CASCA hosts conferences annually, and our members are the first to receive invitations to attend and present.
CASCA 2026, Saint Mary’s University in Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Resurgence | Résurgence | Minowawsowakən
May 20 to 23, 2026
The 2026 CASCA conference will take place within the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the land of The People of the Dawn. When juxtaposed to recent and troubling developments in Canada and indeed across the globe, the inherent sense of renewal embedded in this geography compels us, as anthropologists, to consider the human capacity for resurgence and practices of renewal that point us towards a brighter future. How do people and communities respond to the ongoing threats of colonialism, corporate malfeasance, and government malice while forging new forms of social belonging? Can anthropology itself be reoriented towards the emergent possibilities offered by these practices? Anthropology’s goal of dispelling oversimplified narratives, for example, might sit nicely alongside calls for a reorientation of anthropological research. As people appear to increasingly reject modernity, what previous loyalties or communities might be re-embraced or recreated, and how can anthropology gain from and add to such developments? Whether reimagined relations with the land, reconfigurations of social relations, or revitalized political movements, we seek panels and papers that celebrate human creativity, identity and resilience, foregrounding anthropology’s ability for constant renewal.
The Call for Proposals is now open. We invite the following types of submissions:
• Panels (of up to five papers)
• Individual Papers
• Roundtables
• Posters
• Workshops
Each session will be 90 minutes in length – panels and roundtables can include up to five contributions. There is a button on the website that will take you to the submission portal or you can access it directly through the following link: Submissions
Deadline: February 21, 2026 (no extensions; late proposals cannot be considered).
More information is available on CASCA 2026 conference website. We can’t wait to read your proposals!
Conference registration: fee structure
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Early Bird (Before March 13)
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Regular (March 13-April 10)
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On Site (After April 10)
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Regular
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$ 185.00
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$ 210.00
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$ 220.00
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Reduced (LDC/grad/post-doc/precarious)
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$ 100.00
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$ 120.00
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$ 130.00
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Undergraduate
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$ 45.00
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$ 65.00
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$ 75.00
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Non-Member (non-anthros/foreign visitors)
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$ 200.00
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$ 230.00
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$ 250.00
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Student Travel Grant
Grant Information Every year, CASCA offers small travel grants to doctoral and master’s students who are presenting at our annual conference. Every year, the award committee struggles with the gap…
Grant Information
Every year, CASCA offers small travel grants to doctoral and master’s students who are presenting at our annual conference. Every year, the award committee struggles with the gap between the many strong applications we receive and our limited resources. Students tell us that even a small amount of money makes a huge difference to their ability to attend, but we would like to be able to do more. With that in mind, CASCA has added a new category to our charitable donations options: Student Travel Reimbursement. As with all CASCA donations, a receipt will be issued for tax purposes. Please consider supporting the next generation of anthropologists and strengthening CASCA by donating through the following link.
Value
Awards of up to $600 may be granted to an applicant. Approval of and the amount of the award will be calculated at the discretion of CASCA’s Executive on the basis of travel distance, financial need, stage of program, scholarly merit and number of applicants.
Funds will be disbursed at the conference, upon submission of original receipts, including proof of travel/ticket stub, a copy of student I.D. Please come prepared to provide copies.
Eligibility
- Available to Masters and PhD students who are presenting at annual conference (priority to students who have completed their fieldwork).
- Applicants MUST BE affiliated with a Canadian institution and be CASCA members in good standing at the time of conference attendance, as well as an active participant in the meeting, i.e. delivering a paper, poster or other original contribution.
- Applicants can only collect grants one time at each level of study (one MA max and one PhD max).
Submission
Applicants must submit the following for consideration:
- The abstract of your paper or panel submission
- CV (2-page maximum)
- A completed application form
Applications must be received by March 15, 2026. Incomplete and/or late applications will not be considered. Do not assume your message has been received unless it has been acknowledged.
Notice to successful applicants should be available by late March 2026, giving sufficient time for applicants to make travel reservations and arrangements.
Email inquiries should include the subject line “CASCA Student Travel Grant”.
Conference Classifieds
An invitation from Amy Cran (Dalhousie University) to join the following panel for CASCA 2026:
Working Title: Constellating Care: Resurgent Solidarities and Kinships
Abstract: Canada is a settler colonial nation currently experiencing a deepening wealth disparity under a neoliberal regime that has failed to ensure equality and prosperity for all. While this colonial context continues to be reproduced, we are simultaneously in an era of Truth and Reconciliation that has not yet resulted in the substantial political recognition of Indigenous
peoples. However, within this system and the overlapping varices that cut across it—social marginalization, structural inequality, racial injustice—individuals continue to find new ways to care for themselves and those close to them by variously refusing, resisting, and remaking networks of care and concern to respond to emerging issues. Whether kin or community based, or attached to broader networks, individuals are increasingly joining efforts led by people who share their lived experience or a particular vision for the future. These efforts are often grassroots, forming to address a lack of political will, the slow pace of bureaucracy, or
insufficiently transformative liberal visions of change. Often, these acts are not merely reactive, but signal a resurgence of enduring political commitments and Ways of Being. The Crabgrass Collective is similarly a network of scholars invested in decolonial praxis that is experiencing its own resurgence. This affiliated panel asks: What are the constellations of care/concern that are nurtured in this simultaneously colonial/reconciliatory milieu, and how are they maintained? By whom? What puts them at risk?
Those interested are invited to contact Amy Cran directly: a.cran@dal.ca.
An invitation from Dr. Brian Thom (University of Victoria) to join a panel he is organizing for CASCA 2026 in Halifax (Saint Mary’s University, May 20–23, 2026).
Private Land, Indigenous Rights, and the Future of Property in Canada
Organizer: Brian Thom (University of Victoria)
Session overview (short):
Recent court decisions have taken sharply different positions on whether Aboriginal title can coexist with fee simple private property (e.g., Cowichan Tribes et al. v. Canada in BC) versus whether title remedies over private lands should be limited to compensation rather than land return (e.g., Wolastoqey Nation v. New Brunswick). These developments have intensified public debate and uncertainty about private property, reconciliation, and Indigenous jurisdiction, while also raising new possibilities for implementing Indigenous legal orders on lands held as private property.
Contributions are welcome from across sub-disciplines (social, political, economic, and legal anthropology), including (but not limited to) topics such as: the anthropology of property and “indefeasibility,” reconciliation discourses, living Indigenous title on private lands, stewardship of ancestral/sacred sites within private property, settler anxiety and affective politics, Indigenous legal orders and jurisdiction in private spaces, compensation vs. restitution, financialization of dispossession, and ethnographies of the courtroom/expert testimony.
Those interested in contributing are invited to contact Dr. Brian Thom at bthom@uvic.ca directly as soon as possible (by February 15 at the latest) to discuss a potential paper.
Disability Anthropology Panel/roundtable
Pamela Block (Western University) is organizing a panel for CASCA 2026 in Halifax (May 20–23, 2026) on Disability Anthropology and invites paper proposals from interested participants.
To submit: Please email your paper title + abstract to pblock@uwo.ca by February 16, 2026. Pamela will craft the session abstract based on the submitted paper abstracts (and is open to co-organizing the session—please indicate if interested).
Contact / Organizer:
Pamela Block, Ph.D. (she/her)
Professor, Department of Anthropology, Western University
Email: pblock@uwo.ca | Phone: (519) 661-2111 x85077
- Does AI function as a form of labour-saving support for precarious scholars, or does it raise new expectations for productivity and output?
- How do institutional policies (or the lack thereof) around AI reproduce or challenge existing hierarchies between tenure-stream and contingent faculty?
- Are precariously employed anthropologists in Canada using AI in research, teaching, and publishing? If so, how and with what consequences? If not, does this pose another disadvantage? What ethical tensions arise if AI tools are incorporated into ethnographic methods or teaching practices?
- Are precariously employed educators and graduate students getting training for AI literacy? Is this paid training? What happens to the grading workload if students are using AI? How to deal with uneven or missing AI policies and institutional supports?
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