Call for Chapter Contributions: The Clash of Culture and Environmentalism in Irish Ecocritical Studies

This edited collection explores the influence culture has on attitudes towards environmentalism in Ireland. It demonstrates that working with indigenous peoples who have deep-seated relationships built with their landscapes offers nuanced interventions that can connect communities with place, promoting environmental awareness. This form of ecological intervention can provide opportunities for local people to develop a sense of agency and responsibility for the land around them.

The text will also interrogate economic and environmental policies in Ireland and Europe that can cause or ease tension around ecological practices. Prospective contributions may consider contemporary Ireland’s place in Europe and globally, alongside the agendas at play between differing fractures such as local government, the EU, environmentalists, farmers, and businesses.

Alternative ways of being in relationship with place—through animism, care practices, storytelling, teaching, noticing, and translating—are presented as forms of resistance to cultural and ecological erasure. In this way, the environmental crisis may present opportunities to forge a new ecological awareness that alters over-consumption and materialistic modes of living to usher in an ecologically integrated society. Furthermore, Ireland’s fraught political past can aid this cultural stewarding as neo-colonial practices are recognized and challenged.

As this is an edited collection, chapters will be compiled from suitable applicants who fit the theme and scope of the text. Generally, this includes academics working in the areas of the environmental humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and Irish literature, with a particular interest in Irish identity and culture through a relationship with place. Early career academics and PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply.

Suggested Themes for Paper Proposals

Paper proposals are invited on themes including, but not limited to, the following:

• Species extinction and language extinction.
• Biodiversity loss, conservation, and the connection to land-use.
• Ecological activism in Ireland (e.g., fracking, oil rigs, etc.).
• Ireland’s political place in Europe and how this intersects with our understanding of land rights and conservation.
• The intersection of the housing crisis and the ecological crisis in Ireland.
• The shaping of Ireland’s topography through colonialism.
• The Celtic Tiger boom and bust and its repercussions on the ecological landscape.
• Ancient Ireland’s indigenous connection with land: mythology, folklore, and spirituality.
• Contemporary environmental debates in Ireland related to agriculture, forestry, and marine ecology.
• The role of the Humanities in healing and nurturing the relationship between people and place in Irish culture.
• Rewilding of urban spaces and the associated challenges and pushback from the public and residents.
• Comparative readings of Irish authors through ecocritical analysis, particularly with a link to geopolitics.
• Analysis or case studies on wildlife protection, conservation, and rewilding projects.
• Analysis of schemes purporting to make farming eco-friendly.

Submission Process

Please submit an abstract of 300 words and a brief biography by 31 July 2026 to [email protected]

Full manuscripts of 5000-7000 words will be expected by the end of November 2026.