1. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF
LITERATURE, CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT (EASLCE)
PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
A conference on "Environmental Change - Cultural Change" will be held at the University of Bath, 1-4 September, 2010. The conference is supported by ASLE-UK (the UK branch of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment) and EASLCE (European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and Environment).
The aim of the conference will be to draw together examples of, compare and theorise the reciprocal relationship between environmental change and cultural change. On the one hand, there are many historical examples of environmental change bringing about cultural change. And the necessity to adapt to climate change today is reflected in literature and the arts. Looking to the future, it is also a function of education, literature and the arts to facilitate this adaptation. A key aim of the conference will be to examine the cultural contribution to adapting to environmental change. On the other hand, there are countless instances of cultural activities producing environmental change - historically, on a local scale, and more recently globally. Literary critics, philosophers, historians, cultural geographers, educational theorists, sociologists and those working on environmental issues in other disciplines are called on to analyse the relationship between environmental change and cultural change critically, and to examine representations of and reflections on it, including imagined alternatives.
Funding opportunities are being explored (research funders and commercial sponsors), and possibilities for publication of the conference proceedings are being considered. A Call for Papers will be circulated in Summer 2009, and a conference website set up. Within the general framework of the thematic focus on cultural constructions of environmental change, it is anticipated that strands/panels/papers will be sought on
- theoretical approaches: a) posthumanism/ postsubjectivism, b) biosemiotics, c) systems theory approaches
- cultural reflections on/ interpretations of forms of environmental change (different cultures/ historical periods)
- literary responses to climate change (interpretations, representational modes, genres, narrative strategies, images)
- literary/ filmic/ artistic strategies for promoting environment-friendly behaviour (including environmental documentaries)
- environmental education
- ecological citizenship
- dialogue with natural scientists (possible focus Severn barrage, background and issues today)
- place, identity and environmental change (in environmental literature and education)
- art and performance (possible Bath Spa and/ or ICIA involvement)
Accommodation has been reserved on campus, and will also available nearby in Bath. A tour of the city, visit to the Roman Baths, field trips and an evening Ceilidh are planned.
Enquiries at this stage please contact Professor Axel Goodbody, Department of European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY. Email: mlsahg@bath.ac.uk.
2. Second EASLCE conference (report)
EASLCE’s second biennial conference took place in Klagenfurt from April 28 to May 1, 2006. The theme was ‘Water: Literary, Cultural and Environmental Perspectives’. The conference, which was organised by Maureen Devine, with the support of the Department of English and American Studies at the Alps-Adriatic University of Klagenfurt, was a lively and interesting gathering. There were 5 plenary speakers. The environmental sociologist Thomas Kluge (Institute for Social-Ecological Development, Frankfurt) opened the conference by speaking (in German) on attitudes towards water in historical perspective, and the continuing challenges posed by the need to meet the clean and waste water needs of cities. Vera Norwood (University of New Mexico) gave a thought-provoking lecture on fictional accounts of hurricanes and their consequences by 20th-century American women writers, exploring the gender dimension of so-called ‘natural’ catastrophes. The British novelist Maggie Gee and the Dublin poet Rosemarie Rowley read from their work, and Brian Clarke, fishing correspondent and environmental columnist for The Times, spoke about and read from his acclaimed novel The Stream.
The conference was attended by over 70 delegates, who came mainly from Europe, but also from the USA, Canada, Australia, India, Japan and South Africa. It was good to see news of EASLCE spreading beyond the previous ‘core’ countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain to Spain and Italy, France and Belgium. The Eastern European countries were also better represented at this conference than two years ago in Münster, with delegates from Russia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Greece and Turkey, as well as Estonia and Lithuania. The papers in the workshops addressed a wide range of themes related to the cultural, social, political and environmental significance of water, with literature (from a range of countries as well as the USA) playing a prominent part. Among the most enjoyable aspects of the conference were a magical performance of music on the glass harp, and the Slovenian Andrej Zdravic’s fascinating eco-documentary filmRiverglass.
EASLCE would like to express its thanks to Maureen for all the hard work she put into hosting this conference, and to all our sponsors, especially the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Klagenfurt, the US Embassy in Vienna and the British Council, and, last but not least, ASLE, who generously enabled travel subsidies to be granted to a number of delegates.