Critical Pacific Island Studies Collective (CPISC)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander·Research·Environmental/Sustainability·Political Advocacy Groups·Community Service/Nonprofit·Education
CPISC is a student-led research collective committed to the critical and equitable study of the Pacific. Members conduct interdisciplinary research on militarization, environmental justice, Indigenous cultural preservation, colonialism, and climate change. Day-to-day activities include producing The Oceanic Podcast, hands-on farming with Planting Oceania at the Gill Tract Farm, maintaining the MCRI Archive (a living database on Mariana Islands militarization), publishing peer-reviewed work, and hosting a learning community open to anyone who wants to engage with Pacific issues through talanoa, open dialogue.
Events They Host
Native Seas Workshop Series
A workshop series on traditional Pacific navigation and wayfinding brought to the Bay Area, covered in Berkeley News on March 9, 2026.
American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting
CPISC members presented 'Challenging the buildup: A comparative analysis of environmental legal protections across militarizing islands' at the AAG Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i, April 2024.
Pacific History Association Biennial Conference
Kieren Rudge and Sophia Perez presented at the Pacific History Association Biennial Conference at Deakin University, Warrnambool, Australia, November 2023.
Member Experiences
Planting Oceania Workdays
Community workdays at the Gill Tract Farm in Albany for tending, planting, and harvesting Pacific Islander ancestral crops. Open to UC Berkeley Pacific Islander students and Bay Area community members. Workdays open to community were noted as returning in January 2026.