Past Conferences
The Stoke Sessions: An International Conference on the Culture, History and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding
April 20-23, 2023
The Stoke Sessions is the second international conference organized and hosted by San Diego State University’s Surf and Skate Studies Collaborative. It brought together scholars from all backgrounds and disciplines – humanities, social and natural sciences, cultural studies, ethnic studies, Indigenous studies, sports studies, etc. in a comprehensive examination of surfing and skateboarding. The conference featured keynote speakers Tony and Steve Hawk, Dian Hadiani, and Selema Masekela.
Thursday, April 20, 2023
6 - 7:30 p.m. Keynote I - An Evening with Tony & Steve Hawk
Location: Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, Montezuma Hall
Friday, April 21, 2023
8:15 - 9:00 a.m. Registration
Location: Tula Community Center
9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Land Acknowledgement & Blessing, Moment of Silence for Tyre Nichols
9:15 - 10:15 a.m. Plenary I - Native Waves: Indigenizing Surf Culture with Native Like Water and the
World Surf League
Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Marc Chavez, John Suhar, and Jordan Waiti
Location: Tula 1
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Session I
Location: Tula 1
Indigo Willing
Anthony Pappalardo
Amelia Brodka
Yulin Olliver
Di'orr Greenwood
L Brew
Location: Tula 2
George Pettis
“How Musical is Skateboarding?”
Dave Matuszak
“Surf Music Origins: The Evolution of the Music of California’s Pioneer Surfers”
Max Boutin, Brian Glenney, Paul O’Connor
“The Skatesound Paradox”
Ben Dixon
“Wheel x Reel Machine”
Location: Tula 3
Trey Highton
“Shifting Sands: Race, Power, & Sex in Early Waikiki”
David "Dáithi" Crellin
“Decolonize the Surf: The Ocean as Contested Space in Surf Culture”
Bettina Callary
“The importance of place-based cultural programming in Indigenizing surf programs”
Location: Legacy Suite
Andrea Buchetti
“Skatebordering. Local cultures and transnational economies of skateboarding at the
U.S.-Mexico border”
Becky Beal Matthew Atencio, Missy Wright, and ZaNean McClain
“Skateboarding and Racial Justice: Symbolic and grassroots activism in the San Francisco
Bay Area”
Liz Wilson
“In their own words - Insights and learning from feedback interviews with children
attending skate park projects in Jamaica, Morocco, and Peru”
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Session II
Location: Tula 1
Jesse Reiblich
“Legal protection of public coastal access: challenges and future solutions”
Edward A. Akin
“Applicability of Management Guidelines for Surfing Resources in California”
Matthew L. McDowell
“Surfing in the north of Scotland: energy, environment, and politics”
Location: Tula 2
Tom Critchley
“Skateboarding for Development: Researching the impact of a socially driven skatepark
project in Kingston, Jamaica”
Harry Meadley
“Civic Skateboarding: Re-framing street skating through socially engaged art practice
in order to weaponise cultural institutions in an attempt to de-criminalise skateboarding
in Leeds, UK”
Chase Bucklew and David Kamper
“Origin Stories of 'Radical': The Dogtown Imaginary and the BIPOC Inheritors of the
Z-Boy Revolution”
Location: Tula 3
Jeffrey Swartwood
“Surfing’s Early Short Stories – an examination of alternative surf literature constructions”
Christophe Guibert
“Surfing and ‘counterculture’ in France: Persistent misinterpretations and representations”
Isaiah Walker
“Lulls in Action: Teaching Culture and History in Professional Surfing Competitions”
Lydia Heberling
“Riding Ma’ii’s Waves: Surfing as Survival in Natanya Ann Pulley’s ‘The Trickster
Surfs the Flood’”
3:15 - 4:45 p.m. Session III
Location: Tula 1
Elizabeth Sine
“Carlotta Stewart Lai: The Forgotten History of an African American Water Woman in
Turn of the Twentieth Century Hawai’i”
Christophe Guibert
“Sexualization of bodies and gendered assignments of female roles. The case of the
surf press in France”
Dion Mattison
“Gender and Surfing”
Location: Tula 2
Dave Matuszak
“Religion and the Ethos of Surfing”
Keith Plocek
“Sliding into Wet”
John Northcott
“The Apparent Wind: The synergies of recreational rebellion in boardsports and hot
rodding”
Jeremy Packer
“Techne and the crafting of elemental media: A media theory of surfing”
Location: Tula 3
Betsy Gordon
Jane Rogers
Location: Legacy Suite
Jim Donaghey and Slaine Browne
“Visualizing state neglect of skater culture: gentrification in a semi-rural seaside
town (Portrush, Northern Ireland).”
L. Dugan Nichols
“Challenging Skateboard Monoculture: Podcasts on Industry Grievances and Pro-skater
Working Conditions”
Fabrice Le Mao & Jacob Rosenberg
“How Skateboard Movies Unassumingly Defined and Delineated Skateboarding Culture since
1965”
6:00 p.m. Keynote II - Dian Hadiani
Location: Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, Student Union Theatre
7:30 p.m. Hangout at Arts-Rec featuring DJ ValleyBeatz. Dinner on your own in Barrio Logan.
Saturday, April 22, 2023
8:00 - 9:30 a.m. Paddle Out
Location: Old Mans/Tourmaline
9:30 - 9:45 a.m. Registration, Land Acknowledgement, Announcements
Edward A. Akin, International Association for Surf Research
Location: Tula Community Center
9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Plenary II - Immaterial and Flanantes: Brazilian Skateboard Cultures and Beyond
Murilo Romão and Shinji Shiozaki
Location: Tula 1
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Session IV
Location: Tula 1
Thomas Barker
Keegan Guizard
Joshua Rowe
Ashley Martinez
Gabriela Levy
Location: Tula 2
Jason Old
“The Politics of Waves: A Transnational and Cultural Surfing History of Popoyo, Nicaragua”
Kevin Dawson
“Surfing and Surf-Canoeing in Atlantic Africa, 1400-1900”
Leon Mach
“Bitcoin don't surf: Navigating place identity through participatory destination governance
in El Zonte, El Salvador”
Location: Tula 3
Patrick Moser
“The First Four Decades: California Beach Culture, 1907 to 1945”
Michael Blum
“Protecting California Surf Breaks Through Maritime Heritage Conservation”
Ben Cater
“Surfing Together, Surfing Alone: Surf Tribes and Tribalism in Twentieth Century Southern
California”
Richard Kenvin
“Kissing Lani Parkin: Reconnecting the disconnect.Experiences, reflections, and observations
on 76 years of surf skate in San Diego”
Location: Legacy Suite
Shaun Tomson
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Lunch Break & Movie
Bring your lunch and watch Imaterial by Shinji Shiozaki (Hardy Tower Room 140).
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Session V
Location: Tula 1
Zoe Corwin
Neftalie Williams
Stefani Relles
Jordan Harper
Alan Green
Rafael Angulo
Location: Tula 2
Mike Roberts and Kristin Lawler
“Flow: Beyond Conventional Psychological Interpretations of the Surfing Experience”
Cori Schumacher
“Ocean Matters: Surfing as Posthuman Political Praxis”
Konstantin Butz
“The Ephemeral Beachscape: Surfing, Skateboarding, and the Appropriation of Suburban
Concrete”
Sports for Nature: Understanding the baseline and areas of improvement for surfing and skateboarding
Location: Tula 3
Jessica R. Murfree
Madeleine Orr
Hannah Campbell-Peg
Sonia Preisser
Location: Legacy Suite
Dan Johnston
“Skateparks: Trace and Culture”
Nikolaus Dean
“We Are All Here for The Same Reason”: Exploring Visually Impaired Skateboarders Experiences
within Skatepark Settings”
Tom Critchley
“DIY Skateboarding and Radical Worldbuilding at The Grove Skatepark, London”
Bryce Noa
“The Paderborn Contest: Defying the Skateparks Sonic and Spatial Logic”
3:45 - 5:15 p.m. Session VI
Location: Tula 1
Amon Chavez
Marc Chavez
Alexis “Cakes” Guachino
Kaliko Kahoonei
Location: Tula 2
Chris Giamatrino
Brian Glenney
Paul O’Connor
Indigo Willing
Ben Duester
Location: Tula 3
Jarrett Rose
“Turn On, Tune In, and Paddle Out: A Cultural Theory of Psychedelic Amplification
and Coproduction in the Soul Surfing Era”
Kristin Lawler & Mike Roberts
“Heroic Idleness: the Antiwork Ethic in Surfer-Wobbly Countercultures”
Aaron James
“Revolutions in Work: Green Growth, De-Growth or A-Growth?”
Alexandra Maris
“Buena Onda: Surf Tourism and Spanish Language Acquisition breaking down Racial Capitalism
Location: Legacy Suite
Natalie Porter
“Archiving the history of womxn in skateboarding: the impact of social media and community
engagement”
Kristin Miller
“‘Girls Who Can't Surf Good’: Gender, Age, and Access to Surfing Facilitated by Social
Media”
Danica Vidotto and Francesco Collura
“#Skatergirl: Constructing female-skater identity on Tik Tok”
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Keynote III - Selema Masekela with Neftalie Williams
Location: Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, Student Union Theatre
7:00 p.m. Hosted dinner for presenters at Oggi’s Pizza on SDSU campus.
There will be live music by a band called Saline Solutions.
Sunday, April 23, 2023
7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Paddle Out
Location: Old Mans/Tourmaline
9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Registration, Land Acknowledgement, Announcements
Location: Tula 1
9:15 - 10:15 a.m. Plenary II - Current Issues Among Women and LGBTQ+ Surf Communities
Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Cori Schumacher & Vanessa Yeager
Location: Tula 1
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Session VII
Location: Tula 1
Braden H. Hammer
“Encounters with Nature and the Sublime in Southern California Surf Culture and Media”
Steve Estes
“Rebel Swell: Surfing, Identity, and Community in the American South”
Jess Ponting
“Making Waves: A history and longitudinal analysis of the surf park industry and market”
Location: Tula 2
Brian Glenney and Paul O'Connor
“Street Phenomenology”
Roberto Enríquez De La Selva
“Skateboarding: Ingoldian place and movement in the city”
Eric M. Davidson
“Ivory Towers, Concrete Waves: Toward a Campus Ecology of Skateboarding"
Loation: Tula 3
Charles "Chaka" Webb,
Maureen Johnson
Jesse Billauer
Location: Legacy Suite
Murilo Romão
12:15 - 1:00 p.m. Concluding Remarks
Location: Tula 1
1:30 p.m. Skate Session
Location: Park de la Cruz Skatepark
Impact Zones and Liminal Spaces: The Culture and History of Surfing
April 26-28, 2019
The conference brought together scholars from all backgrounds and disciplines – humanities, social and natural sciences, cultural studies, ethnic studies, sports studies, etc. in a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon we call surfing. We welcomed graduate and undergraduate students, writers, journalists, community activists, professional and casual surfers who joined us in the celebration of, and critical reflection upon, the culture and history of surfing. Keynote speakers were given by Krista Comer (Professor of English at Rice University and Affiliated Scholar of Stanford’s Lane Center for the American West, contributing research to the California Coastal Commission Project) and Cori Schumacher (Councilwoman in the City of Carlsbad, California, a three-time world longboard surfing champion, international activist, author, and co-founder of The Inspire Initiative).
