Call for papers "Literary and Artistic Expressions of Radical Ecology"

Special issue of Capitalism Nature Socialism

Editor: Goutam Karmakar, University of Hyderabad, India

Farhana Sultana characterizes the climate crises and ecological transformations of the present moment as “the unbearable heaviness of climate coloniality,” and demonstrates how colonialism and imperialism are not relics of the past but enduring expressions of the contemporary subjugation of the Global South. Contemporary asymmetrical power relations between the Global South and Global North and the exploitative frameworks of global trade and geopolitical competition continue to perpetuate climate coloniality today.

Continuing legacies of imperial violence insidiously contribute to ecological crises and climate emergencies, rendering many communities unlivable: a life and death issue for many in the Global South. The repercussions of climate catastrophes and environmental injustices are evident in extensive methods of “othering” and the expropriation of the impoverished. Rob Nixon characterises the unequal and gradual effects of environmental abuse as ‘slow violence,’ while Thom Davies follows by contending that the extended and cumulative consequences of this violence can become evident through ‘slow observation.’ These notions can be linked to the ‘environmentalism of the poor’, a concept discussed by Joan Martinez-Alier and Ramachandra Guha to illustrate how the impoverished engage in ecological-oriented struggles for survival.

Despite the well-studied nature of the crises, it is crucial to concentrate on investigating the potential for radical transformation that stems from grassroots resistance to exploitation. Numerous environmental movements occurring worldwide are not only opposing climate coloniality but, more importantly, foregrounding plural epistemologies and perspectives on resistance and on the interconnected web of human and non-human co-existence. Grassroots resistances are significant because of their diverse parameters, simultaneously connected by their underlying urge for systemic transformation and counter-hegemonic ethical norms, including democratic management and equitable distribution of resources for the common good.

This special issue seeks to contribute to the discussion of radical transformation by exploring the emerging role of literature, poetry, film, and other artistic mediums in interpreting the diversity of oppositional and transformational left environmental justice movements across the globe— the methods, acts, alliances, camaraderie, solidarity, and visions of movements striving for liberating transformations. We seek contributions that investigate literary presentations of different modes of global grassroots activism that hold the potential for developing counter-hegemonic ethical norms, discourses, strategies, and practices to advance transformations in, against, and beyond global neoliberal capitalism.

The special issue aspires to revisit literary and artistic works that portray marginalized, Indigenous, antiracist, feminist, and queer environmental activism, resistance, and resilience against the dominant structures of colonial extractivism, racialized ecological practices, and commodifying drives of capitalism – to foreground (among others) the values of collective organization, grassroots cooperation, mutual support, and non-hegemonic pedagogy.

Some of the pertinent questions that this special issue seeks to address are: how can diverse authors contribute to our shared understanding of the interrelationship between capitalism and its associated precarity? Can the depiction of oppositional struggles against capital’s control of land and resources in literary works aid in constructing an anti-capitalist, planetary, and decolonial corpus of counter-hegemonic literary studies? In what ways can contemporary literary critique of capitalist destruction of the environment and the ensuing radical movements for environmental justice identify pathways to transcend the Anthropocene and establish sustainable futures grounded in solidarity against all forms of coloniality? To what extent can a literary history of grassroots ecologies and environmental protest help articulate the transnational need for sustainable development and global solidarity? In what ways can literature from the Global South and the movements of Indigenous and other grassroots communities contribute to a re-evaluation of environmental politics from the vantage point of workers and vulnerable groups? Can more democratic and discursive forms of knowledge originate in the literary manifestations of grassroots environmental histories? In what ways could literary responses facilitate the advancement of narratives of ecosocialist futures and decolonial practice?

Submission Instructions

We invite contributions of scholarly articles (7500-8,000 words) related to the themes of this collection, as well as poetry and reviews of books, art, and films. In addition, there is also the possibility of non-print contributions for the journal’s webcast and free newsletter. We also invite alternative forms of narration, poetry, and works of art that illuminate the issues raised above.

This journal uses ScholarOne Manuscripts for manuscript submissions. If you have not submitted a paper to this journal before, you will need to create an account in ScholarOne when submitting your paper. Go here to get started: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rcns. Articles should be no longer than between 7500-8000 words in length, inclusive of the abstract of 150 words, 6 keywords, references, figure captions, and endnotes.

While submitting your piece via the ScholarOne system of the journal, please clearly indicate that your piece is being submitted for the special issue, “Literary and Artistic Expressions of Radical Ecology.” We request that manuscripts be submitted by November 30, 2025.

If you have any notes of interest or would like to discuss the aims and scope of your proposed submission, please contact the special issue editor, Goutam Karmakar at (goutamkarmakar@uohyd.ac.in). In the email, please cc the CNS Co-Editors in Chief: Leigh Brownhill (leighbrownhill@gmail.com) and Daniel Faber (d.faber@northeastern.edu).

The call can be accessed via https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/literary-and-artistic-expressions-of-radical-ecology/

Published version of the call: https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2025.2506940

Notes on the editor:

Goutam Karmakar teaches at the Department of English, University of Hyderabad in India, with affiliations at the University of Cologne, Germany, and Durban University of Technology, South Africa. He has received prestigious fellowships, including the Alexander von Humboldt and National Research Foundation awards. His research spans Global South literature, postcolonial and decolonial studies, and environmental humanities. Karmakar edits the journal Global South Literary Studies and the Routledge book series South Asian Literature in Focus.