Allegheny College will host a two-day undergraduate conference April 10-11, 2015 on voting rights and democratic participation. This event will bring five nationally recognized scholars and activists together with students to explore themes of social justice, democratic engagement, and liberal learning.
We invite students to submit papers, posters, or panels that examine voting rights and democratic participation from multiple disciplinary, inter- and cross-disciplinary perspectives. Work that explores these themes from philosophical, political, artistic, religious, linguistic, historical, educational, economic, and/or cultural perspectives is encouraged, as are mathematical perspectives: for example, the drawing of legislative districts or the design of voting schemes. Examination of environmental justice, criminal justice, and analyses of public policy are appropriate as well as neuro-scientific approaches to ideology, or the role of genetics in individual political preferences. Projects that examine psycho-social-cultural dimensions of protest and the construction of social movements are welcome as are those that reflect on the design, formation, and maintenance of formal political structures. Conceiving of these themes broadly, we are open to a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary papers on voting rights and democratic participation in domestic or international arenas.
In addition to completed papers of approximately 10-12 pages, we invite student proposals for poster presentations that are in the early stages of development. While completed projects are welcomed, we encourage students to submit proposals that are research designs or work that is in progress. Our hope is to have good conversations about research design, theoretical frames, and methods of analysis as a way of moving student projects forward.
More information on submitting papers, posters, and panels can be found here.
In addition to inviting your participation in the conference, we encourage you to share this information with your peers and colleagues at other colleges and universities.