I thought this notice might be of interest to some of us.
Karl Slinkard
UC Berkeley kslinkar@library.berkeley.edu
(510) 642-2556
Call for Submissions and Participants
A Strategy Session and 30 Year Commemoration of the U. C. Berkeley Third
World Strike:
April 9-10, 1999
CROSSING OVER 1969-1999:
Ethnic Studies and Radical Politics
Beyond the Schooling Industrial Complex
This spring marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Third World
Strike at the University of California, Berkeley. As a collective action
initiated by students of color on January 22, 1969, the Strike posed a
sustained and far-reaching challenge to the conservative university
administration and state government. The enduring effects of that campaign
included the establishment of an Ethnic Studies program, the (temporary)
construction of institutional links between campus and community, and the
formation of an unprecedented solidarity among radical youth of color. This
historic anniversary of the Third World Strike provides an opportunity to
commemorate the movement and to critically revisit the principles that
informed it: self-determination, educational relevancy, cross-disciplinary
collaboration and multiethnic political solidarity.
CROSSING OVER considers Ethnic Studies to be a vital site of
political resistance, even as it is housed within the corporate university.
Our task is to deepen and extend the Third World Strike platform as it
characterized schools as "racist institutions within the system of global
capitalism," taking into account the massive transformations that have taken
place in the last three decades. In this spirit, the student organizers of
this event invite activists, educators, scholars, students, artists, and
movement veterans to convene on April 9th and 10th, 1999 to reflect on the
historic struggle for Ethnic Studies and to strategize about contemporary
radicalism in and beyond the university.
A guiding principle of this gathering will be that challenging the
exclusionary and discriminatory practices of educational institutions is
necessary but ultimately insufficient as a radical alternative to the
current situation. A narrow focus on increased "access" to these
institutions simply will not produce sustainable, viable social change.
While efforts to secure equal opportunity, equal access, and equitable
funding must continue, it is imperative to develop a fundamental critique of
schools as sites of oppression--even as they function under ideal
conditions.
Recent right-wing assaults on affirmative action and Ethnic Studies
in the state of California have converged with broader, bipartisan efforts
to further marginalize the working poor, to criminalize immigrants and youth
of color, and to reaffirm incarceration as a convenient "solution" for
poverty. In the face of this crisis, CROSSING OVER encourages participants
from across the country to gather and coordinate their efforts to create,
expand, and support Ethnic Studies programs while strategizing new ways to
make these programs relevant and useful to existing community struggles.
We firmly believe that political, intellectual, and cultural work of
all kinds must be valued and developed in concert with one another. Not
only do we hope to challenge conventional divisions between academy and
community, but we also hope to counter the on-going marginalization of
cultural work (art, music, performance, etc.) within various struggles. We
thus seek a wide cross-section of people to participate in workshops,
roundtables, panels, and performances devoted to building radical movements
across communities, schools, and other institutions. In addition, we hope
that CROSSING OVER can help foster momentum for similar conferences and
strategy sessions in the near future. Guiding themes for CROSSING OVER
include but are not limited to the following:
Supporting, Critiquing, and Promoting Ethnic Studies
=B7 Current struggles for Ethnic Studies: Activism, Resistance, and=
Solidarity
=B7 Community Based Organizations and Ethnic Studies: Making/Sustaining=
Links
=B7 K-12 education and Ethnic Studies: Paradigms, Problems, and Practices
=B7 Regional Differences in Ethnic Studies: Conflict and Creativity
=B7 Marginalization within Ethnic Studies
Radical Critiques of Schooling in the United States
=B7 Schooling and Capitalism: Work, Profit, and Privatization
=B7 Prisons and Schools: Institutions, Disciplines, and Industries
=B7 Racism, White Supremacy, and the Distribution of Privilege
=B7 Sexism and Heterosexism in the School
=B7 Domesticated University: Containing Free Speech, Repressing Radicalism
Cultural Work as Political Resistance
=B7 Politics of Popular Culture Research
=B7 Hip Hop and Social Change
=B7 Visual Culture and Histories of Radical Struggle
=B7 Poetry and Spoken Word: Power, Ritual, and Insight
=B7 Bodies in Motion: Dance and/as Political Transformation
Radical Politics: Past, Present, and Future
=B7 Campus Activism since the Third World Liberation Front
=B7 Current and Historic Role of Students in Social Movements
=B7 Feminist and Queer Organizing Efforts On and Off Campus
=B7 Student Movements in International Context
=B7 Intergenerational Dialogues on Radical Politics and Possibilities
=B7 Multiracial/Cross-Racial Politics: Solidarity, Coalition, and Alliance
CROSSING OVER into what? Where do we go from here?
=B7 Future Conferences and Strategy Sessions
=B7 Organizing a Third World Strike in 2000
=B7 Fighting State and Corporate Repression and Co-optation
=B7 Strategizing Radical Collective Action
The organizing committee envisions CROSSING OVER as an opportunity to build
meaningful relationships among activists of all kinds from across the
country. In particular, we hope that attendees will utilize this 2-day
session to conceive new and concrete struggles, campaigns, and organizing
strategies. Please join us in this difficult and vital endeavor.
Submissions for panels, workshops, strategy sessions, performances
and individual presentations should be sent to the address below by no later
than February 12, 1999. Abstracts, descriptions or proposals should not
exceed one page. Along with all relevant contact information, please
include a brief description of how your presentation speaks to the
organizing committee's concern for encouraging a diverse range of voices and
perspectives on conference themes. There will be limited travel funds and
housing available to participants in need. Please indicate if you would
like to be considered for either. You will be notified of the status of
your submission by March 5, 1999.
CROSSING OVER
Dept. of Comparative Ethnic Studies
506 Barrows Hall
University of California=20
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 642-6456 (FAX)
Email: crossover@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.ethnicstudies.com
Elvia Villalobos, '94
President
Chicano Latino Alumni Club
(510) 642-6888