The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) opens a call for contributors for our upcoming symposium A Sea of Islands: the US Territories in Relation.

This 2-day symposium will bring together scholars, artists, and activists from the inhabited US territories and their diasporas to learn about shared struggles, relational coalitions, and expand networks of solidarity.

We welcome individual paper submissions on the symposium theme of the US Territories (American Samoa, Guam, Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) in Relation, including, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Land and Ecology
• Archives and History 
• Comparative and Relational studies of Colonialism
• Militarism, Peace Activism, Demilitarization
• Federal Representation, Plenary Power
• Issues of Statehood and Nationhood 
• Birthright Citizenship vs. US Nationals
• Data Representation for US Territories
• Queer and Feminist Resistance Strategies 
• Lessons of Solving Territorial Status/sovereignty
• Self-determination, sovereignty, and decolonial struggle(s)
• Black and Indigenous rights and representation 
• Intersections between American Indian Law and the territories
• Decolonial Love, Relationality, and Decolonization Projects
• Labor and Labor Rights
• Migration, Housing, Remittances
• Displacement, Dispossession, Destierro, Gentrification 
• Climate Change, Environmental Futures
• Theories, Practices and Methods of Relation that could be useful across these fields of study

We highly encourage proposals that engage with the other four US Territories, as well as other territorialized states, space, and nations including Hawai’i, the Philippines, Marshall Islands, and Tribal Nations from Turtle Island and Abya Yala, among others in dialogue with Puerto Rican Studies. We also welcome experimental, artistic, or moving image submissions for review.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Participants interested in submitting an individual paper proposal, please include:

• Name, email and affiliation
• a paper title
• 250 word abstract
• audio/visual requirements 

CENTRO’s research team will review and assemble individual papers into panels. Please make clear how the proposed paper connects with the theme of the symposium. We ask that proposals also indicate any measures they will take to make their session accessible (i.e. pre-circulating papers, paper and/or digital copies to be distributed during the session to attendees who wish to read along, transcripts, captions, etc.

In an effort to build connections and stimulate the exchange of ideas, we welcome suggestions and ideas to further build collaborations beyond this 2-day gathering. These can be submitted to programs@centropr.app.  

KEY DATES

The deadline for submissions is January 8th, 2026. Decisions on submissions will be sent by February 8, 2026.