Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium
Fall 2023 UConn Co-op Legacy Fellowship – Change Grant Project
Project Mentor: Anna Mae Duane, UConn Humanities Institute Director
Project Summary
The Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium, held on April 5th, 2024, brought together eighty students and community members from eight colleges and universities to celebrate undergraduate ethnic studies research. This year’s symposium marked the 50th anniversary of the 1974 sit-in at Wilbur Cross Library in which state police arrested 219 Black students who demanded the construction of an African American Cultural Center. Antoinette Brim-Bell, the 8th Connecticut State Poet Laureate, was the keynote speaker.
Often, students of color who research ethnic studies feel we are waiting in the wings for somebody to affirm that our scholarship belongs in the academy, our communities deserve to be studied, and our work matters beyond our campuses. Most conferences for humanities research are costly and inaccessible for undergraduate students to attend, and they are often held at private universities where very few public-school students participate. The symposium created an empowering space for public university students to share their research with their peers and the wider Connecticut community, generate dialogue about their projects, and chart a course for the future of ethnic studies at a critical time when several states are outlawing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and defunding humanities departments.
Project Impact
Thirty-two students who attend Central Connecticut State University, Connecticut College, Fairfield University, Trinity College, the University of Connecticut, and Yale University presented their research. Students from Quinnipiac University and Southern Connecticut State University also attended. The eight panels included Asian American Art and Storytelling; Black Women’s Visibility and Educational Justice; Community Mobilization and Resistance to Police Violence; Decolonization, Liberation, and Memory; Language, Literature, and Belonging; Latino Identity, Migration, and Community Building; Mass Incarceration and Medical Racism; and Reproductive Rights and Survivorship.
Panelists exchanged ideas with each other about the intersectionality between their projects and the contributions of their research to the community. Audience members also asked questions that brought deeper dimensions to the panelists’ research. Students in the audience learned more about what their peers have researched and found inspiration for future theses and research projects. Moderators and audience members asked inquisitive and challenging questions that brought new perspectives to the panels. The individual presentations can be found here. Daily Campus staff writer Desirae Sin published an article about the Asian American Art and Storytelling panel which can be found here.
Attendees at the welcome lunch
Samantha Gove, a UConn student, presents her project, “Police Killings of Native American People: Examining Variation across Space, Time, and Status Characteristics,” at the Community Mobilization and Resistance to Police Violence panel.
Rebeka Cabrera, a Yale student, presents her project, Siguiendo ‘Palante’: the Revitalization of the Young Lords in a New Era,” at the Community Mobilization and Resistance to Police Violence panel.
Miguel Vivar, a Yale student, presents his project, “Puebla York: A Case Study on Poblano Transnational Migration and Community Building in New York City,” on the Latino Identity, Migration, and Community Building panel.
Presenters on the Asian American Art and Storytelling panel
Khadija Shaikh, a UConn student, presents their project, “An Ode to Curry Patta: An Indian American Environmentalist's Anthology,” on the Asian American Art and Storytelling panel.
Rilee Roldan, a UConn student, presents their project, “(Re)Connection,” on the Asian American Art and Storytelling panel.
Irene Pham, a UConn student, presents their project, “Sore Waters,” on the Asian American Art and Storytelling panel.
Presenters on the Community Mobilization and Resistance to Police Violence panel
Serena Prince, a Connecticut College student, presents her project, “When Freedom is Forgotten: An Examination of New York’s Freedom Day 1964,” on the Black Women’s Visibility and Educational Justice panel. (Photo by Katherine Jimenez)
Madison Nelson, a CCSU student, presents her project, “The Hypersexualization of Black Girls and its Implications on Black Womanhood,” on the Black Women’s Visibility and Educational Justice panel. (Photo by Katherine Jimenez)
Molly Simons, a Trinity College student, presents her project “‘That’s like a frontier mentality’: The Cop Problem in Rural Alaska Villages and the Proposed Solutions to Fix It” at the Community Mobilization and Resistance to Police Violence panel.
Acknowledgments
The UConn graduate students who served as moderators include Alejandra Leos, Ananda Griffin, Hawelti Gebretsadik, Jannatul Anika, Kenia Rodriguez, Michelle San Pedro, Suhyun Kim, and Rhys Hall. UConn Humanities Institute staff members, including Anna Mae Duane, Elizabeth Della Zazzera, and Nasya Al-Saidy supported the funding, promotion, and outreach of the symposium through social media and the building of the website, created by Elizabeth. Yale University faculty members Fadila Habchi and Ximena Lopez Carrillo supported the organizing of the symposium and provided transportation to New Haven-area students. I express my deepest gratitude to these students and faculty whose steadfast belief in the power of our growing ethnic studies community, generous support, and labor created memorable experiences for our panelists and audience members.