a special session at:

Deadline: Wednesday, 1. March 2006

(Note: The submission deadline for abstracts has been extended)

This is an open invitation for papers for a subconference entirely dedicated to Totonac studies on June 2, 2006 during the major conference "Testimonial Texts, Stories, Lives and Memories" to be held at the National University of Pedagogy (UPN - Universidad Pedagógica Nacional) in Mexico City between June 1st and June 5th, 2006. The Subconference has been initiated by the Municipal City Archives in the City of Papantla in the Mexican State of Veracruz (Archivo Historico de Santamaria Papantla - AHSP)at the occasion of the publication of a new edition of Hermann Pedro Aschman's "Dictionary of the Totonac Language" (Dictionario Totonaco de Papantla, Veracruz, Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indigenas, Mariano Silva y Aceves, Num. 16, SIL, 1973). The publication of the new version of the dictionary is funded by the City of Papantla in collaboration with Javier Gutierrez, Director of the Historical Archives of the City of Papantla, and nephew of Juan Gutierrez Marie, a local "indigenista" - activist, who collaborated with SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) in the production of the original work between the 1940s and the 1970s.

This is the first international conference in Mexico to be dedicated exclusively to Totonac studies and the organising commitee will consider papers on any topic related to Totonac literature, linguistics, history, archeology and culture. The conference in particular seeks to identify important research themes for the future and papers that challenge traditional disciplinary boundries as well as traditional theoretical paradigms are welcomed.

Among the themes of interest are the following, although any other topic related to Totonac culture, language or history will also be considered to be part of the conference:

• Totonac Languages and Literatures
• Bilingualism/Multilingualism
• Totonac identities regarding the nation-state, sexuality, gender, education, culture, politics, etc.
• Contemporary Totonac studies and their implications for contemporary indigenous communities
• The politics of bilingual education in Mexico
• Totonac Ethnohistory

Interdisciplinary perspectives are especially welcomed since all these topics in themselves stretch across several disciplines: history, linguistics, psychology, political sciences, pedagogy, ethnology, anthropology, sociology...

500 word abstracts should be submitted by e-mail to the organising comitee in English, Castillian, German or French by 15th of February 2006. The conference languages will be English and Castillian.

Address: info@enkidumagazine.com 

Interpretations of the conference theme ranging from the predictable to the surprising are encouraged.

Papers should be of approximately 30 minutes duration (circa 8 - 10 pages). Other forms of presentation, for instance workshops, panel debates and poster sessions will be considered on request.

Graduate and postgraduate students are encouraged to attend and present papers.

Abstracts are to be submitted by the 15th of February 2006 to info@enkidumagazine.com, along with the presenter’s name, address, telephone, email, and institutional affiliation. All correspondence for this conference will be conducted via email.

For further information, please contact the organising comitee at: liowlb@enkidumagazine.com