History, Culture, and Self-Determination is a conference that will explore several contemporary issues related to United States colonization of New Mexico. The theme for the conference is “New Mexico - 150 years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and into the 21st Century.” The purpose of the conference is to raise awareness and to promote dialogue about the historical context and current struggle of the Chicano people for self-determination. The conference will bring together grassroots activists, researchers, students and community members to share knowledge and insight on the importance of maintaining the New Mexican culture through an understanding of our history and current situation.
Description of Conference
Several communities recognized the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo through various events including the annual commemoration in Alcalde and the symposium in Santa Fe. This event is inspired in part by these efforts and also by some critiques of these events related to the lack of attendance by younger generations. Through this event we are attempting to fill that niche by doing extensive outreach to high school and university students.
The conference program includes a reception, a series of panels, and concurrent sessions. Two primary topics of the panels are grassroots community activism and historical/theoretical perspectives. The format of the panels is designed to allow for interaction between presenters and conference participants. The intended audience is broad including a broad range from community members and high school students to university students, faculty and staff.
Tentatively, the program includes a Friday evening reception, Saturday morning concurrent sessions, and Saturday afternoon concurrent sessions (See attached tentative program). The morning sessions explore contemporary issues in Chicano communities including issues of land and water rights, New Mexico as and internal colony, Chicano history in public schools, and growth and gentrification in traditional communities. The afternoon sessions have four tracks: Youth/Student Activism, Land and Water Rights-Legal Issues, New Mexico History, and Interactive Discussions. The youth activism session will feature young organizers from various organizations. The legal issues session will be geared to university students and community activists. The emphasis of the history sessions will be the history of resistance to US colonization of NM and relating historical struggles to contemporary grassroots activism. The interactive sessions will be facilitated discussions about the importance of understanding history and of being informed and involved in community issues.
Request for Funding
Coordination of this conference is entirely a voluntary effort by UNM students. The expenses incurred in presenting this conference are primarily honorarium for speakers and food for participants. We have invited a total of 35 speakers and expect to pay a $50 honorarium to each. In addition, some are traveling from outside Alburquerque and will incur travel expenses. The other major expense is food for the reception and for lunch on Saturday. We are requesting funds from two categories of sources: student organizations and UNM offices and departments. The attached budget outlines the expenses and anticipated sources of funding.
Contact Chicano Studies at 277-6414 or El Centro de La Raza at 277-5020
For more info, call or send inquiries to the above phone and address. You can also contact Steering Committee Co-chairs Paula García (lamorena@unm.edu) or Arturo Nieto (nietoar@unm.edu).
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