The Central American Studies Program at California State University, Northridge will host the Central American studies annual symposium, “Migration, Culture and Memory” from Tuesday, March 24, through Friday, March 27.

The symposium will include scholars, artists and activists from Panama, El Salvador, México and Nigeria, as well as the United States. CSUN students, faculty and the general public will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and engage in conversation around cultural issues related to Central American and international migration. The event is free and open to the pubic.

“This event is an opportunity to celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of our program, its emphasis on cultural diversity and the transnational dimensions of the Central American experience,” said CSUN Central American studies professor Beatriz Cortez. “The experience of migration allows us to imagine not only our own existence in two different spaces and two different cultural contexts, but also to imagine possible futures and other possible versions of ourselves, and other possibilities for our coexistence in this country, which is our new home.”

She said event will contribute to the understanding of the effects of migration, identity and diverse spaces and the impact of migration on families, youth and children.

“This event intends to open spaces for academic research that explores conceptualization of human movement and subjectivity, community and trans-nationality, and the intersection of art and migration,” Cortez said. It will also be a space for dialogue that includes members of the local Central American community.

The program presents a diverse range of topics such as control societies, representations of the body, deportation of children, transit and nomadic living quarters, culture and exclusion, spiritual performance, border crossing and indigenous communities and the migrant dream.

Kicking off the event on Tuesday, March 24, at 4 p.m. artist Walterio Iraheta will present a guest lecture in Sequoia Hall, Room 104. At 5:30 p.m. the art department will host the opening reception for the exhibition, “Found/Encontrados,” by Iraheta in the West Gallery.

“Found/Encontrados,” a multimedia installation, explores the experiences of war and immigration through found objects that speak of the absence of body, capturing the diverse identities and personalities of those who once inhabited and animated them. The installation incorporates photographs taken in the towns of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala and the Bishop Oscar Romero’s tunic in San Salvador. The artist lives and works in El Salvador.

Wednesday, March 25, will be packed with a daylong series of events starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Whitsett Room in Sierra Hall. Pablo Alvarado, executive director at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network will present the keynote address. James Wiltgen will be moderating “Porosity and Simultaneity in the Diaspora.” Gretel Vera-Ross and Beatriz Cortez will be a part of the conversation.

After lunch, the Whitsett Room in Sierra Hall will be the site of, “Visual Constructions of the Diaspora: Artist Lectures and Discussion which will be moderated by Cortez from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

On Thursday, March 26, Joseph Wiltberger will moderate “Youth Migration and the Border Crisis,” in Jacaranda Hall Room 1131 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. Lauren Heidbrink, Elizabeth Kennedy, Susan Bibler Coutin and Sara Acharya will be a part of the lecture.

At 11:00 a.m., Linda Alvarez will be moderating “Safe Spaces: Migrant Shelters and Food Kitchens in Mexico,” until 12:30 at the same location. That lecture will be followed by Freya Rojo, moderating the “Roundtable on Central American Migration” lecture starting at 2 pm. through 3:30 p.m. with Friar Pat Murphy, Friar Tomás González, Lauren Heidbrink, Rafael Alonso Hernández López and Vanessa Gutiérrez.

On Friday, March 27, Douglas Carranza Mena will be moderating, “Migration, Culture and Exclusion,” at 9:30 a.m. through 10:50 a.m. in the Oviatt Library Presentation Room. Laura Desfor Edles, Osvaldo Jordan, Gisela Lanzas and Kaysha Corinealdi will be participating in the lecture.

At 11 a.m., Alex Montepeque will moderate, “Indigenous Communities: Border Crossing and Identity,” until 12:30 p.m. Elizabeth Pérez Márquez, Alejandra Navarro, Gaspar Rivera-Salgado and Douglas Carranza Mena will be guest lecturers. After lunch, Nancy Pérez will moderate the discussion, “Roundtable on the Dream: Politics of Migration and Its Future” with Pablo Alvarado, María Eugenia de la O, Martha Arévalo, Sarah England and Glandis Molina.

The last presentation of the day will be by the Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United (GAHFU) with the Lidereibugu Garifuna Ensemble at 3:30 p.m. in the Oviatt Library Presentation Room.

For more information you can visit http://www.csun.edu/humanities/central-american-studies/events/migration-culture-and-memory or call the Central American Studies Program office at (818) 677-2736.