2nd Biennial Graduate Conference
Threads of Knowledge: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language, Identity, and Resistance
Hybrid Conference | The University of Kansas | March 7-8, 2025
Friday, March 7, 2025: In-person presentations
- 9:30am - 12:00pm: Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center (1299 Oread Ave, Lawrence, KS 66044)
- 1:30pm - 5:40pm: Bailey Hall 318 (1440 Jayhawk Blvd)
Saturday, March 8, 2025: Virtual Presentations
- Zoom information available in conference program (.pdf)
Keynote Address
Dr. Tiffany Miller (Colby College)
Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center (1299 Oread Ave, Lawrence, KS 66044)
Friday, March 7; 11 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Drawing from her longtime fieldwork in the Guatemalan Highlands, methodologically Dr. Miller’s use of epistemologies deriving from Kaqchikel spirituality and the four cardinal points as she analyzes contemporary Maya cultural production across media formats and genres. Representations of the cardinal points connect contemporary Maya ajq’ija’ (daykeepers), authors, and artists to their pre-Hispanic past by referencing Kaqchikel Maya religious beliefs deriving from the Cholq’ij calendar. At the same time, references to the cardinal points geographically deterritorialize these texts, moving them beyond Iximulew (Guatemala) to dialogue with Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures and their communities in other parts of the globe. As readers and audiences – from Guatemala and abroad – are interpellated into the ch’owen, or dialogue, she proposes that there are unique possibilities to sow seeds for allyship and engaged environmental activism.