Inventing Race in the Americas, April 2010

Call for Conference Paper Proposals

The Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Chicago and the Hispanic American Historical Review solicit paper proposals for a day-long conference to be held on the campus on April 16, 2010. “Inventing Race in the Americas,” seeks to bring together scholars working on different aspects of the construction of race in the Americas. We welcome papers on African and indigenous systems of slavery, on the meanings of phenotype and color in law, art and social interaction, on intersections of race and sexuality in such things as sexual assault, concubinage, marriage, on eighteenth and nineteenth century discourses on the putative biology of race, on social movements defined around racialized identities and consciousness, on notions of mixed races, on race and religion, and on debates involving race, criminalities, and cultures. We welcome proposal on other topics as well as those listed above, provided that they address issues of race in some significant way.

Professor Josep María Fabra of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and Edward Telles of Princeton University will be our keynote speakers. Papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication by the Hispanic American Historical Review. All expenses – transport, meals and housing – will be provided for persons chosen to present their work at the conference.

Paper proposals should not be more that two single-spaced pages and must be accompanied by a short two-page resume. A copy of these materials should be sent electronically by February 25, 2010 to each of the following: Ramón A. Gutiérrez , Dain Borges and Reid Andrews.

For additional information on the conference, please contact Prof. Ramón A. Gutiérrez, Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, University of Chicago at 773-702-8063 or rgutierrez@uchicago.edu.