In collaboration with the Inland Empire People’s History Conference Committee:
We are excited to announce the 2nd Annual Inland Empire People’s History Conference.
This conference aims to continue conversations begun last year.
We invite new participants and will consider new proposals from those who have previously presented.
Conference Date: May 3, 2025
Location: California State University, San Bernardino
Contact: iepeopleshistory@gmail.com
Call for Abstracts (300 words max, due February 3, 2024) – Fill Out Google Form to Submit Here [forms.gle]
The Inland Empire People’s History Conference seeks to bridge university research, creative activities, and community activism to explore the art, culture, and histories of Inland Southern California. As one of the most ethnically diverse parts of the United States, the inland region of Southern California (or IE) is historically significant to the social, economic, and political development of California, the American West, and the United States. Home to more than 4.6 million residents, the IE accounts for approximately 12% of California’s total population and is the 12th largest metropolitan area in the United States. Inland Southern California has also served a key role in U.S. expansionist policies, capital investment, and human migration.
In recent decades, the region has emerged as one of the nation’s most important warehouse sectors for the logistics industry, serving as a major trade hub for the U.S. and global economies. The region has long played a prominent role in transportation and commerce. For instance, the IE’s rail lines deeply interconnected to major developments of the past and present: dispossession of Native peoples, the expansion of white settlement, manufacturing supply chains, and racialized immigration and labor exploitation. Simultaneously, the agricultural farming sector, particularly citrus, came to define the region’s history for much of the 20th century. Investment in rail, and U.S. subsidies, enabled this expansion and facilitated a land boom that eventually engulfed all of Southern California. In the mid-twentieth century, the expansion of the interstate highway system and military bases in the Inland Empire reshaped a rapidly suburbanizing landscape and produced new histories of migration, racial dispossession, and resistance.
The IE history conference is organized by a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and multi-institutional group of scholars, community history keepers, practitioners, and members of A People’s History of the I.E. We are committed to bringing forward the history of Inland Southern California–including the full reach of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the inland deserts, and the Pomona Valley–and the diverse forms of cultural production that have flourished here. We also aim to build “histories-from below” to document racialized communities, including Indigenous, immigrant, Asian American, Latino/a/e/x, Middle Eastern, African American and diasporic populations; working people; and LGBTQ+ communities. The collaborative connects local community history to larger topics beyond the Inland Empire.
Hosted at California State University, San Bernardino, this conference will place scholars, community history keepers, writers, poets, activists, students, and artists into conversation and collaboration across the region. The conference will also provide a space to share historical knowledge and cultural productions that illuminate our understanding of the region with educators and develop strategies to localize ethnic studies curriculum. One of the goals of the conference will be to produce an edited volume of essays from conference participants that will contribute to the growing scholarship on the Inland Empire.
We welcome submissions from academics, scholars, creative writers, community organizers, students, artists, and activists from community-based organizations and other spaces. We ask participants to submit a paper abstract or a short summary on topics of interest. We offer the following sub-themes for you to consider, and of course, you may create your own to frame the submission.
- Migration and Diasporas
- Art, Poetry and Creative Writing
- Abolition and Carcerality
- Resistance, Radicalism, and Revolution
- Environmental Vulnerability and Critical Ecology
- Public History Projects & Pedagogies
- Critical Museum Studies
- Community Based Memories & Belongings
- Civic Engagement
- Storyscapes of Race, Ethnicity, Place, & Queer Space
- Logistics Industrial Complex
- Black, Indigenous, Latinx/e/o/a, Asian American, and Middle Eastern Communities
- Food Cultures
- Deindustrialization
- Expressive Forms & Artistic practices
- Radio and Newspaper Industry
- Women’s Lives, Sex and Gender, Feminisms
- Health and human services
How can you participate? Fill out this Google form [forms.gle] to say how you want to participate and to submit an abstract. Options include:
- Individual Talk – Submit an abstract of 300 words for an individual talk &/or presentation, including a title, your name and affiliation (for name tags), and a very short bio.
- Proposal for a complete session of 3-5 participants. This could be a roundtable, a workshop, a presentation of creative work followed by discussion, or other formats. Submit an abstract of 300 words describing the session, including one sentence each to describe the contributions of the different session participants. Please include a title for the session; titles for each presentation if you have them; media needs, and your names and affiliations (for name tags).
- Submit a poster to be exhibited in our exhibition hall. Submit a few sentences describing the topic; a title; and your name and affiliation (for name tags).
- Submit your organization to have a table space in our exhibition hall.
- Submit your interest in attending the conference.
Submit this form indicating your participation by Feb 3, 2025.
Please contact us with any questions regarding the conference at iepeopleshistory@gmail.com
Thank you for your submission!
Inland Empire People’s History Conference Committee
Kevan Antonio Aguilar, University of California, Irvine
liz gonzález, University of California, Los Angeles Extension
Catherine Gudis, University of California, Riverside
Juan De Lara, University of Southern California
Audrey Maier, A People’s History of the I.E.
William Medina, San Bernardino Valley College
José A. Muñoz, California State University, San Bernardino
Mark Ocegueda, Brown University
Marc Robinson, California State University, San Bernardino
Jennifer Tilton, University of Redlands
Anthony Victoria, Frontline News
POSTPONED TO SPRING 2025:
