CFP: "Cetacean Nations." Special issue of Tamkang Review.

Co-editors: Sun-chieh Liang, Professor and Chair, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan; Michael Lundblad, Director of Animality Studies and Assistant Professor of English, Colorado State University, U.S.A.

For this special issue of Tamkang Review, the co-editors seek abstracts of papers that would explore representations of cetaceans (including whales, dolphins, and porpoises) in contemporary literary and cultural texts, focusing on nations and cultures surrounding the North Pacific Ocean: Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Russia, Canada, the U.S., and many other countries equally concerned with the issue of cetaceans. Critical work from a variety of fields will be welcome, including animal and animality studies, ethnic studies, ecocriticism, Native American studies, postcolonial theory, transnational cultural studies, and critical theory.

Texts to explore could be drawn from a wide variety of sources, such as literature, film, television programs, commercial whaling discourses, indigenous traditions, animal advocacy discourses, legislative initiatives, as well as intersections with oil, shipping, and fishing industries, military operations and discourses, and ecological issues. Possibilities might include: the work of Hong-Ji Liao, Ke-shiang Liu, Hsia-man Lan-po-an, Linda Hogan, Barry Lopez, and David Rothenberg; films such as The Cove, the Free Willy series, and Whale Rider; U.S. television programs such as "Whale Wars" and various Animal Planet series; theme parks such as Sea World; organizations such as the Taiwan Cetacean Society (http://www.whale.org.tw/en/), the American Cetacean Society (http://www.acsonline.org/), Greenpeace USA (http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/), the International Whaling Commission (http://iwcoffice.org/); and various initiatives advocating for cetacean rights, such as Paola Cavalieri's recent work (http://cetaceanconservation.com.au/cetaceanrights/).

Please send an abstract (less than 500 words) and a c.v. to both Sun-chieh Liang (sunchieh.liang@gmail.com) and Michael Lundblad (Michael.Lundblad@ColoState.Edu) by January 15, 2011. If your abstract is accepted, your essay would need to be completed by June 15, 2011. This special issue of Tamkang Review will be published in December 2011. Inquiries welcome.