Deadline: December 1, 2022
Contact: Hannah Rachel Cole
Email: hannah.cole@yale.edu
Panel Proposed at the 2023 ASLE + AESS Conference “Reclaiming the Commons”
July 9-12, 2023 in Portland Oregon
What kind of intellectual commons can digital methods create for scholars, activists, and artists in the environmental humanities? How might these methods allow environmental humanists to reach new publics? What factors limit the composition of those digital publics?
Environmental humanists commonly assert that public engagement is crucial to the success of our interdisciplinary field. Yet the presence and composition of this public cannot be assumed. As Hannes Bargthaller et al (2014) assert, “The work that will be needed in order to realize the promise of the environmental humanities is principally one of translation and transmission – between the disciplines that constitute it, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to a public whose existence we can no longer take for granted, but that we must help to assemble” (273).
The digital humanities may offer valuable possibilities for assembling and engaging such a public. According to Will Fenton (2018), “The digital humanities provide literary scholars with a platform for various levels of public engagement, from access to inclusion to reinterpretation. Framing digital work as public work raises important questions, not just about what we do, but where and for whom we do it.”
This panel invites environmental humanists to share their reflections upon digital humanities methods for reaching a public commons. Presentations may include:
1. Showcases of ongoing public-facing digital environmental humanities projects
2. Reflections upon the successes and failures of digital environmental humanities methods to reach public audiences
3. Ethical considerations for public digital environmental humanities
4. Methodological proposals for creating larger, more diverse and inclusive commons
Please submit a presentation abstraction (maximum 300 words) along with your name, brief bio, and email address by December 1 to Hannah Rachel Cole (hannah.cole@yale.edu).
This CFP is for a pre-formed panel, which will be submitted for consideration to the conference organizers at the end of December. Information on the panel’s potential acceptance will follow.
Bergthaller, Hannes, et al. “Mapping Common Ground: Ecocriticism, Environmental History, and the Environmental Humanities.” Environmental Humanities, vol. 5, Nov. 2014, pp. 261–76. ResearchGate, https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615505.
Fenton, Will. “The Digital Humanities as Public Humanities.” Inside Higher Ed, 29 Jan. 2018, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/01/29/literary-scholars-should-use-digital-humanities-reach-oft-ignored-public-opinion.
Posted on October 6, 2022
