CEP Pre-Conference
Wednesday, November 20, 2024,
8:30am-7:00pm Central/Minneapolis Time (tentative)
Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN
Call For Proposals:
Beyond Academia's Canvas: How Scholars of Color Reimagine the Academy
Proposal Submissions due April 22, 2024 at 4:00pm Central/Minneapolis Time. *Please note that this is an 81-day window in which you are able to submit your proposal and/or volunteer. This is a hard deadline and there will not be an extension to this deadline and late submissions will not be accepted.
The primary purpose of CEP, as stated in its by-laws, is to facilitate the participation of scholars from ethnically and racially minoritized groups in the affairs of the Association. The CEP Pre-Conference Forum consists 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/professional development sessions.Towards that end, the CEP Pre-Conference offers opportunities for attendees to focus intensively, extensively, and specifically on issues of race, ethnicity, and racism, and the intersections of racism with other interlocking systems of oppression. It recognizes the urgency of not only decentering whiteness, but imagining other ways of being and knowing that deliberately attend to the needs, dreams, and desires of People of Color.
When considering the 2024 general conference theme, “I Am A Scholar,”, there is an inherent assumption that the larger academy may not see all those who inhabit it as “scholars.” But truly, what is, who is, or who can be a scholar? For years, academia has created curricula, both visible and invisible, to signal what is valued as research and scholarship. In response, those who fall outside this messaging are left (and forced) to prove their value and worth through institutional bureaucracy steeped in centering and upholding whiteness through the use and privileging of Western ways of knowing and knowledge production. Due to this continuous reality, efforts such as the Council for Ethnic Participation have been created to release Scholars of Color from the burden of answering the question, “will I be seen as a scholar?”
bell hooks (1994) reminds us that the academy is not paradise. Her words call for us to question the purpose of education as we seek to define ourselves in and outside of the academy in the quest to paint a new canvas and path forward towards freedom and liberation.
The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility, we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom. (hooks, 1994, p. 207)
In this spirit, we invite all scholars to view the CEP Pre-Conference as their “classroom” to freely envision and propose inclusive, yet engaging scholarship that center liberation and transgress the traditional norms of the academy. In addition, as you engage with CEP, we ask those who submit to tap into relational ties with all potential collaborators, specifically those who often face marginalization and are excluded from research spaces and topics (e.g., specifically those who come from or study teaching institutions, community colleges, or MSIs).
We lean into the “good” Scholars of Color bring to the academy and the humanity that is present within our inquiries. Rather than perform respectability with a fear of being categorized as "bad" or "unruly,” we call each of you to reconsider CEP as a place to explore possibility and purpose that calls the academy to transgress beyond “conventional” research practice. When developing proposals, we ask you to consider the following:
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What is your definition of scholar, and how is that present in your work?
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What would you write about, propose, submit, or produce without the white gaze or potential harm from existing structures of the academy?
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What transformation needs to occur in the academy (e.g., systems, policies, etc.) to make space for new understandings of “scholar” and “scholarship”?
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How do we preserve our new understandings for scholars to come while grappling with the nuances of being the scholars of today?
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When engaging in research, how can the scholarly community decenter colonized research methods and embrace, cultivate and foster Indigenous and non-western forms of collaborative inquiry?
CEP is a deliberate counter space to think about and prioritize what matters most to us, as racially and ethnically minoritized people, and those we serve; to celebrate the experiences and developments of those with whom we co-create knowledge with; and to create impactful and culturally-sustaining approaches that address the needs of communities in our own backyard. This year, we seek to facilitate a pre-conference that invites new questions, validates the complexities and intersections of racial and ethnic identities—and the experiences encountered as a result thereof—and invites the creation of tools that enable us to reimagine knowledge production as life-affirming.
The CEP Pre-Conference Forum 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 cisheteropatriarchy 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.
Proposal Formats Accepted
Research Paper | Yes |
Scholarly Paper | Yes |
Interactive Symposium | Yes |
Self-Designed Paper Session | Yes |
Performance, Visual, and Digital Scholarship | Yes |
Works in Progress | Yes |
Poster | Yes |
Contacts
2024 CEP Pre-Conference Co-Chairs:
- Jesse Ford, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, jrfordjr@uncg.edu
- Tiffany Steele, University of Rochester, tsteele@warner.rochester.edu
Tentative Schedule
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Time: 8:30am-7:00pm Central/Minneapolis Time
Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tentative Schedule at a Glance
8:30am-9:30am | Opening Session |
9:45am-11:15am | Breakout Sessions |
12:45pm-2:15pm | Breakout Sessions |
2:30pm-3:45pm | Breakout Session |
4:00pm-5:15pm | Breakout Session |
5:30pm-7:00pm | Business Meeting (Open to all CEP Members) |
7:00pm-9:00pm | ASHE General Conference Welcome Reception |
2024 Registration Rates
Other Pre-conference and registrations rates may differ. Registration blocks close at 11:59pm Central/Minneapolis Time on the indicated date.
CEP Pre-Conference Forum Registration | Early Registration (until 7/31/24) |
Regular Registration |
Late Registration (10/16/24-11/15/24) |
On-Site Registration (11/20/2024) | |
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General Member | 85 | 105 | 135 | 150 | |
Graduate Student Member | 70 | 85 | 105 | 120 | |
Retired, Emeritus, Part-Time, Post Doc | 75 | 100 | 130 | 140 | |
Non-Member | 135 | 150 | 185 | 200 |