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K-State Today

November 8, 2017

Millán presents at two Chicana studies conferences

Submitted by Russell Norris

Midwestern Chicana Symposium Poster

Isabel Millán, faculty in the American ethnic studies department, was an invited speaker at the Midwestern Chicana Symposium: Art and Resistance in the Age of Extremism. The event was hosted by the Tonantzin Society of Topeka and Washburn University's Mulvane Art Museum Oct. 12-13. 

The title of Millán's talk was "Travesuras as Political Resistance in Children's Picture Books." Her exploration of children's picture books included overlapping discussions on immigration debates and public protests through travesuras or mischievous and rebellious behaviors across radical and unconventional children's print culture. Millán presented alongside major Chicana artists and scholars including Delilah Montoya, Ire'ne Lara Silva, Norma Cantú, Celeste DeLuna and Demetria Martinez.

Millán also presented "'Esta Chicanita Reads Banned Books': Radical Storytelling for Subversive Children" at this year's Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, or MALCS, Conference, July 19-22, at Sonoma State University. Her discussion outlined the correlation between children's cultural productions and laws and policies that directly impact marginalized children and their communities. It was part of a larger panel titled, "Critical Race Theory, Education, and Educación." The theme for this year's conference was "Hidden Sonoma: Laboring Bodies and Silenced Voices," which invoked legacies of resistance and resilience.