Deadline: 9/1/2021
Contact: Noah Heringman
Email: HeringmanN@missouri.edu

Romanticism and Environmental Humanities

Abstracts are invited for a new special issue of Studies in Romanticism planned for Spring 2023, “Romanticism and Environmental Humanities,” guest edited by Noah Heringman (University of Missouri). Since the publication in this journal of a special issue on Green Romanticism (1996), edited by Jonathan Bate, scholars working at the intersection of Romanticism and environmental humanities have been increasingly influenced by the global scale of scholarship and activism in the areas of postcolonial studies, climate change, and environmental justice. One particular focus of this issue will be traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Global “natures,” as Alan Bewell has called them, have become increasingly visible as scholars have rediscovered traditional ecological knowledge from various parts of the world as reported and remediated in publications generated by the voyages of Captain James Cook, Alexander von Humboldt, and others. We particularly welcome essays exploring the transformations that arise from encounters between competing forms of natural knowledge—settler-colonial and indigenous, urban and rural, or scientific and literary, among others. On a different level, TEK intersects with ecocriticism as an embodied practice pursued by scholars working in different situations in different parts of the world today.

We welcome abstracts for full-length scholarly articles tracking literary engagements with traditional ecological knowledge in the Romantic period, and/or the history of ecocriticism in Romantic studies. We also welcome abstracts for shorter pieces (3000 words) that would be part of a forum reflecting on ecocritical practices inside and outside academia during a challenging time for our profession. Abstracts for essays (500 words) and forum contributions (250 words) are due September 1, 2021, and will be reviewed by the special issue guest editor. Those selected will be invited to submit full papers by April 1, 2022. This entire special issue will be anonymously peer reviewed. Please email abstracts and a brief CV to Noah Heringman at HeringmanN@missouri.edu. Email inquiries are also welcome.

Posted on July 22, 2021