The organizing committee for the RITA graduate Conference of 2017 at the Pennsylvania State University, would like to welcome professors, students, and independent scholars to the “Race in the Americas” Conference official website. This year, the topic for our conference will explore the role of race, power and various social, political, cultural, sexual, and gender dynamics that inform our conceptualizations of space, place, and geography in the Hemispheric American context.
The title for the 2017 conference is Space/Place/Race: Geography and Power in the Americas.
The Race in the America Conference (RITA) at Penn State is a forum for future academics, professionals, and activists engaged in the study of racial paradigms in the Americas. With a history of participants from around the country, RITA seeks to bring together scholars dedicated to the study of the Hemispheric Americas from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors.
RITA’s mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on race, displacement, and immigration in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other geographies throughout the Americas; to promote the interests of its diverse participants; and to encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate on political and racial issues in the Hemispheric American context. RITA hopes to foster meaningful engagement with the economic, social, and political conditions of racialized subjects throughout the region, and build a vibrant community of inquiry and innovation at each meeting.
We sincerely thank our fellow Departments of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and The College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State, as well as the Hemispheric Americas Lecture Series and the Africana Research Center for their support in making this conference possible. Also, much thanks to the African Studies Program, Department of Art History, Latino Studies Program, The Rock Ethics Institute, and the Center for Global Studies for their generosity in contributing funding to this project.
We look forward to welcoming you at University Park this Fall!