Deadline: December 1, 2026
Contact: Alison Laurence, San José State University
Email: alison.laurence@sjsu.edu

The multidisciplinary field of Extinction Studies attends to historical losses as well as those that are in progress and projected. With more than a million animal and plant species currently at risk and many other ways of being under existential threat, there is no end to the work of scholars, artists, and activists who address extinction in their work.

Guided by the conference theme “Territory: Terra, Terroir, and Terror,” this session seeks perspectives from the arts, humanities, and social sciences on the relationship between extinction and the particular places where losses occur, are noticed, or experienced. In the absence of an animal, botanical, or cultural being, what remains—or takes its place? In what ways do extinct beings remain present through residual ecological impacts or commemorative practices? What are the affective aspects of extinction within a community? How does extinction terrorize, terrify, or haunt the living? How do stories about extinction locate (or misplace) the process?

The session welcomes scholarly and creative responses alike (or a hybrid of the two) that consider extinction in any of its manifestations, including prehistoric departures, “unnatural” anthropogenic extirpations, ongoing degradations, and emergent practices of de-extinction. Together, through a multiplicity of perspectives, contributors will map the landscapes—which is to say: call attention to distinctive features—of extinction as a biological, cultural, political, and epistemological process.

Participants of all disciplines and career stages are welcome! While this session is conceived as a seminar (see note on that below) it could, depending on the amount of interest, also proceed as a traditional panel.

For consideration, please send a title, an abstract (of no more than 300 words), and a short biographical statement to Alison Laurence (alison.laurence@sjsu.edu) by December 1.
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A note on the seminar format per the CFP: “This year ASLE is offering a new option for presenting and hearing scholarly or creative work: seminars. Like traditional panel sessions, seminars will offer participants the opportunity to present a paper and listen to the papers of their fellow presenters, as well as welcome a broader audience. However, where traditional panels meet once, seminars will meet three times (during the same time slot) over all three days of the conference. Seminar groups will include approximately 9–12 presenters, with 3–4 participants speaking on each day. Presenters involved in a seminar commit to attending all three days, allowing for an evolving conversation in which all participants have the opportunity to rotate between the presenter role and the audience role.”

Posted on September 30, 2026