The florescence of Latino history in the last generation has been characterized by studies of focused spatial and temporal boundaries, most frequently conceptualized as studies of distinct places, individuals, industries, and ethnic/national groups (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, etc). This work includes rich accounts of Latinx political movements, electoral successes and failures, and their impact on policy-making. The achievements of this scholarship, as well as the present centrality of Latines in US politics both as voters and an imagined threat, now allow us to ask questions about Latina/o history at larger temporal and geographic scales, in ways that can integrate the political identities and traditions of different Latinx groups and give them a more prominent place in the sweeping narratives of United States history as a whole.

The Latina/o Studies Program at Penn State University requests proposals for papers that connect Latina/o/e/x history to central themes and turning points in U.S. political history broadly conceived. What are the big questions in Latina/o history that tie it to larger national political histories? How do political traditions such as conservatism and feminism, or developments such as women’s suffrage or civil rights, look different when Latinos are taken into consideration? How, in short, might scholars of Latinx history rewrite U.S. political history?

The program will host selected scholars to attend a conference on campus in the spring of 2024 to workshop their articles and assemble an edited volume to be published by a university press. Please send 500- to 750-word abstracts of a proposed article and cv by April 1 to co-convenors Professor A. K. Sandoval Strausz, Director Latina/o Studies at Penn State, at sandoval@psu.edu; Benjamin H. Johnson, Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago, at bjohnson25@luc.edu; and Geraldo Cadava, Professor of History at Northwestern University, at g-cadava@northwestern.edu.