding citizenship, immigration, language, race, and the impact of state and federal immigration policies for immigrant communities. How might we interrogate the social, cultural, and legal constructions of who belongs in a particular society and who does not? What are the educational and legal implications for how we understand policy, practice, and power for immigrant and/or multilingual groups? 

4) Civil Rights, Education, and Legal Issues: This strand examines policy issues, court cases, legal theory, and legislation that cut across social dynamics and the educational pipeline, from early childhood to postsecondary and graduate/professional education. For example, proposals could address the racialization and corporatization of alternative certification programs in teacher education programs, free speech v. hate speech issues, the racial realities of school-to-prison pipelines, or the shifting discourse of affirmative action. 

5) Transdisciplinary and Intersectionality Approaches for Equity & Opportunity: This strand examines transdisciplinary approaches and intersectionality concepts for exploring and building increased equity, access, and opportunity across P-20 educational environments, and other social systems such as interrelated issues of health care as a human rights issue. 

Proposal Submission Guidelines 

DEADLINE EXTENDED 

We invite proposals for research papers or poster presentations of less than 500 words directly connected to at least one of the designated strands. We strongly encourage interactive presentation proposals that identify, uncover, challenge, and resist examples of systemic racism in the pursuit of social justice within and outside of educational environments. Submit proposals through the designated link on the CRSEA website (www.crseassoc.org) by February 13, 2015. Accepted partcipants will be notified by March 6, 2015. All accepted participants must remit their conference registration fees before the creation of the final conference program or forfeit their presentation slot. Conference registration for accepted presenters must be paid by March 27, 2015. Find all conference registration information on the CRSEA website. 

Proposal Criteria 

 Proposals must include a title page containing the following information: session title, type/format of session, intended strand, author(s) name(s), affiliation(s), and contact information for all presenters. Submitters should remove identifying data from body of proposals. The title and reference pages do not count against the word limit. 

 Formats for proposals include research papers or poster presentations. Please note that due to limited presentation slots, we cannot accept proposals for formats such as panels or symposia. We strongly recommend that no more than two co-authors appear on any research paper proposal. In addition, we will not consider nor review submissions from lead or co-authors whose names appear on more than two research paper proposals. 

Evaluation Criteria 

Each proposal must demonstrate: 

 Relevance/Importance to critical race theory (CRT) and critical race studies: Each proposal must address one or more of the foundational tenets of CRT and demonstrates grounding in the transdisciplinary literature of critical race studies. 

 Technical Quality: Demonstrate clear ideas and arguments addressing theory, practices, and/or methods in critical race studies. Exhibit high quality writing and accurately cite relevant sources. 

 Innovativeness: Introduce and/or promote the development of new ideas, practices, and/or methods within a selected strand. 

 Engagement/Interactive: Provide interactive methods to increase engagement with and between audience members. 

 Intersectionality & Transdisciplinarity: Contribute to advancing notions of intersectionality (e.g., complexity of connections across race, ethnicity, disability, linguistic, sexual orientation, income inequality, and social class), and transdisciplinarity (e.g., complexities that bridge diverse academic disciplines such as health care, legal studies, legal systems, sociology, anthropology, and history) within the field of critical race studies in education. 

 Analysis: Engage with one or more core tenet of CRT evidenced from clear, relevant examples from the literature and/or real world events.