Tradition and innovation for this year’s LAEF Conference hosted by PBBI-Fresno State.

For 47 years, the Luso-America Education Foundation (LAEF) has held a conference dedicated to the Portuguese language and Lusophone cultures, emphasizing the links between our diaspora in California and the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira.
The conference has been held in various cities in California, from San Diego to San Pablo, including several cities in the vast San Joaquin Valley. It began as a conference dedicated to the preparation of bilingual education teachers. Still, a few years later, due to the politics of bilingual education, the halt in emigration, and the integration of our diaspora into the Californian world, the conference began to have a solid academic and community component.

Poster from the 2022 conference also online

Like the three preceding it, the forty-seventh conference will be organized virtually via the Zoom platform and Facebook Live, with around 40 speakers making presentations, giving testimonies, and debating. This is the fourth LAEF congress organized by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) at California State University, Fresno.
From September 27 to 30, with the theme: Carnations in September? – Freedoms, Legacies, Cultures, Identities and Perspectives, the conference with themes centered around April 25, 50 years of freedom in Portugal and its implications on the Diaspora in California. The Diaspora of half a century ago and the Diaspora of today in the state with the most significant number of Portuguese descendants in the USA, around 350,000, according to the latest US census.

Picture from the Tribuna Portuguesa—past conference at Tulare Union High School

Some of the topics up for debate will be: The Carnation Revolution in California -memories and perspectives; Azorean-American Literature in California; Today’s Diaspora and Tomorrow’s Prospects; Teaching the Portuguese Language in California -challenges and Opportunities; Preserving Roots with Records of Azorean Emigration; Sowing April; The Portuguese presence in Hawaii at the beginning of the 20th century; The Portuguese Pulse in California – uniting commerce and industry; Tradition and Innovation in the California Diaspora; Promoting April’s Values in the California Diaspora; The Community we were and the Community we are; Transoceanic ties – Azores-USA relations; My reading of our Diaspora – intergenerational dialogue; 50 years of democracy in Portugal – how can we celebrate it in California?
The conference begins with a presentation on the autonomous process of the Azores after April 25 by the Regional Director for Communities, José Andrade. On the first day, April 27, there will also be a presentation by Professor Daniela Melo from Boston University on the involvement of the Portuguese-American diaspora in the years 1974-75.
As in the past, the congress will end with a closing session, also online, with the presence of Pedro Pinto, Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco. Minutes will also be taken of the congress, and the respective conclusions will be published and sent to the media on both sides of the Atlantic.
For Diniz Borges, director of PBBI and coordinator of this congress, “this is yet another opportunity to reflect on the Diaspora in the light of the Values of April and the figures recently published by the US Census on our presence in the Californian world.”
The conference will be about 70% in English and 30%in Portuguese.

Picture from Tribuna Portuguese of a prior conference at Tulare Union High School.

The Luso-America Education Foundation (LAEF) of California is an organization dedicated to advancing Portuguese education and culture in the United States, focusing on California. Founded to promote the teaching of the Portuguese language, culture, and history, LAEF plays a vital role in preserving and promoting Portuguese and lusophone heritages.
Since its foundation, LAEF has worked tirelessly to support teaching the Portuguese language in California schools and encourage students of Portuguese descent to attend higher education institutions by offering scholarships.
One of LAEF’s most notable initiatives is its educational and cultural conferences, which bring together academics, educators, and enthusiasts of Portuguese-speaking cultures. These conferences serve as an essential forum to discuss research, best practices, and challenges related to teaching Portuguese language and culture in California, thus strengthening ties between Lusophone communities and promoting mutual understanding. LAEF continues to play a crucial role in promoting Portuguese culture with programs such as an intensive summer course for young people from all over the state. The conference is an essential contribution to the continuation of a vibrant Portuguese, Azorean, and Madeiran heritage throughout the state of California, creating ties with all Lusophones and other languages and cultures in California’s unique multiculturalism.