Tejiendo Resiliencias. Weaving Resilience. Spanish MA Students Launch Third Annual Arconexiones Conference

The Spanish master's students in ISU’s Department of Anthropology and Languages are preparing for their third annual virtual conference, Arconexiones. This conference will take place virtually on February 7, 2026 and welcomes the entire ISU community to participate both by presenting research and as an audience. The organizing committee is launching the Call for Papers now and hopes to receive many submissions of proposals to present original research from graduate students and advanced undergraduates from programs and disciplines throughout the university. This year’s conference title is: Tejiendo Resiliencias. Literatura y Cultura en Tiempos de Crisis (Weaving Resilience. Literature and Culture in Times of Crisis). 

Over the past couple of years, this conference has become a cornerstone of community-creation in the virtual Spanish MA program. Students have been the driving force behind making it a reality as well. As current student Juan Miguel Martínez Martínez comments, "Arconexiones is a space where we can share the work we create in our master’s classes and discuss the ideas that interest us, in a relaxed and friendly environment. In addition, the event allows us to meet other students in the program, which makes it very important for avoiding the sense of isolation that can sometimes occur in the virtual format.” 

In addition to creating space to share research and discussion around it, the conference also includes a more informal lunch-hour during which the committee will organize break-out groups focused on different topics of interest so that attendees can talk about pedagogy, job searches, PhD programs, publication, and other academic-related topics. 

This year the conference is excited to welcome two fantastic keynote speakers as well. For the first time we welcome a keynote focused on language learning, given by Dr. Jason A. Kemp, an assessment researcher at WIDA, a consortium which is part of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr Kemp participates in language testing research projects focused on K-12 multilingual learners and their educators.

The conference will also include its first keynote focused on peninsular Spanish culture and literature. The committee is pleased to have Dr. Heidi Backes, Spanish professor at Missouri State University, present her research in a talk titled “Spectral Spain: Fascism as Gothic Revenant in Contemporary Spanish Fiction.” This talk will tie in closely with the conference theme of literary production in the context of crisis. 

In reflecting on the theme for this year, Spanish MA student and conference committee member Carolina Quintero Benitez says, “elegimos Weaving Resilience porque creemos que la cultura y la literatura hacen más que representar la crisis: nos ayudan a resistirla y transformarla. En tiempos de incertidumbre, el arte y la narración se vuelven espacios donde seguimos imaginando y reconstruyendo comunidad. (We chose Weaving Resilience because we believe culture and literature do more than represent moments of crisis — they help us resist and transform them. In times of uncertainty, storytelling and artistic expression become spaces where we continue to imagine and rebuild community.)” Committee member and former Spanish MA student Tracy Stapleton reiterates the importance of the theme for the current moment, stating, “Literature and art can remind us that we are not alone in times of crisis. They show us ways to resist, endure and also empathize with our fellow humans. They give us hope and strength when it feels like there is none left. In every moment, there is someone in crisis who needs this hope and strength.” 

Please reach out to the committee if you have questions about the conference! Interested presenters or attendees can contact Dr. Marin Laufenberg at marinlaufenberg@isu.edu. 

Please visit the conference website for further details, to register for the event, to read the Call for Papers, or to send in proposals. Proposals will be accepted from now through Monday, December 8th. The conference welcomes participation in English and in Spanish.