The California Indian Conference Returns in October
By Beverly Ortiz
Good news! The California Indian Conference (CIC) is back following a four-year pandemic pause!
Founded in 1985, the CIC “provides a forum for the sharing of knowledge, scholarship, and issues of importance related to Native California.” Hosted at a California-based university, college, or junior college, the conference brings together Native and non-Native academics, educators, and students with representatives of tribal communities and organizations, NGOs, public agencies and institutions, and the general public.
This year’s conference will take place at Fresno State University (FSU) on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19. With its theme of “Native California Sovereignty Movements,” CIC 2024 will include presentations about self-governance and land, culture, language, and education back movements. It will also include a California Indian art and cultural materials exhibit and symposia featuring climate change, repatriation (Cal-NAGPRA), and curriculum.
CIC 2024’s co-organizers are Dr. Kenneth Hansen, FSU Professor of Political Science and American Indian Studies and Dr. Leece M. Lee-Oliver, FSU Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Indian Studies and Director of American Indian Studies. Those with questions about the conference can contact Drs. Hansen and Lee-Oliver at kennethh@mail.fresnostate.edu or lleeoliver@mail.fresnostate.edu. To pre-register for CIC 2024 or to find out more about it, go to https://socialsciences.fresnostate.edu/ais/index.html.
While every California Indian Conference’s hosting institution brings their own unique perspective and approach to it, the Native-led, non-profit Native California Research Institute (NaCRI) oversees the conference’s legacy as a whole. Currently, NaCRI is seeking proposals from academic institutions in southern, central, and northern California to host CIC 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029, with the goal of alternating the geographic regions in which the conference takes place.
To learn more about what it takes to host the conference at an academic institution with which you’re associated, or to simply find out more about the history of CIC, please visit the overall conference website at www.nacri.institute/cic or send an email to cic@nacri.institute.
Updates about the overall conference and CIC 2024 can also be found on the conference’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/california.indian.conference/.
The CIC has always been based on relationships, relationships that connect today’s indigenous communities with each other and the broader world. In these globalized times, those relational bonds extend to people of like heart and spirit outside Native California’s enduring communities.
With these relationships in mind, we hope to see you at Fresno State on October 18 and 19!
