Call for Proposals

Gettysburg is famous for the United States’ Civil War. Instead of letting violence have the last word, we will gather at this site to discuss peace and justice, and dare to imagine radical alternatives!

The Consortium of North American Peace Programs (CONAPP) invites proposals for the first undergraduate student-centered, peace and justice conference at Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania, USA), June 8 – 11, 2020. Masters and doctoral students, professors, and community members may attend, learn and dialogue, but presenters will only be undergraduates from Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

We invite proposals related to any of the following themes: peace, justice (food justice, restorative justice, prison abolition), sustainable development, human rights, conflict resolution/transformation, peace education, philosophy of peace and non-violence, climate change, and unsettling settler colonialism. You may also submit proposals that reflect peace-related themes not explicitly mentioned here.

Format: The format is fashioned after Freirean praxis: reflection and action. Each session will be 1.5 hours: 45 minutes for critical dialogues and the other 45 minutes for peace innovation labs. This format will create opportunities for radical praxis by centering student voices and co-constructing new futures with their ideas at the helm. Presenters will send their ideas in advance for attendees to review so that we walk into the room with questions. We will, therefore, start the sessions with critical dialogues and not just presenters talking at attendees with little time at the end for an authentically robust conversation. Praxis sessions will include peace innovation labs, in which attendees, along with the presenters, will discuss how to make some aspects of the dialogues actionable. These actionable ideas will be collected throughout the conference, and a few selected projects will be given seed money for implementation.

Proposals should specify the format: Workshops, Panels, Papers, Projects, Performances, Artworks

• Panels: Propose a panel of at least three participants on any of the following themes: peace, justice (including, but not limited to themes such as food justice, restorative justice, prison abolition), sustainable development, human rights, conflict resolution/transformation, peace education, philosophy of peace and non-violence, climate change, unsettling settler colonialism. Each workshop proposal must include names and affiliations of proposed panelists, the proposed format, and an abstract of not more than 500 words.
• Workshops: Propose a workshop that is participatory and inclusive. Describe the format and goals within 300-500 words. Be sure to include time for critical dialogues.
• Individual Papers, Projects, Reports, Narratives: Proposals should include the title and an abstract of no more than 300 words. Accepted proposals will be grouped into panels.  
• Performances: You may submit a proposal to render your own original song, dance, poetry, spoken word or other type of performance related to any of the conference themes mentioned above. Each performance should not exceed 10 minutes. Describe the performance and how it’s related to the conference themes in 300-500 words. Performances will also have critical dialogues.
• Artworks: You may submit a proposal to showcase your own original artwork (painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, ceramics, etc) related to any of the conference themes mentioned above. Submit a description of the artwork and how it reflects the conference themes. The artwork will be showcased during the conference at specific times with space included for critical dialogues. Describe the artwork and how it’s related to the conference themes in 300-500 words.

Please submit all proposals via GoogleForm by 11:59 pm USA Eastern Standard Time, December 15, 2019.

Decisions will be sent out by the end of January 2020 so that students can begin to make plans for attending the conference.

Registration will become available in February 2020.