Projects

THE FMS JUNIOR SCHOLARS CAUCUS

In 2001, the organizers of the Future of Minority Studies national research project organized an intellectual retreat in the Dominican Republic with two aims in mind. Both of these aims had a direct impact on the formation of the Junior Scholars caucus. One aim of the organizers was to change the format of the traditional conference gathering, from a panel presentation format to an intellectual retreat. The goal was to change the model of intellectual exchange, through workshops and reading groups as opposed to panel presentations and to see what might grow from these new forms of interaction. No longer was participation determined solely by needing to present work, but by having come prepared to engage in various forms of facilitated and informal discussions. The primary goal was not to showcase individual work, but to nurture an environment for substantive intellectual exchange. This meant, in great part, inviting a wide range scholars, scholars in various stages of their academic career, to participate. The second aim of the organizers was to secure funds for interested graduate students and junior faculty from all over the country. Previously, FMS conference gathers had mostly tapped into the graduate student and faculty population at the hosting institution. FMS gatherings since Punta Cana have funded students and junior faculty from a variety of institutions. The FMS Junior Scholars Caucus was born out of this retreat and the central role of mentorship within FMS. Formed and organized by graduate students and junior faculty affiliated with FMS, the goals of the forum are the following:

• To provide an informal setting, during our national FMS gatherings, for scholars interested in discussing scholarship that develops realist approaches to minority studies and politics;

• To organize occasional panels foregrounding work-in-progress;

• To encourage conversation among scholars at different stages of their career (including undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty).

In the past, the FMS Junior Scholars Caucus has organized national graduate student conferences at Stanford University and at the University of Michigan. In March '07, the FMS Junior Scholars' Conference was held at University of Madison, Wisconsin. The primary organizers for the FMS Junior Scholars Caucus include:

	Ulka Anjaria (Stanford University)
	Claire Decoteau is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  Her dissertation explores the bio-politics of HIV/AIDS in post-apartheid South Africa, and draws on 27 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in informal settlements and former townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg.  Since 1997, Claire has participated extensively in HIV/AIDS activism and politics in the US, Europe and South Africa.  While conducting her dissertation fieldwork, Claire engaged in social movement activism, local grass-roots initiatives, and community participatory action research projects on the topic of HIV/AIDS prevention, education and treatment.  cdecotea@umich.edu
	Ernesto J. Martínez is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, and English at the University of Oregon. He is currently working on a book manuscript, entitled Queers of Color and the Ethics of Social Literacy, which examines the contributions of queer writers of color to contemporary theory. He is also in the process of co-editing, with Michael Hames-García, a volume of gay male Chicano/Latino criticism, entitled Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader. ejm@uoregon.edu
	Tamiko Nimura is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University of Puget Sound. She has published articles and reviews in the areas of Asian American and African American literature, and received a dissertation fellowship from the Ford Foundation.Her current projects include a book manuscript involving contemporary African American/Asian American literatures and coalition politics, as well as a co-edited essay collection about teaching the ethnic literature survey. At Puget Sound she teaches classes in multicultural American literatures, freshman/transfer writing, and food studies. tnimura@ups.edu
	John Riofrio, "Rio," is a PhD Candidate in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation considers the effects of globalization and immigration on the formation of Latin@ identity both inside and outside the United States. Rio, when he is not raising two step-daughters and two small children, volunteers as a soccer coach for at-risk children. He believes firmly in the power of words and further believes that music and dancing should be an integral part of most, if not all, intellectual exchanges. jdriofrio@wisc.edu