Rice University English Symposium: Ecology and the Environmental Humanities
Rice University, Houston, TX
September 13-14, 2013
Keynotes:
Prof. Claire Colebrook, PennState University
Prof. Timothy Morton, Rice University*
The 2013 English Symposium at Rice University invites responses to the ecological and nonhuman turns in the humanities. These turns are undoubtedly responses to environmental crises, food shortages, global warming, factory farming, and species extinction, but this symposium is also interested in discussing the emergence of nonhumans, such as matter, objects, animals, systems, technology, and media, in our critical conversations surrounding these problems.
While the humanities have an opportunity to challenge the problems and solutions put forth by scientific discourses, the Anthropocene, the post Natural, and the Posthuman come to challenge humanism. What are humanities scholars able to contribute to the conversations concerning ecology and nonhumans?
Papers can address these topics across a variety of periods, genres, disciplines, and theoretical frames, such as:
Affect Theory
Biopolitics
Capitalism and Political Economy
Critical Animal Studies
Critical Race Studies
Cybernetics and Technology
Disability Studies
Environmental Activism
Eugenics
Food studies
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Geopolitics
Green Capitalism
History of Science
Imperialisms
Medicine and Disease
New Materialism
New Media
Object Oriented Ontology
Population Studies
Postcolonialism
Posthumanism
Psychoanalysis
Reproduction
Settlement Studies
Social Movements
Sustainability
Systems Theory
Proposals (max 250 words) are due on July 1.* Papers should be readable in 20 minutes, but shorter pieces are encouraged to allow more time for discussion. Please email proposals to [email protected] as a word document or pdf file.
Rodrigo Martini Paula
English Department
Rice University
[email protected]
