Call for Papers

The Stoke Sessions 2.0: A Conference on the Culture, History, Science and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding
October 9-12, 2025 @ San Diego State University
Featured keynote speakers: TBA

Scholars from all backgrounds and disciplines – including but not limited to the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, sports studies, Indigenous studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, American studies, etc. - are invited to join us in a comprehensive examination of surfing, skateboarding, and their offshoots, including snowboarding, windsurfing, etc. We also welcome graduate and undergraduate students, writers, journalists, artists, community activists, professional as well as casual surfers and skateboarders to join us in a celebration of, and critical reflection upon, the culture, history, science and politics of surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding and other action sports.

Priority Conference Tracks

Given that this will be the third time we have convened this conference, we decided to be a bit more intentional about the themes and the papers/presentations we will accept. While we want this conference to have a broad diversity of academic and non-academic voices, we also want to prioritize what we believe to be the main issues currently in boardsports (surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, etc.). 

To this end we have created 6 “Priority” tracks listed below. Papers and fully organized panels that fit into these tracks will receive priority of acceptance. In submitting a paper or panel we ask that you identify a primary and secondary track you believe your paper fits under. We will still consider papers/panels that do not fit into these categories; however, they will not receive the same priority acceptance as ones that do. 

If you have a question about which track is best for your paper/panel, please contact us at [email protected].

• Boardsports and Social & Political Expression: Presentations in this track attend to how boardsports are used to fight authoritarianism, facism, and injustice and/or used by minoritized communities to resist oppression. 
  
• Access to Space, Place, & Belonging: Presentations in this track attend to historical, social, cultural, political, legal, and geographic patterns that regulate and provision access to boardsports. 
  
• Therapeutic and Adaptive Boardsports: Presentations in this track attend to how  boardsports promote healing, well-being, and community.
  
• Surfing and Skateboarding in (or not in) the Olympic movement: Presentations in this track attend to the relationship between Southern California as a cultural center for boardsports and its role as host of the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
  
• Aesthetics of Boardsports: Presentations in this track attend to boardsports’ creative production through arts, play, and technology. 
  
• Sustainable Practices: Presentations in this track attend to broad varieties of ways that boardsports practitioners engage ecological and economic sustainability and conservation.  

Submission Process

If you are interested in presenting a paper, a poster, an art project or organizing a panel, please submit a 300-word abstract by July 15, 2025 through the form link below. For panels, please also include a title for the panel and the list of panelists.

Submission Form

Conference Publications

As in conferences past, we will consider select papers for publication, either in edited volumes, or in our journal, Board Cultures: The International Journal of Surfing and Skateboarding Studies. For examples of edited volumes based upon papers delivered at our past conferences, please see Roll and Flow and Waves of Belonging. 

Questions?

For questions about the conference or the SSSC, contact us at: [email protected].