Indigenous Ecocriticism: Resistance and Recovery

Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE)

Twelfth Biennial Conference

Detroit, Michigan

June 20-24, 2017

Coinciding with the formation of the ASLE Indigenous Ecocriticism special interest group, this panel explores the ongoing relationships between ecocriticism and Native American and Indigenous studies. Although the two fields have long demonstrated related interests—for instance, Keywords for Environmental Studies (NYU P, 2016) features an entry on “indigeneity,” while Native Studies Keywords (Arizona State UP, 2015) devotes a section to “land”—much room remains for exchanges and collaboration. The recent collection Ecocriticism and Indigenous Studies (Routledge, 2017) further attests to the enriching scholarship that occurs when these fields intersect, work that considers the global urgency and relevance of Indigenous studies for current events such as resistance against megaprojects, massive displacement of Indigenous peoples, and revitalization of Indigenous cosmologies in the realm of politics.

Following the conference theme of “Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery,” the panel especially invites proposals considering “methods and genres of resistance,” “recovering ecological citizenship,” and “recovering of lost lands.” Individual papers might examine, among other topics,

• Indigenous resistance to extractive industries (e.g., land and water protectors resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline);

• the pursuit of Indigenous environmental justice, especially in the Great Lakes region;

• Indigenous environmental movements in a global context;

• investigations and analyses of settler colonialism;

• sustainable community development and tribal conservation projects;

• convergences of Indigenous ecocriticism with other subjugated knowledges;

• ecological resistance/recovery as part of Indigenous decolonization and revitalization;

• the portrayal of relational ontologies and cosmopolitics in literature and other forms of art.

We welcome papers that draw on these topics and promote interactive conversation on Indigenous ecocriticism; we are also open to other proposals are aligned with Indigenous ecocriticism and the broader conference theme.

Please submit a 300-word abstract and a short biography to panel organizers Abigail Pérez Aguilera (aperezaguilera@westminstercollege.edu) and Kyle Bladow (kbladow@northland.edu) by November 30, 2016 (panel proposals must be submitted to conference organizers by December 12, 2016, with final decisions to be made in February.)