Call for papers for the Annual Social Justice Conference

By Martha Savage

Stonehill’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Social Justice will hold their Fourth Annual National Conference: Creativity & Resistance this spring–you should be its next participant.  

The conference, simply put, “is a space to talk about the world we live in,” said Dr. Stanley Thangaraj, Director of the Center.  

With the increased prevalence of xenophobia, transphobia, anti-black racism, and indigenous dispossession in our nation today, Stonehill’s conference opens a space for peers and mentors to critically engage with how people are responding to oppression in creative and liberatory ways.  

While conversations about power often place emphasis on how it causes suffering, this conference seeks to shift the dialogue to engage with how individuals and communities forge uplift and solidarity through centering the conversation around notions of “creativity” and “resistance.”   

The Center is currently accepting abstracts from students who would like to participate. Your abstract should describe either a paper or—a new aspect of the conference this year–a piece of your artwork that looks at how power operates in the national and global context. This can be work that you have already completed or are currently working on in one of your classes.  

As a conference participant you would be assigned to present on a panel with other scholars exploring themes akin to those in which you are interested. Individuals presenting papers will give a 15-minute presentation about their work that will be followed by an audience Q&A; those showcasing artwork will similarly give a talk, but it will take form more so as a “conversation with the artist” rather than a formal presentation.  

While audience questions may sound daunting, they should not deter you from applying. The conference is designed to foster a supportive academic community and promote students’ intellectual growth, not to belittle or intimidate.   

The conference’s “vibrant intellectual community,” as it is described by Thangaraj, is one of its most unique characteristics and direct benefits. 

As a participant not only would you have the opportunity to be in a space with intellectual peers from all over the United States, but you would get to connect with established professors teaching at universities across the nation. Engaging in such forms of networking is an excellent way to set yourself up for future academic ventures such as graduate school (plus, who doesn’t want to put “presented at a national conference” on their resume?).   

Finally, as a participant you would attend Stonehill’s annual Hayden lecture on April 17th, given this year by Dr. Jose Jorge Mendoza, a philosopher of race and Latinx communities at the University of Washington. 

To apply to the conference, submit a 200-word abstract describing your work (written or visual) to CRESUGconferenceStonehill@gmail.com by January 10, 2026. Responses to abstract submissions will be released on January 24, 2026.  

As the conference nears, be on the lookout for further information and updates.