Call for Proposals: Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis


Call for Proposals: Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis

dscn0512We are seeking proposals for an interdisciplinary anthology, tentatively titled “Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis,” that will treat cultural production and practices related to “alternatives”—both critical and creative, descriptive and imaginative—that challenge the unjust and unsustainable systems that dominate at present. Though myriad social and cultural practices—from Transition towns to slow economies; permaculture design courses to CSAs—have offered examples for how to live differently, and though these practices have, in turn, inspired artists and writers (from southern Wisconsin’s “fermentation fest” to Patrick Jones’ “permapoesis”), few cultural critics have taken seriously the aesthetic, ethical, cultural, political, and ecological possibilities (and pitfalls) that these alternatives might entail, in part, perhaps, because of a (necessary) focus on critique, which is the legacy of cultural studies historically. Though we certainly do not eschew critique, we are looking for contributions that, presuming the background of crisis (economic, ecological, social, and cultural), turn critical and creative attention to what could be or, in some cases, is—those extant or emergent alternatives that exist alongside crisis—in order to address the question of the effectiveness (and affectiveness) of alternatives, whether on the small or large scale. To what degree are alternatives genuinely alternative? And how can alternatives avoid replicating the very structures (of political, social, ecological and economic injustice; of resource depletion and global crisis) they attempt to overturn?

We imagine the “cultural production” under consideration in the book to be broad, including anything from actual practices in the environment (like gardening) to blog posts; poetry, fiction, drama, essay; media (film, television); music; (performance) art; etc. Essays treating the history of “alternatives” are also welcome. And while we envision this as a scholarly book, we are open to the idea of including creative nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry as well.

Contributors might consider some of the following: Alternative energy sources (solar, wind, tidal); “appropriate” technologies; buen vivir; voluntary simplicity and the art of living; the commons and commoning; gleaning; intentional communities; permaculture; bioregionalism; fermentation (literal and/or figurative); seed saving; slow economies and alternative currencies; the internet and “the grid”; “back-to-the land” then and now; ecotopias; community gardens and food forests; environmental (in)justice and the politics of “alternative” movements.

Please send proposals of approximately 500 words for essays of 7000-8000 words to [email protected] and [email protected] byFebruary 1, 2016.

, , ,

NEWS

read all news >


  • Winner of the EASLCE Essay Prize, Călina-Maria Moldovan

    Winner of the EASLCE Essay Prize, Călina-Maria Moldovan

    Călina-Maria Moldovan, PhD student at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, is the winner of the EASLCE Essay Prize. A jury consisting of members of the EASLCE Advisory Board decided to award the prize to Călina-Maria for her article “The Ocean in Contemporary Norwegian Literature”. The article does, according to the jury, not only “comply with the…

  • 10 ième Congrès d’EASLCE / 10th EASCLE Symposium – CFP

    10 ième Congrès d’EASLCE  / 10th EASCLE Symposium – CFP

    10th EASLCE bi-annual Symposium/10ième Congrès bi-annuel EASCLE  European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture, and the Environment Perpignan, June 17-20 2024  Early-Bird Registration Deadline: March 5th Registration fees will be posted on Feb 5. 2024 Early-bird registration will be open until March 5th 2024 Speakers at the conference will have to register before April…

  • EASLCE Statement on the War in Ukraine

    EASLCE Statement on the War in Ukraine

    EASLCE is deeply concerned about the dramatic situation in Ukraine and the military attacks that Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have decided to launch into the sovereign state of Ukraine. We express our explicit condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine and the impact this has on the lives of innocent people and those in affected…

  • Ecopoetic Place-Making: Nature and Mobility in Contemporary American Poetry Judith Rauscher

    Ecopoetic Place-Making: Nature and Mobility in Contemporary American Poetry Judith Rauscher

    American ecopoetries of migration explore the conflicted relationships of mobile subjects to the nonhuman world and thus offer valuable environmental insight for our current age of mass mobility and global ecological crisis. In Ecopoetic Place-Making, Judith Rauscher analyzes the works of five contemporary American poets of migration, drawing from ecocriticism and mobility studies. The poets discussed…

  • Ecocriticism and Old Norse Studies – Reinhard Hennig Emily Lethbridge  Michael Schulte (eds)

    Ecocriticism and Old Norse Studies – Reinhard Hennig Emily Lethbridge  Michael Schulte (eds)

    Ecocriticism and Old Norse Studies. Nature and the Environment in Old Norse Literature and Culture. Ed. by Reinhard Hennig, Emily Lethbridge, and Michael Schulte. Turnhout: Brepols 2023 “Ecocriticism and Old Norse Studies is the first anthology to combine environmental humanities approaches and the study of premodern Nordic literature and culture. The chapters gathered here present innovative…

Call for Proposals: Perma/Culture: Imagining Alternatives in an Age of Crisis


FURTHER READING

Ecozon@

Ecozon@ is a journal devoted to the relatively new field of literary and cultural criticism called ecocriticism. Ecocriticism can be broadly defined as the study of the representations of nature in cultural texts, and of the relationship between humans with other earth beings and their environment as seen in cultural manifestations. 

ARCADIANA

Arcadiana is a blog about the environment in literature and culture. It is hosted by postgraduate members of the European Association for Literature, Culture and the Environment (EASLCE).