La Chola Conference #4

The inaugural Chola Conference was originally slated to take place at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, California, in April 2020. However, like the rest of the world, our plans were disrupted by the global pandemic, prompting us to reschedule the event for 2021. The first La Chola Conference was subsequently held virtually via Zoom and hosted by Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The conference theme was ‘sCHOLAr: The Study of the Work of Homegirls.’ In 2022, La Chola Conference 2 convened at the University of Colorado Boulder in Denver, focusing on ‘High Visibility Hynas: Cholas in Pop Culture.’ The following year, in 2023, La Chola Conference 3 took place at Yakima Valley College in Yakima, Washington. The conference was titled ‘La Chola Xola: Reclaiming Indigenous Guerrillera Identities and Celebrating Ceremonia in Chola Spaces.’ Our conference has brought together scholars and community members from across the US to discuss La Chola on multiple levels. From scholarly explorations to conversations about political identities, spiritual praxis, sisterhoods, Chicana Feminism, community healing, and intergenerational community-making, each year, our conference reaffirms that Chola space is a powerful space.

The continued growth of our applicants and attendees each year is evidence of the importance of La Chola to the Chicana/o/x community. This year’s conference in East Los Angeles College offers us an opportunity to bring Chola discourse and homegirl space to a state and city that means so much to many of us. Join us as we continue to help unpack the many different facets of the chola through research, education, political praxis, literature, art, and more.

We look forward to seeing and sharing space with you in East Los.

`To see previous La Chola Conference programs, click below.

2021

2022

2023

Host or Publisher La Chola Conference Planning