Subject: CFP: Globalization and the Environmental Justice Movement: An
ASLE/UAS Symposium, September 23-25, 2004, Tucson, AZ


The deadline for submitting abstracts to the upcoming Globalization and
Environmental Justice Movement is May 31, 2004, so I am resending the CFP
as a reminder.  Please visit our website www.uas.arizona.edu/ejsym  for
more information.  Best, Joni


PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Globalization and the Environmental Justice Movement: An ASLE/UAS Symposium
September 23-25, 2004 Tucson, AZ

         The 2004 Symposium on Globalization and the Environmental Justice
Movement invites academics, activists, artists, scientists, graduate
students, and government and industry representatives to submit proposals
for papers, panels, posters, performances, workshops, roundtables, and
readings. The symposium, sponsored by the Association for the Study of
Literature and the Environment (ASLE) and the University of Arizona South
(UAS), will focus on environmental justice, urban nature, native lands, and
grassroots activism that is raising questions about the effects of
globalism, corporate capitalism, and the selective/disproportionate
distribution of toxic sites at native sacred sites and in the environments
of low-income and people of color communities. The goal of the symposium
will be specifically to push our conversations about environmental
challenges beyond a focus on environmental racism and toxics and towards
the proactive partnerships, successful community activism, and emerging
conversations between government, industry, science, the academy, activist
organizations, and local communities that are giving a new generation ideas
for sustainable alternatives and hope for the future.

         Scheduled keynote/plenary speakers include writer/activist Denise
Chavez (The Last of the Menu Girls, Face of an Angel, Loving Pedro Infante,
and her soon to be published The King and Queen of Comezon), literary
critic Annette Kolodny (The Lay of the Land, The Land Before Her, Failing
the Future), writer and activist Demetria Martinez (Breathing Between the
Lines, Mother Tongue, The Devil's Workshop, and Three Times a Woman), and
environmental historian Angus Wright (To Inherit the Earth, The Death of
Ramón González).

         Tucson is an ideal place to hold the symposium because it is so
centrally located to a number of grassroots actions and environmental
justice groups, including Comadres, a binational, multicultural group of
women which is fighting the toxic effects that have resulted from the
location of over 80 maquilas (transnational corporations located on the
Mexican side of the U.S./Mexico border since 1965). One of the prominent
features of the symposium will be a field trip, popularly dubbed the
"Colonia Tour," which will be guided by Teresa Leal, founder of Comadres
and Codirector of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic
Justice (SNEEJ, an umbrella group for over 80 indigenous, labor, and
environmental groups, which is active along the border in the Southwest and
Mexico).  Those electing to take the trip will travel by bus to Nogales,
Sonora, just one hour and fifteen minutes south of Tucson. There, we will
tour one or more of the "colonias" (small squatter villages built to house
maquila workers) as well as one or more of the more progressive maquilas
which are attempting to address environmental problems.   Leal will discuss
the struggle of environmental groups who face the complicated high tech
issues caused by globalization and international trade agreements which
ignore the social, cultural and environmental impacts on local communities
on the U.S./Mexico border. The field trip will also include a demonstration
of a partnership between community members and scholars from the University
of Arizona's Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) who are
working to re-vegetate hillsides.

         The symposium format will stress the importance of interaction
among the artists, activists, academics, scientists, and government and
industry representatives who attend, and will therefore integrate dynamic,
experiential-based presentations with more traditional panel formats and
readings by creative writers.  Activists and graduate students are
encouraged to send proposals.  Proposals may be submitted for entire
sessions, presentations, performances, films, roundtables, workshops,
conversations, or individual papers.  The symposium invites discussion on a
diversity of topics from a variety of disciplines, including:

*       Interdisciplinary approaches to environmental justice, activism,
literature, history, anthropology, political ecology, and ecocriticism
*       The political ecology of free trade
*       The impact of globalization and transnational capitalism on the
environment
*       How to bring writing and teaching to bear on public policy and
educational initiatives, public outreach, publishing, and environmental
stewardship
*       How to facilitate collaboration between the various sectors of the
environmental movement, government, academia, and the arts
*       How to teach courses in environmental literature,  history,
anthropology, etc. which address the environmental justice and toxics
movements,  political ecology, globalization, corporate capitalism, etc.
*       How to move discussions of environmental justice beyond a focus on
environmental racism and towards practical solutions for solving problems
and promoting sustainable alternatives (such as organic farming, community
co-ops, etc.)

Send inquiries and one-page proposals by May 31, 2004 (email preferred; no
attachments please) to BOTH Joni Adamson and Tina Gianquitto.  (Be sure to
indicate whether or not you or your panel members will need multimedia
equipment, and specifically what equipment you will need).

Joni Adamson, Associate Professor and Head
English Program
University of Arizona, South
1140 N. Colombo
Sierra Vista, AZ 85650
520.458.8278 x.2136
[log in to unmask]

Tina Gianquitto, Assistant Professor
Colorado School of Mines
1005 14th Street
Stratton Hall, Suite 305
Golden, CO 80401
[log in to unmask]

*Note: Conference organizers will make every effort to keep housing costs
low and/or potentially free for activists and graduate students.  Spanish
translation will also be provided.  Activists and graduate students should
note their individual housing and/or language needs on their proposal
submissions.


Joni Adamson, Associate Professor and Head
English Program
University of Arizona, South
1140 N. Colombo
Sierra Vista, AZ  85650
520.458.8278 x.2136
[log in to unmask]