In celebration of fifteen years of the Association for Jotería Arts, Activism, and Scholarship (AJAAS), the 2026 biannual conference gathers to honor the enduring legacy, community strength, and creative power of jotería scholars, artists, and organizers. This anniversary, our collective quinceañera, is both a moment of reflection and a call to action. Under the theme Rooted in Love, Blooming through Refusal, Rising in Resistance, we come together to celebrate the lineages that ground us, the imaginative refusals that sustain us, and the future-building work that continues to rise from jotería wisdom and joy.
We convene during a time when public discourse and policy increasingly seek to restrict conversations about race, gender, sexuality, and history. Against this backdrop, we affirm the enduring contributions and humanity of queer, trans, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, Indigenous, Afro-Latinx, Latinx, Xicanx, Latina, and Latino communities. We come together not to provoke, but to build: to build knowledge, solidarity, care, and connection across generations, geographies, and disciplines.
In a political climate where inclusion and equity work is being curtailed, we uplift the intellectual, creative, and spiritual labor that has always sustained our communities. Refusal, in this context, is not rejection—it is an act of care. It is a commitment to ethical engagement, cultural memory, and collective flourishing. We bloom not in opposition, but in devotion—to one another, to our histories, and to the possibilities we continue to imagine and create.
The theme of rootedness invokes our shared histories and cultural wisdoms, reminding us that love—familial, communal, erotic, and intellectual—has always been a sustaining force in jotería life. Drawing inspiration from ancestral symbols and practices of the Nahua peoples of Abya Yala, we hold love as a generative guide. For AJAAS, love is not simply an emotion; it is a way of caring for each other now and in the future.
As we commemorate fifteen years of AJAAS, we invite our community to reflect, reconnect, and rise together. We do so with respect, clarity of purpose, and a deep belief in the power of education, art, and activism to build a more just world—for everyone.
This conference welcomes community members, artists, educators, cultural workers, and healers to reflect on the evolving terrain of jotería knowledge, memory, and imagination. Together, we ask: How do jotería communities create meaning, belonging, and futures in the face of adversity? What histories and lineages have nourished our growth? How are we preparing the ground for future generations committed to justice, dignity, knowledge, and freedom? And how does love—understood as a practice, an ethic, and a sustaining force—guide the ways we learn with, build, protect, and care for one another?
For questions please email ajaas.national@gmail.com.
Are you interested in submitting a proposal but don’t have experience writing conference papers? Want to bounce ideas or want to hear more about the conference? Want some allocated time to write your proposal with others? Join us September 15th 6pm PST, 8pm CST, 9pm EST. via Zoom for an information meeting/writing time.
