Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) Pre-Conference

Tending to Our Roots: Joy, Art, and Community

The purpose of CEP, as stated in our by-laws, is to facilitate the participation of scholars from ethnically and racially minoritized communities in the affairs of the Association. The CEP Pre-Conference, historically, has consisted of two components: 

1. The presentation of research/scholarly papers, works in progress, posters, performance, visual, and digital scholarship, and interactive symposia (and)
2. The CEP Mentor-Protégé Program, which provides mentoring and professional development sessions.

The theme of CEP’s Pre-Conference is “Tending To Our Roots: Joy, Art, and Community.” Historically, CEP has been deliberately a counter space to think, consider, and prioritize what we, as ethnically and racially minoritized people, care and carry with us: our communities, celebrating the experiences and developments of those with whom we co-create knowledge with and for. Through our research and scholarship, we have collectively created impactful and culturally-sustaining approaches to address the harm and needs of our communities. This is the work we have dedicated our scholarship towards, which is personal and political.

However, this year, in alignment with the conference theme, the CEP Pre-Conference will be engaged differently. We want to honor the dedication of CEP and our communities by providing both a virtual counter-space celebrating and honoring our work as well as providing an in-person convening to nurture and nourish ourselves through joy, art, and community. We hope you accept our invitation to, in the words of our ASHE President, “move outside the frame and color outside the lines” as we curate a space that celebrates and honors who you are, where you come from, and what you dream of. 

Pre-Conference Program Format Updates

The CEP Leadership sent an e-mail to all CEP members in January about the format changes. Additionally, the CEP Leadership hosted two virtual events in February to facilitate questions and answers.

Part 1: Virtual Pre-Conference Colloquium on Wednesday, October 29 (Via Zoom)

This year there will be a virtual pre-conference with a scholarly focus inviting attendees to share and center research and scholarship on issues of race, ethnicity, and racism and the relationship of race, ethnicity, and racism with other systems of oppression, domination, and violence.

With these intentions in mind, we invite scholars to submit proposals, research papers; scholarly papers; works in progress; performance, visual, and digital scholarship; and interactive symposia that reflects your connection and dedication to community. As you develop your proposals, we ask you to consider the following:

• Who are you beyond academia?
• Where and who do you inherit and draw knowledge from?
• How does your research and scholarship nurture yourself and community?
• How do you embody and practice joy through theory, through methodology, and through scholarship?
• How does your community or communities guide the direction and development of your research and scholarship?
• In what ways have you intentionally moved away from the demands and expectations of the academy moving outside the established theoretical frameworks and coloring new lines of thinking, writing, and more?

The CEP Virtual Pre-Conference Colloquium peer-review process reflects high expectations of rigor and quality. Sessions selected are those that expand, challenge, and shift the field’s thinking, practice, and praxis. We welcome proposals that engage in critical analyses of hegemonic whiteness and white supremacy, racial capitalism, settler colonialism, ethnocentrism, and cis-heteropatriarchy through systemic and structural lenses. Proposals that confront racism’s entanglement with other interlocking structures of marginalization and privilege (e.g., social class, ability, sex assigned at birth, gender identity and expression, sexuality, religion/spirituality/faith, and global/transnational) are especially encouraged.

Tentative Schedule at a Glance: Wednesday, October 29, 2025 (Virtual) | Zoom

Part 2: In-Person Pre-Conference Forum on Wednesday, November 12 in Denver, Colorado

Whereas, our in-person convening will be dedicated to “tending to our roots” as scholars, as parents, as students, as organizers, as activists, as artists, etc. We are so much more than the academy and our in-person Pre-Conference Forum will be dedicated to reminding us of our power, beauty, and brilliance through conversations, laughter, and self-reflective activities with the intention of nurturing community with one another. 

The CEP Pre-Conference Committee and CEP Executive Committee will coordinate the agenda for this day. As such, proposals are not being accepted for the in-person convening. We will share more in the coming months and the full agenda will be released in late summer.

Tentative Schedule at a Glance: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 (In-Person) | Denver, Colorado

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