Diaspora and Language (2009)

April 10-11, 2009

Sponsored by the Migration Studies Project and the Center for Language Acquisition, with support from the Department of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University

Keynote lectures were delivered by the following distinguished scholars:

1. Arthur Spears, Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
2. Valentine E. Daniel, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University
3. Jo Anne Kleifgen, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.

In addition, faculty members from diverse departments of PSU (e.g., Comparative Literature, Labor Studies, African and African American Studies, Latino/a Studies, History, Women’s Studies, and the Asian Studies Program) presented papers organized in four panels, focusing on areas such as Literature and Arts, Labor Relations, Culture and Identity, History, and Health. The conference also included the presentation of narratives from students at Penn State with multicultural family backgrounds reflecting on their diaspora connections and identities, for which prizes were awarded.