MCLC: Ecocriticism in East Asia--cfp

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Ecocriticism in East Asia–cfp
CFP for a Pre-Convention Seminar at the 11th Biennial Convention of Association for the Studies of Literature and Environment (ASLE), June 23-27, 2015 at University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. Entitled “Ecocriticism in East Asia,” the seminar will be led by Simon Estok, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea and Xinmin Liu, Washington State University, Pullman, USA.
Ecocritical scholarship within East Asia is thriving and is a major and growing interest to scholars outside of the area. Because that area is so vast, both geographically and demographically, there is an exciting diversity of ecocriticisms. Yet, limited by deficient skills of East Asian languages, Western ecocritics have relied on translations and have very rarely indeed read materials in their original languages; on the other hand, the great diversity of Asian ecocriticisms have all, to varying degrees, been influenced by Western (particularly American) thinking in the environmental humanities. Moreover, in response to the disconnectedness within the Asian region itself, efforts to bring isolated scholars to broader audiences have produced good results, among which is the increasing recognition that many of the concerns (thematic, theoretical, social, and so on) of East Asian ecocriticisms are radically different from those in the West. The need for more and deeper recognition of local and situated knowledges is vital, and the West needs not only to listen with good will but to hear with clear understanding some of the very important messages coming out of the East.
This seminar will explore issues that include, but not limited to, the following topical areas:
What are some of the problems facing East Asian ecocriticisms going forward?
What do people (scholars, activists and others) in the West hope to import from ecocritical work being done in Asia, and why? Alternatively, what do people in the West hope to export to ecocritical work being done in Asia, and why?
What do people in Asia hope to import from ecocritical work being done in the West, and why? Alternatively, what do people in Asia hope to export to ecocritical work being done in the West, and why?
If scholarship in ecocriticism in Asia has, as often as not, been a matter of summarizing the work done in the West, then how is it possible to address this matter? At what point is such summarizing a kind of what A.A. Phillips has termed “the cultural cringe,” and precisely what is the solution in a world where English remains the main currency?
Why has this area become so hot, and, honestly, what are some issues that might arise with this heated growth?
Interested participants kindly submit abstracts of 300 words or fewer by March 31, 2015 (a change from the earlier March 2 deadline) to Simon Estok at estok at skku.edu or Xinmin Liu at Xinmin.liu at wsu.edu. Please send questions or comments to the above addresses as well.  We will notify you of the panel’s makeup by April 15, 2015.
Submitted by Dr. Xinmin Liu, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
by denton.2 at osu.edu on March 14, 2015
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