Call for Papers - 2025 Conference

SALALM 2025
LXX Annual Conference of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials 

“Hay que volar con lo establecido”*: Libraries and Contracultura(s) in las Américas

May 26-29, 2025

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) invites submission of proposals for its 70th annual meeting that will take place in New York City May 26-29, 2025. The conference is hosted by New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), in partnership with Columbia University, City University of New York and the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Official stories, state sources, elite literature, and similar hegemonic culture only tell part of the story of the Americas. However, at every stage of the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, counterhegemonic voices have existed to challenge dominant political, cultural, and economic power, and have found means to express themselves on their own terms. 

Approached broadly, we can understand countercultures as having existed in relation with hegemonic cultural and political expressions from the earliest stages of the colonization of the Americas: indigenous and African religious and cultural traditions that persisted at the edges of, and even directly challenged, European colonial projects; radical peasant and labor movements that contested postcolonial authority since the 19th Century; artistic and literary vanguardias that struggled against stultifying cultural standards and institutions in the intellectual, literary, and artistic worlds; and expressions of gender diversity, sexual liberation, racial and ethnic solidarity and self-determination, and horizontal, bottom-up struggle associated with new social movements. 

As librarians and archivists our work of selecting what materials to preserve shapes how we understand the contests of power, autonomy, and cultural expression that have shaped the history of the Americas. Yet we struggle with the material and logistical challenges of finding and preserving the traces of countercultures, preservation and organization of non-traditional materials and formats, and the interpersonal and ethical challenges of collecting materials as partners with the producers and distributors of countercultural materials, who are understandably suspicious of the intentions of elite research institutions. This conference will welcome papers dealing with the countercultures of Latin America and the Caribbean from all angles, digging into the myriad ways we can and should work to ensure we are preserving and making accessible narratives that challenge prevailing hegemonic understandings. Topics can include (but should by no means be limited to):

• Studies of countercultures and counterhegemonic narratives and movements
• The formation of international connections and solidarities through oppositional political, artistic, and cultural movements
• The material, logistical, and ethical challenges and responsibilities of collaborating with marginalized communities
• The relationship of exile diasporas with their home countries, host countries, and other exiles
• Artistic and aesthetic vanguards
• Alternative genres in music, arts, literature, etc.
• Minority languages and arts
• LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming communities in countercultures
• Cultural appropriation of marginalized communities’ practices by countercultural movements
• Relationships between countercultural expressions and political movements of the Left, Right, and Center
• Challenges of collecting, preserving, and making accessible ephemeral or nontraditional materials such as zines, cartoneras, pamphlets, literatura de cordel, blogs, social media communities, etc.
• Critical information literacy instruction using countercultural materials
• The methods book vendors pursue to identify and acquire countercultural materials
• Institutional relationships with countercultural communities

Please submit proposals by February 28, 2025 using this form. Inquiries can be directed directly to SALALM 2024-2025 President David Woken at woken@uchicago.edu. 

* Los Violadores “Viejos patéticos” (1983)