UW News

March 16, 2007

Chicana, Chicano scholars, community leaders, activists to meet at UW

More than 150 scholars, community leaders and activists will participate in the 2007 Pacific Northwest Regional Conference of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies next Thursday and Friday (March 22 and 23) on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington.

The conference will be held in the UW’s Ethnic Cultural Center and Ethnic Cultural Theater at the corner of NE 40th Street and Brooklyn Avenue. The conference is free and open to the public and will run from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

The association is the oldest and most prominent Latino scholarly organization in the United States. This year’s conference will focus on the theme of reintegrating the examination of class into Chicano studies, according to Devon Peña, conference coordinator and a UW professor of anthropology and American ethnic studies.

Keynote speaker will be Delia Aguilar, professor of women studies at the University of Connecticut, who will discuss “Class Consideration in a Globalized World Order.” Other featured speakers will include Erasmo Gamboa, a UW historian who will talk about the history of the Mexican-origin working class in the Pacific Northwest, and Rosalinda Guillén, founder and director of community activist group Community 2 Community. She will speak on immigration struggles and the future of the Mexican-origin working class in the region.

“Latinos are the fastest growing national-origin population in Washington State and are having a dramatic impact on the region’s economy, culture, social life and political institutions,” said Peña. “Increasingly more Latinos are living in Western Washington and today King County is home to the state’s largest Latino population, surpassing the traditional stronghold of the Yakima Valley.”

The conference is being sponsored by the UW’s office of the vice president and provost of minority affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate Opportunities & Minorities Achievement Program of the Graduate School, department of American ethnic studies, anthropology department, the UW Chapter of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan, the Acequia Institute and the Alfonso Carlos Peña Living Trust.


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For more information, contact Peña (206) 543-1507 or dpena@u.washington.edu  


More information about the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies can be found on the Web at www.naccs.org