Critical Ethnic Studies Research Guide: Professional Associations

The Critical Ethnic Studies Association is a transnational, interdisciplinary, and un-disciplinary association of scholars, activists, students, artists, media makers, educators, and others who are directly concerned with interrogating the limitations of Ethnic Studies in order to better engage the historical stakes of the field. CESA organizes projects and programs to reimagine Ethnic Studies and its futures through new theoretical interventions—both within the university and the multiple activist formations outside it.

MESEA was founded in 1998 in response to the challenge of ethnic studies in a time of increasing globalization to provide an international forum for interdisciplinary discussion on multiethnic studies. The Society promotes the study of the ethnic cultures of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in their circumatlantic relations from a transdisciplinary literary, historical and cultural studies perspective. The society acts as a forum for cooperation between universities, political institutions, and ethnic communities and supports the scholarly and cultural exchange among them in order to further intercultural understanding. MESEA currently has over 140 members from 35 countries.

The oldest ethnic studies association in the United States, the Association for Ethnic Studies (AES) was founded in 1972. A non-profit organization, AES provides an interdisciplinary forum for scholars and activists concerned with the national and international dimensions of race and ethnicity.