Foreword - Celebrating LatCrit Theory: What Do We Do When the Music Stops?

This is the foreword to a symposium published by the UC Davis Law Review. The fourth annual critical Latina/o theory conference (LatCrit IV) entitled "Rotating Centers, Expanding Frontiers: LatCrit Theory and Marginal Intersections," built on the scholarly and collegial successes of the first three. On the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake at the Stanford Sierra Center near Lake Tahoe, race scholars, students, and governmental officials, including Greg Stewart, General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, from across the nation came together to discuss subordination, racial and otherwise, in the United States. One of the most diverse conferences in legal (if not all) academia, LatCrit IV included African American, Asian American, Native American, Latino/a, Anglo, gay, lesbian, and other participants. Besides legal academics, historians, sociologists, ethnic studies scholars, and academics from other disciplines contributed to the proceedings. The richness of the participants contributed immeasurably to the intellectual discourse. The following pages document those proceedings, including the scholarly achievements, intellectual ferment, and high ambitions as well as the emerging tensions and fault lines, in critical Latina/o theory. The uninitiated might ask just what is LatCrit? In essence, "LatCrit is a group of progressive law professors engaged in theorizing about the ways in which the Law and its structures, processes and discourses affect people of color, especially the Latina/o communities." In many ways, LatCrit is helping us to delve deeper into the impact of the law on Latino/a lives, without essentializing the Latino/a experience while dispelling popular stereotypes. It is broader than that, however. Namely, LatCrit theory seeks to further (1) "The Production of Knowledge"; (2) "The Advancement of Transformation"; (3) "The Expansion and Connection of Struggle(s)"; and (4) "The Cultivation of Community and Coalition." This symposium exemplifies the expansiveness of the LatCrit project. LatCrit events have become known for being celebrations of wide-ranging intellectual interchange, marked by frank, tough, and critical discussion; tensions arise and tempers flare. LatCrit IV was no different. Capitalizing on the successes of LatCrit III, LatCrit IV generally was positive, upbeat, and focused on scholarship and community. This description is not meant to mute tensions that arose during the conference and will likely resurface within LatCrit. Nonetheless, LatCrit IV focused on the substantive in a positive and overall constructive way. The essays in this symposium issue reflect differences of opinion and sincere efforts to grapple with the complexities of the issues facing Latino/as and other subordinated peoples in the United States. As Professor Frank Valdes has aptly put it, LatCrit theory, like all scholarly movements, is "under construction." Pushed together by treatment as outsiders in the law, LatCrit theorists in forming this new intellectual community moving the law toward new frontiers in the hopes of bringing about a paradigm shift. In my mind, the contributions to this symposium demonstrate the strength, vibrancy, and potential of LatCrit scholarship. Racial identity, diversity, commonality, religion, gender, class, and international linkages, among many other topics, are scrutinized. The richness, ambition, insight, and foresight of these essays show dedicated scholars attempting to reveal and remedy the various subordinations, especially that of Latina/os, afflicting modern social life in the United States. We see a full range of methodological approaches, from doctrinal analysis of the civil rights laws to new theoretical approaches to international law to narrative scholarship shedding new light on legal issues. As we begin a new century, such eclecticism, energy, excitement, and engagement are necessary and essential for scholars truly committed to the anti-subordination program. Once again, the melding of theory and practice, a bedrock principle of LatCrit theory, played a prominent role at LatCrit IV. This issue offers an important cluster of essays focusing on making theory practical. Other contributions engage legal doctrine and the making of law by legislatures and courts. Such praxis is crucial to avoid LatCrit becoming a purely intellectual exercise. Dean Rex Perschbacher of UC Davis praised "the remarkable ability of LatCrit IV scholars to blend academic theory... with one of the law's most positive attributes - its link with people's day-to-day lives and their communities." Narrative scholarship can be seen in the latest LatCrit installment, reflecting acceptance of the wisdom that counter-stories are needed to counteract the conventional wisdom in our society. LatCrit narrative helps us better understand "Latina/o marginality and vulnerability traceable to dominant race/ethnicity norms of Anglo-American society." The stories employed in the symposium essays, among other things, reflect the full range, from insights about the complexities of, and tensions at, LatCrit conferences to discussions of the vulnerability experienced by untenured law professors of color. Part II of this Foreword situates the essays comprising the written record of the LatCrit IV conference into the existing body of LatCrit literature and shows how it fits into the projected trajectory of theoretical development. The five clusters are (1) Diversity, Commonality, Identity; (2) Religion, Subordination, and Gender; (3) Class, Workers, and the Law; (4) LatCrit Praxis; and (5) International Linkages and Domestic Engagement. Part III discusses the evolution of LatCrit, including its past achievements and future aspirations, as well as potential pitfalls for the future. Ultimately, we all - LatCrit scholars, organizers, participants, and other interested bystanders - must be vigilant to make this emergent project survive and satisfy its lofty, all-important objectives.