Congress Events

Pre-Texts Visits Montparnasse Cemetery

The "Amoeba Tour" --developed by Pre-Texts.org -- generally explores a gallery or museum with a group of participants who have heard and questioned a challenging text. Rather than visit an arts installation this time, we will explore the Cemetery of Montparnasse to pay homage to such figures as César Vallejo, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Porfirio Díaz, and Antonieta Rivas Mercado. The tour moves like an amoeba in changing configurations of leader and followers, as each participant ushers us to a particular tomb and relates his or her choice to our shared text, perhaps ventriloquizing or even adding a related text to expand our map of reading. This activity, in honor of Latin American notables, will also be an exercise in democratic leadership, a complement to the LASA Conference focus on Republic and Revolution.

Date: Saturday, May 30, 2026

Time: 10 a.m. local time in Paris, France

Meeting point: Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel Lobby

Cost: Free for all registered participants

Organized by: Doris Sommer and Maxwell Cameron

This activity is associated with the Pre-Texts workshops, and participation is especially encouraged for workshop attendees as well as anyone interested.

Archives in Paris Tour

Sunday May 24, 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. (CET)

The activity consists of a series of academic visits to leading heritage and archival institutions in France, including the Musée des Archives Nationales (Hôtel de Soubise), the Bibliothèque Nationale de France – Richelieu site, and the École Nationale des Chartes. The visits will be guided by directors and professional archivists from each institution and will provide first-hand insight into their approaches to archival management, preservation, and access to historical collections. The initiative aims to strengthen academic training through institutional exchange and the observation of contemporary practices in archival studies, research, and cultural mediation. The activity will conclude with a reception.

Meeting point: Musée des Archives nationales, Hôtel de Soubise (60, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris)

Cost: Free, prior registration required at: alejandro.martinez@udp.cl

Language: English

Organized by: The Archives, Libraries and Digital Scholarship LASA Section & Universidad Diego Portales

Sign-up link

Cultural Tour Paris 2026 (on foot)

Monday, May 25, 10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (CET)

Our Media, Communication & Culture section focuses on the study of various cultural objects produced for popular consumption. We therefore engage with audiovisual fiction, posters, videos, comics, musical productions, products of the so-called popular press, and cyberculture, among others. Our section also examines the social practices surrounding these productions and their transformations in the contemporary context.

We believe that the objects of so-called popular culture engage directly with their audiences and influence identity-forming processes—local, regional, and global—as well as symbolic processes and respect for diversity. In this sense, many of these products can sustain and make visible what historian Guillermo O’Donnell called “citizen democracies,” which primarily embody a shared respect for freedom, human rights, social justice, and a life in harmony with the natural environment.

In this spirit, we have organized an international pre-conference activity that invites members of our section to explore Paris through the lens of popular cultural production, thereby also fostering the integration of the section.

The activity will be organized by the section’s coordinating committee. The tour will be led by Dr. Marjolaine Boutet, Professor of American Studies at Sorbonne Paris Nord University and a historian specializing in audiovisual fiction. She is the  author of several books and articles on internationally successful television series..

Meeting point: Luxembourg Gardens exit

Cost: Free for Congress participants

Language: English

Organized by: Media, Communication and Culture Section

FARS Field Trip

Visit to the Musée Vivant du Fromage (39, rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, Paris)

Monday May 25, 12:30 – 13:30 p.m. (CET)

Dive into the culture of French cheese and expand your palate through a tasting experience where you can see cheese being made before your eyes. Watch as cheesemakers craft it right in front of you. 

Includes:

• Guided visit
• Cheese-making demonstration
• Cheese tasting

Meeting point: Main entrance of the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel, 17 Bd. Saint-Jacques, Paris

Cost: €20 / $23 + transportation. (Payment details will be provided later)

Reservations: belem_avendano@yahoo.com

Organized by: FARS and Environment sections

Sixth Meeting of Otros saberes Section - LASA2026 Pre-Conference

Abriendo grietas: luchas anti-hegemónicas en tiempos de represión y exclusión

Monday May 25, 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (CET)

the  «Otros saberes» Section pre-conference this year is titled «Abriendo grietas: luchas anti-hegemónicas en tiempos de represión y exclusión», with the aim of building bridges between diverse forms of contemporary resistance beyond national borders, in the face of a concerning authoritarian and neo-conservative turn. Together, we will reflect across three roundtables on migration; gender and collective rights; and dispossession and displacement in contexts of armed conflict and genocide. We will also launch the  «Otros Saberes» award and conclude the meeting with a film series in tribute to Jorge Ruffinelli.

Meeting Point: Centre international de culture populaire  (21, Ter rue Voltaire, Paris)

Cost: Free

Organized by: Otros saberes Section