Dr. Jean Eledge, department chair, introducing the keynote panel speakers to the more than 150 attendees of this year’s conference.
Lee University's Department of Language and Literature hosted the fifth annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Latin American and Iberian Studies.
The conference’s purpose is to promote academic excellence among undergraduate students and to bring together students and professors from a wide variety of disciplines including languages, humanities, and history. This year, students from local high schools were also invited to participate through a poster presentation session.
"It is a year-long process of conference preparation and organization but it is worth the effort,” said Dr. Alexander Steffanell, director of the Latin American Studies Program at Lee. “One of the highlights of this conference is that Spanish faculty and students can work together and produce work that impacts the society. All of our presentations provoke discussion and debates and cause critical thinking, which is what we want among our college students.”
Represented at the conference were over 20 professors and undergraduate students from Lee University, along with delegates from Berry College, Christopher Newport University, Wofford College, and Maryville College. The poster presentation session featured work from Chattanooga Christian High School, J. Frank White Academy, and Dr. Carmen Guerrero’s Spanish class at Lee.
Students and faculty from all fields and disciplines related to Latin America and Spain were asked to present on literature, humanities, language, and other topics related to the culture of Latin America and Iberia.
The Lee students presenting for the conference were Joanna Childress, Christopher Cowart, Jaclyn DeVries, Rachel Liedemann, Jessica Luzardo, Kayla Maples, Anne Martinie, Michael McGrath, Sarah Minucci, Kelly Morrison, Evan Pell, Salvador Piña, Guilherme Silva Von Streber, Lauren Souter, and Hannah White.
Students presented on a variety of topics such as violence in the Americas, foreign language teaching, indigenous languages, Latin American politics, and others.
“I really enjoyed sharing my research from the field of political science with students and faculty interested in the historical, anthropological, linguistic, and cultural aspects of the Latin American region,” said Morrison. “I think the interdisciplinary nature of the conference is a unique strength, because each of the students comes away from the conference with a holistic perspective on the region they are passionate about.”
Specific panel presentations included “The Future of the Guaraní Language,” “Consequences for Modern Spanish Women through an Analysis of Three Spanish Civil War Films,” “North American Aid in Latin America and the Caribbean,” “Women’s Health in the Amazon,” and “Trujillo: An Examination.”
The presentation panel moderators were all from Lee University and included Dr. Ana Alves, Morrison, Dr. Sara Ortega-Higgs, Pell, Dr. Betsy Poole, and White. Lee faculty Drs. Carmen Guerrero, José Minay, and Steffanell were also involved in conference activities.
For more information on the conference, contact Steffanell at asteffanell@leeuniversity.edu or call 614-8216. For more information on Lee's Department of Language and Literature, call 614–8210.