For the past 45 years, Ethnic Studies has challenged tenets of the social sciences and humanities, while staking a claim for critical race and gender studies. Toward that end, this year’s theme for NSN is “Across Difference,” a motif commemorating over four decades of Ethnic Studies scholarship. “Across Difference” is a practice drawn from multiple genealogies of Women of Color Feminisms that pivots upon what Audre Lorde has articulated as a vital “ability . . . to identify and develop new definitions of power and new patterns of relating” within the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. This theme touches upon the ways Ethnic Studies negotiates intellectual boundaries through interdisciplinarity and paystribute to how Ethnic Studies scholars continue to transgress and struggle with the limits of the academy, art, and activism. This issue calls for a variety of art and scholarship with the aim of enunciating what Chandra Talpade Mohanty has called “a multiple consciousness, one located at the juncture of contests over the meanings of racism, colonialism, sexualities, and class.” It speaks to the very heart of Ethnic Studies: a spirit of defiance and coalition across genre, medium, and space. We invite submissions from scholars, activists, and community members for this important issue of NSN that addresses the established legacy, challenges, and future of Ethnic Studies as a dynamic and collaborative force. “Across Difference” demonstrates the ways Ethnic Studies both undermines and transgresses the rigidity of disciplinary boundaries.

nineteen sixty nine: an ethnic studies journal

A Conversation Across Difference