Ecologies of Childhood

The 2023 IRSCL Congress will be hosted at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with plentiful indoor and outdoor meeting and banquet spaces on a beautiful campus peninsula right by the sea. The major conference venue is the University Center on the UC Santa Barbara campus and in rooms and spaces nearby. A natural lagoon and the oceanside is nearby, with lovely walks for your free time. An interactive campus map is available here.

The University of California, Santa Barbara is very close to Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) and a convenient bus trip by Santa Barbara Airbus from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Flying to LAX may be a cheaper option, while SBA is very convenient. For longer stays, Amtrak train service also connects Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and San Francisco, or scenic cross-country train routes. The Santa Barbara train station is centrally located in downtown Santa Barbara. The closest city to the university (and the closest Airbus and train stop) is in Goleta, while Santa Barbara is further away from the university, though connected by a public bus service and bicycle paths. We suggest arriving on August 12, 2023 or sooner and departing on August 17, 2023 or later, so as to not miss any conference events. We recommend staying longer to take advantage of the natural beauty of the area and California.

Downtown Santa Barbara is quite walkable, with a central stretch of downtown State Street being closed to cars but pedestrian and bicycle friendly and offering restaurants, shops, and amenities. Within Santa Barbara, buses and rented (electric) bicycles offer transportation between more distant sites of interest. Coastal bicycle rides are also scenic. Santa Barbara and Goleta and the UC Santa Barbara campus are served by a public bus service. Travel to the Channel Islands by boat can be arranged (in advance) through Island Packers from Oxnard or Ventura (cities 40 or so minutes to the south). Rental cars also offer smooth connections to harder to reach locations like national parks. 

We encourage you to reach out to trusted local sources for information about visa requirements to travel to the USA from your location. According to Travel.State.Gov information about the Visa Waiver Program, citizens or nationals of many countries will not require a visa to travel to the US for business or tourism stays of 90 days or less. If you have a B1/B2 tourist visa, you can use such a visa to attend a conference if you do not engage in academic or research activity besides the conference. If  you will require an invitation, please reach out to irscl2023@gmail.com to request an invitation letter with the subject "Visa Invitation Request." A CV including a brief list of publications and brief statement about your interest in the conference and past IRSCL conference involvement will be helpful. Please allow some time to produce the invitation, as well as sufficient time to obtain visas, since times to obtain a visa can vary widely.

Santa Barbara’s climate is fairly temperate because of ocean and mountains and is not often very hot. The summer months of June and July often include ocean mists that keep temperatures cooler. If Santa Barbara has hot periods in August, being on a peninsular right by the ocean is often cooler, while swimming in the sea is also possible to cool down. Often the shade is considerably cooler than direct sun. We recommend hats and sunscreen. Layers are often convenient in California. There is a chance it may be quite warm in August, so please prepare for this. 

Scholars of children's literature may be interested to know that Scott O'Dell's famous 1960 novel The Island of the Blue Dolphins, which has been translated into over 20 languages and continues to be read by schoolchildren, takes place on the Channel Islands off-shore of California's Central Coast, of which several (now a National Park) are visible from the shore of Santa Barbara. Local sites related to the story of the historical figure known as the Lone/Lost Woman of San Nicolas include the Santa Barbara Mission, where she is buried, and an exhibit at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. 

Other local sites that may be of interest include the Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, Sea Center, MOXI Wolf Museum (an interactive science museum for children), and Santa Barbara Art Museum, all of which also offer summer camps for children, as does UC Santa Barbara, Wilderness Youth Project, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Sea League, and Peak2Pacific (oceanside and water activities). World-famous Lotusland is also in Santa Barbara, though advance reservations are required.

We recommend taking a boat trip on the Santa Barbara Channel toward the Channel Islands, where dolphins, sea lions, and possibly whales can be sighted. Condor Express arranges whale watching tours from Santa Barbara. To travel to the Channel Islands National Park, such as Santa Cruz Island, which is visible from Santa Barbara, you can book a trip in advance from Island Packers, which leaves from harbors in the cities of Ventura and Oxnard. (Camping overnight is also possible, if arranged in advance.) We recommend a visit to Scorpion Harbor on Santa Cruz Island for a day visit, family trip, or camping (book in advance). Other National Parks in California are also worth a visit if you have more time: Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, or the High Sierra.

Sites outside of Santa Barbara relevant for local Native Chumash culture include Wishtoyo Village in Malibu and the Chumash Museum in Thousand Oaks, for example.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land upon which the University of California, Santa Barbara is located, and pay our respects to the Chumash Elders past, present, and future who hold the memories, traditions, and culture of this area.