Southwest Labor Studies Association Conference

Abstract

The Southwest Labor Studies Association held its twenty-fourth annual conference April 24–26, 1998, on the campus of St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. The meeting, coordinated by historian Kathleen A. Brown (St. Edward's University) and cosponsored by the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), provided an opportunity for collaboration between union organizers, community activists, and labor scholars. Several general areas of interest emerged at the conference: Texas labor history; the documentation of workers' experiences in videotaped oral interviews; workers' engagement with environmental issues; various constructions of working people's identities; and the relevance of utopian visions to the future of the labor movement. In addition, local events in Austin infused the meeting with energy and a sense of immediacy.