MCLC: Ecology and Landscape panel--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Liu, Xinmin <xinmin.liu at wsu.edu>
Subject: Ecology and Landscape panel--cfp
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Call for Papers for RMMLA 2014 Panel
“Asian Comparative Literature and Film"
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Convention
October 9-11, 2014 in Boise, Idaho
 

Ecology and Landscape in Asian Literature and Film
 
Co-Chaired by Xinmin Liu, Washington State University, and Géraldine Fiss,
University of Southern California
 

Faced with ecological change and disasters of an unprecedented scale,
critical thinkers around the world are re-evaluating the relationship
between “Mother Nature” and human beings.  How are our views of nature,
and the symbiosis between human beings and the natural world, changing and
evolving?  Should we regard non-human nature as “passive” material objects
or as “agential” beings with which we share an equal partnership?  If we
do share agency with the non-human world, how do we reconfigure our role
in it?    

This panel explores these eco-critical considerations in the context of
Asian ecological writings with a special focus on landscape. For instance,
fictional and cinematic texts on the catastrophic aftermath of the recent
tsunami, earthquake and typhoon in Asia soberly reflect on the shifted and
altered interactions between the human and non-human worlds.  Other
authors and film-makers engage time-honored Asian cosmologies,
philosophies and ethics to propose alternative possibilities of ecological
well-being and land-human relationships.

We welcome original papers that examine any aspect of the broad topic of
ecology and human/natural landscape in the Asian context in any period of
the early modern, modern or contemporary era.  We also welcome
cross-cultural and non-Asian critical perspectives in a comparative
context.  Please submit a proposal of 250 words and a brief bio to Xinmin
Liu (xinmin.liu at wsu.edu) or Géraldine Fiss (gfiss at usc.edu) by March 1,
2014.  Notice of acceptance or rejection will be sent out on or before
March 31, 2014.

http://rmmla.wsu.edu/conferences