Call for Papers: Latinx Voices in the South/ Voces Latinx en el Sur

What do you learn in a classroom that you didn’t already know from your neighborhood?

This roundtable invites Latinx undergraduate students to speak from experience—your own or your community’s—and reflect on how southern education can hold space for Latinx people.

This panel will be held at the 2025 South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference, taking place in Atlanta, GA from Thursday, November 6 to Saturday, November 8, 2025, at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center. Aligned with this year’s conference theme, “Knowledge,” this proposed roundtable seeks Latinx voices in the Southeast United States to redefine what it means to teach and learn at college. Our roundtable looks at how historically underrepresented Latinx students shape, challenge, and transform education in the colleges and universities of the South.

We invite undergraduate students to submit proposals for short (5–7 minute) presentations, which will be followed by a longer conversation among the panelists. We’re especially interested in projects rooted in community-based storytelling, personal testimony, and creative expression. Tell us how you’re rethinking what “learning” looks like. Bring us your poems, stories, essays, music, art––complete or incomplete––as we talk about what it means to “know” within and beyond the classroom.

We welcome submissions from all disciplines both in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. This space is open for critical reflection, storytelling, and creative exploration.

Suggested topics include:

·      First-generation college student experiences in the South

·      Learning in two languages

·      Food, music, tradition, and cultural knowledge

·      Community mentorship

·      College and cultural heritage

·      Memory and storytelling

·      Being Latinx in the classroom

·      Art, Painting, Photography, and Performance

·      Creative writing and everyday journalism

·      College access programs

·      The importance of representation

Chair: Elias Acuña, Georgia State University

Submit: 100–200 word proposal + short bio to eli_a96@outlook.com

Deadline: June 5th, 2025