NATURALIT: Being in Nature, Living with Literature
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
NATURALIT: BEING IN NATURE, LIVING WITH LITERATURE
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 5 SEPTEMBER 2021
With our planet in the worst shape it’s ever been in human history, artists across mediums have been galvanized to create works that not only call attention to the calamities that have been inextricably linked to unchecked human activity, but also call out the institutions and systems that have thrust humanity’s existence toward a tipping point we may never return from unless drastic changes are implemented.
In the field of literature, a school of criticism known as ecocriticism has emerged to enable a more focused discussion on how poets, fictionists, and essayists have used nature as a device to essentially tell their readers that the way we live now has its costs. Writers both here and abroad have published works that, for instance, lament the disruption of migratory species’ patterns (Ernesto Lariosa’s “Kon Di Na Manugpa Ang Mga Langgam”), cry foul over infrastructure projects that wreak havoc over entire landscapes and impoverish rural communities (Pusod by Domingo Landicho, Ang Lihim ng Isang Pulo by Faustino Aguilar), or emphasize our connectedness to the natural order (Pinaglahuan by Faustino Aguilar).
Although writing in and of itself does little to address the greater issues, it does help in spreading awareness and information, and perhaps even mobilizing larger movements to stand up to those institutions and individuals that favor short-term gains over long-term consequences. NATURALIT: BEING IN NATURE, LIVING WITH LITERATURE is an excellent arena to discuss how literature is evolving in the midst of the greatest crisis modern humanity has ever faced.
The Cebuano Studies Center, in cooperation with the Mamugnaong Anak sa Dagang (MAD) and Inotherwords Incorporated (IOW), invites proposals for the Naturalit online conference, to be held on November 4, 2021.
Taking as our theme Being in Nature, Living with Literature, we seek proposals for papers (15-minute presentation time), panels, roundtables, poster sessions, workshops, and other oral performances that are related to language, place and culture. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and readings of environmentally-inflected creative non-fiction and poetry.
Send one-page proposals for papers, poster sessions, workshops, or roundtables by 5 September 2021 to Raphael Dean Polinar at teamcsc.events@gmail.com or at tjlcs.proposals@gmail.com.
Please include a title, your institutional affiliation, and contact information. Panel proposals and roundtables are acceptable and encouraged. Audio-visual requests must accompany the proposal. Electronic submissions accepted. Participation is limited to one presentation per person (but you may chair one session and present at another). Full papers and creative work will be considered for publication.
Category: Events, Upcoming Events