California Indian Studies and Scholars Association

4th Annual California Indian Studies Conference and Gathering

Relationships of Dissent

University of California, Davis

May 7-9th, 2026

Submissions Due February 23rd, 2026

The California Indian Studies and Scholars Association (CISSA) Council of Leadership welcomes submissions for the 2026 California Indian Studies Conference and Gathering to be held on Patwin homelands at the University of California, Davis.

CISSA as a collective of California Indian scholars emerged from generative community processes of dissent and argument. Rather than eschewing relationships characterized by violence, conflict, and disagreement, California Indian knowledge production and political formations compel us to interrogate these relationships and our participation in them. Centering the conference theme, Relationships of Dissent, the CISSA Council of Leadership invites our membership and collaborators to engage with the complex topics of recognition, reconciliation, truth and healing, justice, and decolonization as they relate to the field of California Indian Studies and California Indian politics more broadly. We ask participants to consider California Indian relationships to the state across time and the many different modes of relation that California Indians have entered into in order to secure a future for our people. The conference theme encourages participants to consider the productive qualities of conflict and disagreement in California Indian knowledge production and poses the following questions: What are the varied relationships that California Indians have had with the state? What are California Indian perceptions of truth and healing? What is the significance of dissent for California Indian politics? How is dissent part of California Indian relationality?

The CISSA Council of Leadership will consider the following types of submissions:

Authors and audience Book Discussion

Individual paper presentations

Posters

Creative multimedia submissions (film, art, etc.)

Roundtable discussions

Pedagogical presentations

Creative workshops

Cultural crafting (weaving, etc.)

Instructions for submissions:

All submissions must have a title, abstract (250 word limit), and presenter bio (150 word limit).

The abstract should answer the following questions:

• What is the paper/session about?
• What methods does your paper/session engage with?
• Which communities are impacted by your research?
• How does your paper/session engage with and contribute to California Indian Studies?

Submissions will be accepted via email.

Please include "2026 CISSA Conference and Gathering Submission" in the subject line to ensure your submission receives full consideration.

Email submissions to cissa.listserv@gmail.com by 11:59 pm February 23rd, 2026