Call for contributions - essays on literature and ecology

deadline for submissions: 
April 30, 2024
full name / name of organization: 
MELOW: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World
contact email: 

Papers (3500-5000 words, following the latest MLA guidelines) are invited on the following broad themes:

  1. Nature as Character and Metaphor: How does literature personify nature, attributing human-like qualities to natural entities? How do ecological metaphors and symbols enrich our understanding of environmental issues?
  2. Wilderness and Urban Landscapes: Investigate depictions of wilderness and urban environments in literature. What do these portrayals reveal about the human-nature relationship and the impacts of urbanization?
  3. Environmental Justice: Examine narratives that address environmental inequalities, marginalized communities, and the socio-economic implications of ecological degradation.
  4. Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi): Explore the emerging genre of climate fiction, analyzing how authors envision and convey potential futures shaped by climate change.
  5. Eco-spirituality and Indigenous Knowledge: Delve into the spiritual connections between humans and the natural world, drawing from indigenous knowledge systems and cultural perspectives.
  6. Ecofeminism: Discuss the intersections between gender, ecology, and literature, exploring how feminist perspectives contribute to ecological discourse.
  7. Postcolonial Ecocriticism: Analyze how colonial legacies influence literary representations of landscapes, resource exploitation, and the indigenous relationship with nature.
  8. Ecopoetics: Study the aesthetic dimensions of eco-poetry and eco-prose, considering how literary forms and techniques engage with ecological themes.
  9. Theoretical Considerations: Explore and critique the contribution of theorists on the subject of Ecocriticism, Literature and Ecology, and Nature Writing.
  10. Specific authors and their texts.

Selected papers will be published by a leading international academic publisher with a high impact factor.