Deadline: May 20-22, 2024
Contact: Serpil Oppermann and Sinan Akilli, Organizers, Cappadocia University- Environmental Humanities Center
Email: sinanakilli@gmail.com
Phone: +905326273244
3rd International Environmental Humanities Conference: Ecocriticisms in the 21st Century
Cappadocia University (Mustafapaşa Campus, 50420 Ürgüp/Nevşehir,Turkey)
May 20-22, 2024
Confirmed Keynote Speakers
- Alexa Weik von Mossner (University of Klagenfurt) (Online)
- Serenella Iovino (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Although ecocriticism has always kept its initial emphasis on the “relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty 1996), over the last decade it has “entered into fruitful interdisciplinary collaborations with other disciplines under the umbrella of the environmental humanities” (Goodbody, Flys Junquera, Oppermann 2020). It has expanded its boundaries, becoming more theoretical, translocal, and transcultural, as well as engaging more deeply with environmental justice issues, urban problems, environmental ethics, feminisms, global climate change, and non-western cultures and literatures. The role of literature, arts, and culture is still crucial in studying the philosophical and sociocultural implications of more-than-human environments and their multispecies entangled in numerous anthropogenic stressors. Since literature and arts are often set in dialogue with scientists, ecocriticism is constitutively a cross-disciplinary field of study. But the role played by literature in the development of human discourses, cultural practices, and ethical values about landscapes and waterscapes has never lost its central significance in ecocritical studies.
Some key theoretical movements in the methods of ecocriticism include nature writing, place studies, bioregionalism, social ecology, deep ecology, ecofeminisms, queer ecologies, animal studies, postcolonial ecologies, environmental justice, environmental ethics, ecophobia, new materialisms, posthuman directions, environmental humanities, Anthropocene studies, and green/blue cultural studies. These movements, or new entryways, sometimes overlap and sometimes diverge, but they chart a critical genealogy of ecocriticism. Among many questions addressed today in the field, the question of “what are ecocriticism’s future prospects?” is the most imperative, as literary scholars are called upon ever more frequently to explicate their contribution to a world whose hallmarks are economic sustainability, injustice, biodiversity loss, global pollution, human and nonhuman migrations, loss of tangible and intangible heritage, food insecurity, and high-impact climate change.
For the 3rd international conference organized by the Environmental Humanities Center, Cappadocia University, we invite scholars to discuss the branches/waves and the new directions of ecocriticism, including recent theories, emerging topics and new challenges, ecocriticism’s converging and diverging points from other ecological approaches in social sciences and the humanities (such as social ecology, environmental history, ecopsychology, etc.), its alliances with natural sciences, its activist impulses, and its transcultural and transnational visions. We are interested in proposals that highlight encompassing theoretical, cultural, and ecological interpretive strategies rather than ecocritical readings of single literary or artistic texts.
We invite individual papers and panel proposals on the following and related topics:
- Affective ecocriticism
- Anthropocene and ecocriticism
- Art and ecocriticism
- Climate change and ecocriticism
- Elemental ecocriticism
- Empirical ecocriticism
- Environmental-Justice ecocriticism
- Feminist ecocriticism
- Food and ecocriticism
- Material ecocriticism
- Media/film and ecocriticism
- National/continental ecocriticisms
- Place-based ecocriticism
- Postcolonial ecocriticism
- Posthumanist ecocriticism
- Postmodern ecocriticism
- Prismatic, dark, veer, queer ecologies and ecocriticism
- Urban ecocriticism
- Water and ecocriticism
- Waves of ecocriticism
We also welcome proposals for visual art exhibitions at the conference venue. The organizers reserve the right to select the applications.
Format: The conference will be in-person only. There will be no virtual sessions.
Abstract/Bio Statement Submissions: The official language of the conference is English. Interested scholars are kindly asked to submit abstracts between 200-350 words for 20-minute presentations, including 3-5 key words and a short bio note (70-100 words) as a single Microsoft Word file (no PDF please) to the conference email address. Please include your full name, institutional affiliation (including country information), abstract title, and email address (not included in the max. 350-word text limit) at the top of the abstract file.
Please send proposals to the conference e-mail address: cappadocia.ehconference2024@gmail.com
The receipt of submissions will be acknowledged within 3 workdays. If you have not received a confirmation after 3 workdays, please contact Dr. Sinan Akıllı at sinan.akilli@kapadokya.edu.tr
Conference Registration Fees: The conference fee includes the conference pack, lunch at the university cafeteria, and snacks and refreshments served during coffee breaks (20 thru 22 May).
PARTICIPANTS WITH PAPER PRESENTATION
Early Registration (by Friday, March 29, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3))
Faculty Member (Turkish University Affiliation): 2000 TL
Faculty Member (Foreign University Affiliation): 150 EUR
Graduate Student (Turkish University Affiliation)*: 1000 TL
Graduate Student (Foreign University Affiliation)*: 75 EUR
Late Registration (by Friday, April 19, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3))
Faculty Member (Turkish University Affiliation): 2500 TL
Faculty Member (Foreign University Affiliation): 200 EUR
Graduate Student (Turkish University Affiliation)*: 1250 TL
Graduate Student (Foreign University Affiliation)*: 100 EUR
NON-SPEAKING PARTICIPANTS (max. 30 places; registration on a “first come, first served” basis)
Early Registration (by Friday, March 29, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3))
Faculty Member (Turkish University Affiliation): 1250 TL
Faculty Member (Foreign University Affiliation): 100 EUR
Graduate Student (Turkish University Affiliation)*: 750 TL
Graduate Student (Foreign University Affiliation)*: 50 EUR
Late Registration (by Friday, April 19, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3))
Faculty Member (Turkish University Affiliation): 2000 TL
Faculty Member (Foreign University Affiliation): 150 EUR
Graduate Student (Turkish University Affiliation)*: 1000 TL
Graduate Student (Foreign University Affiliation)*: 75 EUR
* Scanned copy of current student ID card is required at the time of registration and should be sent to the conference email address together with the registration form as a separate document.
Peer Review Process: All abstracts will be double-blind peer reviewed by two reviewers.
Publication Prospects: All accepted abstracts will be electronically published as a Conference Abstracts book and maintained on the conference website.
A separate call for submissions will also be issued soon after the conference to invite full text articles to be selected through double-blind peer review for an edited collection of essays to be published by Cappadocia University Press Environmental Humanities Series.
Important Dates
Deadline for abstract and short bio submission: Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3).
Peer-review accept/reject decision notification: Friday, March 1, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3).
Draft program announcement: Friday, March 15, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3).
Final program announcement: Friday, March 29, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3).
Conference Location: The conference will take place at Mustafapaşa Campus, Cappadocia University, Nevşehir, Turkey. In addition to being the central campus of Cappadocia University, Mustafapaşa (former Sinasos) is the winner of the “Best Tourism Village” title awarded by The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in December 2021. For further details, please visit https://mustafapasakapadokya.org/en/
Travel: Mustafapaşa Campus is conveniently accessed through two airports, Kayseri Airport and Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport, both of which are within 1-hour travelling distance (by taxi or shuttle service).
Bus service to Ürgüp and Nevşehir central bus stations is also available from all major cities in Turkey.
Accommodation: A list of the recommended accommodation options (hotels that Cappadocia University works with for similar events) will be announced by Friday, March 1, 2024, 11:59 pm (GMT +3).
Meals: Lunch will be served at university canteen on May 20 thru 22 and will be included in the conference fee.
Cappadocia Excursion (Optional): Subject to advance registration and extra payment (deadline and cost to be announced), one-day sightseeing excursion to the attractions in the vicinity of Mustafapaşa Campus will be organized as part of the conference social program.
For details of the conference, please follow the updates at the conference official website: https://ehconference.kapadokya.edu.tr
For information about Environmental Humanities Center, please visit the Center’s website: https://ehc.kapadokya.edu.tr
For information about Ecocene: Cappadocia Journal of Environmental Humanities, please visit the journal website: https://ecocene.kapadokya.edu.tr
For information about Cappadocia University, please visit the university’s official website: https://kapadokya.edu.tr/en/
Click here to downlod the CfP as a PDF file.
We look forward to welcoming you to our conference in May 2024!
Posted on October 13, 2023
