ACCESS: 17th Annual Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference (Hybrid)

deadline for submissions: 
January 20, 2022
full name / name of organization: 
The MIGC at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
contact email: 

MIGC 2022: Access February 18th-20th, 2022, Hybrid

The 17th Annual Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 

Keynote Speaker: Brian Dobreski, The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Call for Submissions - DEADLINE: Thursday, January 20th, 2022

Submit your proposal: https://forms.gle/GPURmjiVFJ1rJHvE7

Please direct any questions to: themigc@gmail.com

ACCESS

Access is the liberty, permission, or ability to have or to make use of an information resource or service. Dimensions of access include legal, material, and epistemological. The ability to access a given resource often relies on access to other resources.

Social media and other online communities that value freedom of information have provided a platform for individuals to make their voices heard regarding various social problems bedeviling our world on a global scale. One important problem is that of inequities of access  for members of traditionally marginalized communities. Recent world events have brought global attention to a host of issues relating to the problem of equity of access, such as systematic racism, neurodiversity, and the right to self-identification of individuals. Every discipline has a multitude of traditional and newer resources available to further refine our understanding of the concept of access and enhance our appreciation of diverse forms of resistance and calls for reform. By deploying the power of words and action, we can support or subvert various points of view. Stepping out of our academic silos to share and embrace diverse approaches and frameworks to address current and historical understanding of access in an interdisciplinary setting is essential for advancing the effectiveness of social action. We seek to address these issues of access, reflect on the past, and explore avenues for progress towards equality of access. 

We invite emerging scholars across all disciplines and research interests to present work that broadens and/or hones our current understandings of access on a global scale and supports the sharing of national and international graduate school research for current and postgraduate students. Variations on the theme of access are also welcome. To foster interdisciplinary collaboration, MIGC invites submissions from every discipline. Submissions can be in the form of traditional paper abstracts, roundtables, workshops, music, film, installation and performance arts. MIGC recognizes the financial strain many graduate students face and aims to be almost cost-free and to provide beverages and snacks. Beginning this year, we are introducing a hybrid format so that students can participate remotely.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Access to information and services

  • Online social movements

  • White supremacy and patriarchy in all forms and institutions

  • Fan labor and fan activism

  • Community organizing practices

  • Precarious labor of political movements

  • Forms of protest and institutional pressure

  • Representations of BIPOC individuals and communities

  • Representations of intersectionality 

  • Media production practices 

  • News coverage of racism and police violence

  • Experiences and cultural productions of queer BIPOC communities

  • Academic racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, and ableism

  • Academia’s place and role in social, political, and economic change

  • Students’ intellectual and emotional labor and role in academia

  • Anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic, anti-classist, anti-ableist pedagogy

  • Historical analyses of social movements and labor

  • Law, public and private prisons, and racism, sexism, homophobia. transphobia, classism, ableism

  • Science, health care, and racism, sexism, homophobia. transphobia, classism, ableism

  • Social work, counseling, and mental health initiatives in marginalized communities

  • Indigeneity in and beyond the US

  • The city, architecture, and social movements

  • Challenging conceptions of progress and change

  • Challenging conceptions of failure and success

  • Colonialism and neocolonialism

  • International economic and cultural exploitation

  • Anarchy and revolution

  • Marketing behavior or strategic firm interaction with and between political movements

  • Experiences of marginalized individuals in the workplace

We acknowledge the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee resides on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homelands along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.

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