Immigration and Documentation Special Issue

Following our Immigration and Documentation Symposium,InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies is pleased to announce the Immigration and Documentation Special Issue, which will be published in late January 2015.

InterActions would like thank everyone who participated in the Immigration and Documentation Symposium. A special thanks is extended to our keynote and session speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and supporters for their invaluable contribution and support over the duration of the Symposium. We trust the Symposium provided an exciting, motivating and stimulating program and provided you with the opportunity to network with colleagues. We hope you enjoyed the Immigration and Documentation symposium and look forward to further engaging in dialogue with the community through the special issue.

Symposium Program

Symposium Submission Form

Immigration and Documentation: Exploring the Impact of Information and Institutions on Communities, Families, and Individuals

Spring 2014 Symposium, May 9, 2014

& Winter 2015 Journal Special Issue

Sponsored by InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies

University of California Los Angeles

Issues of immigration and documentation permeate institutional policies, implicate academic spaces, structure the use of information, and sculpt the contours of individual, familial and communal experience.  InterActions acknowledges both the historically oppressive policies affecting migrant communities and the current treatment of immigrants under the extant state of affairs; particularly, we call attention to the impacts of the recent global economic crisis on the flow of immigration and enactment of new policies. The topic of immigration and documentation is a complex and layered phenomena that necessitates scholarly discourse on the relationship between people, documentation, and institutions to advance liberatory and just research, policy, and practice.   

Symposium:  

InterActions presents the Immigration and Documentation Symposium on May 9, 2014 to facilitate dialogue, support diverse communities, and affirm the migrant identity. InterActions invites participants to present on a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to: 1) government and institutional systems, including policy; 2) community and familial narratives and experiences, and the impact of individual agents; and 3) documentation, including the use and management of information.  InterActions will bring together researchers, scholars, and organizations from diverse disciplines, providing a collective opportunity for feedback and engagement.  A full description of the symposium and the call for submissions can be accessed at: http://iasymposium.blogspot.com/.

Thematic Priorities

InterActions hopes to enhance the visibility of immigration and documentation issues, drawing upon the expertise of scholars, and impacted community members.  We strive to illuminate the current topics pertaining to immigration and documentation in the United States and throughout the world.  Possible topics include:

Government and Institutional Policies and Systems

• Visa types and subsequent policies within academia
• Implications for documented-mixed families
• Institutional barriers, varying by institutional type and geographical location
• Disparate state policies, applications, and interpretations
• Diverse definitions of AB 540 status within academic institutions
• Histories of guest worker programs, including the H-2 and Bracero Programs
• Ethnic policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and Executive Order 9066

Community and Familial Narratives and the Impact of Individual Agents

• Diverse perspectives of undocumented childhood arrivals and recent immigrants
• Administrative/governmental assumptions about the migrant identity
• Immigrant organizations and their contributions/challenges
• The role of leadership within the immigrant rights movement
• Intersectionalities of identity and immigration status

Documentation and Information Use and Management

• The ways in which libraries (both formal and informal) serve and respond to immigrant and undocumented communities through a range of services, programs and concerns.
• Public libraries as conduits for government information and services.
• Interventions into “Big Data,” analytics and immigration policy
• The relationship between record keeping and human rights, reclamation or reparations
• Cultural memory and heritage institutions and their roles and responsibility to immigrant and migrant populations
• The role that documentation, including film, photography, and music play in building communities

Submission guidelines

InterActions Symposium accepts submissions for individual papers, pre-constituted panels, posters, and alternative events from graduate students, undergraduates, professionals, faculty and activists. Participants proposing individual papers, posters, or events are asked to submit an abstract (250 words) and a brief bibliography (3-5 sources) for consideration. Papers that are accepted to present at the Symposium will be invited to submit to the InterActions special issue published in Winter 2015.

For panel proposals, a 250-word description of the broader panel topic is required, in addition to the materials that must be provided for individual paper submissions (i.e., a 250-word abstract for each presenter’s specific topic within the panel). Please visit our website to apply and submit an entry: http://iasymposium.blogspot.com/2014/02/symposium-submission-form.html   

Special Issue:

In addition to hosting the Symposium, InterActions will publish an special issue on Immigration and Documentation in Winter 2015. We encourage symposium participants to submit their research and invite articles, literature reviews, book reviews, exhibition reviews, featured commentaries, and position pieces for publication. All submissions will be subject to double-blind peer-review.  For submission and special issue details, please visit http://escholarship.org/uc/gseis_interactions.

Timeline:

Extended Submission Deadline April 10, 2014

Symposium Date May 9, 2014

For additional information, questions, or concerns please e-mail interactions@gseis.ucla.edu