Call for papers: Localities
Special issue on Global Ecological/Environmental Challenges and Local Responses
Deadline for submission: 30 September 2017
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Tag Archives: activism
JOB – Postdoc, Knowledge Infrastructures for Environmental Justice, Drexel University
Job Opening: Knowledge Infrastructures for Environmental Justice Postdoc
Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Drexel University
Deadline for applications: 1 January 2016 Continue reading
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS – Creating a Climate for Change; University of Kansas
Creating a Climate for Change: Activism Within and Beyond the Borders of the Classroom
May 28-June 1
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
This panel explores the ways in which scholars within the Environmental Humanities contribute to the fight for earth sustainability and justice through activist approaches in criticism and teaching that transform human behavior and shape societal attitudes. In the humanities we are too often accused of “navel-gazing,” of being removed from “real world” issues, but the growing field of the Environmental Humanities itself challenges this misconceived notion. Comprised of teachers and critics from a range of academic institutions, humanist disciplines, and cultural backgrounds, this panel collectively raises questions about how humanist study translates into activism and creates change. We are interested in how scholars employ activism in their work—by pushing back on the limits set by the publishing industry about genre and audience; by bringing humanist work to the sciences and demanding to be heard; by engaging critical questions of human behavior and cultural values; by encouraging students to become active citizens. Papers are welcome from any facet of the Environmental Humanities, including (but not limited to) Environmental Justice, Animal Studies, Ecofeminism, the Rhetoric of Science and Technology, Indigenous Ecologies, Ecocriticism, Eco-semantics or Eco-poetics, Environmental History or Anthropology, Visual or Performance Art.
Please send a 250-word abstract to Chiyo Crawford at ccrawfor@mtholyoke.edu by Oct. 20. Deadlines for other panel proposals vary. For more information about the conference please visit the official conference website or see the full call for papers.
Panel co-chairs:
Dr. Brianna Burke
Professor of Environmental Humanities
English Department
Iowa State University
brburke@iastate.edu
Dr. Chiyo Crawford
Holyoke Fellow & Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Mount Holyoke College
ccrawfor@mtholyoke.edu
PODCAST – CoHearence Podcast #5: Literature and Politics at the Green Words/Green Worlds Conference (Part 2)
(Photo: Edie Steiner, Text 2: from the series Material Remains, 2003)
In the second part of CoHearence’s look at the 2011 conference, Green Words/Green Worlds: Environmental Literatures and Politics in Canada, we continue our investigation of the relationship between the cultivation of an environmental reading (and writing) practice and engaged eco-politics. Featuring excerpts from the Green Words/Green Worlds opening public poetry panel which included keynote presenters Brian Bartlett, Armand Garnett Ruffo and Rita Wong, we build on our discussion with conference organizers Catriona Sandilands and Ella Soper about why literature is important for environmental thought and action. We explore how and why Canadian ecocritics and poets are engaging with the challenging environmental questions of our time and provide perspectives for rethinking the way we imagine our environment.
Web Resources
- Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC)
- The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment (ASLE)
- A Windigo Tale(Armand Garnett Ruffo’s film)
- Downstream (Rita Wong’s current project)
- Save the Fraser Declaration
- Amazay: a Film about Water
- Jane Rule memorial and selected writings
- Edie Steiner’s Website
Works Cited
- Bartlett, Brian. “From Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar.” The Goose 9 (Summer 2011): 6-8 [PDF].
- Bartlett, Brian. The Watchmaker’s Table. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2008.
- Dickinson, Adam. “Call to Arms.” The Polymers. Scarborough ON: House of Anansi Press, 2013.
- Momaday, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969.
- Oman Lela Kiana. The Epic of Qayaq: The Longest Story Ever Told by My People. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1995.
- Robinson, Harry. Write it on your Heart. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks/Theytus,1989.
- Rule, Jane. The Desert of the Heart. Toronto: Macmillan, 1964.
- Sandilands, Catriona. “Queering Ecocultural Studies.” Cultural Studies 22:3 (2008): 455-476.
- White, E.B. “E. B. White: Notes and Comment by Author.” By Israel Shenker, The New York Times 11 Jul. 1969.
- Wong, Rita. “offering.” Forage. Gibsons Landing, B.C. Nightwood Editions, 2007. 12
Music Credits
- Elegua Records
- Pants Productions
Other Contributors
- Brian Bartlett
- Adam Dickinson
- Ben Geherls
- Kathryn Komorowski
- Augustine Nchujie
- Armand Garnett Ruffo
- Catriona Sandilands
- Ella Soper
- Edie Steiner
- Peter Timmerman
- Rita Wong
Citation: Di Battista, Amanda and Andrew Mark, “Poetic Nature(s): Literature and Politics at the Green Words/Green Worlds Conference Part 2” CoHearence. 12 June 2012.
PODCAST – CoHearence Podcast #4: Poetic Nature(s): Literature and Politics at the Green Words/Green Worlds Conference
(Photo: Edie Steiner, Text 1: from the series Material Remains, 2003)
In the fall of 2011, ecocritics, writers, and poets from across Canada attended a conference at the Gladstone hotel in Toronto. This conference, entitled “Green Words/Green Worlds: Environmental Literatures and Politics in Canada,” focused on the relationship between the cultivation of an environmental reading (and writing) practice and engaged eco-politics. In this CoHearence episode, we’ll use recorded material collected at the conference as well as a follow-up interview with the conference organizers to explore the ways that Canadian ecocritics and poets are engaging with the challenging environmental questions of our time. Featuring conference organizers Catriona Sandilands and Ella Soper as well as keynote presenters Adam Dickinson, Anne, Milne, and Molly Wallace, we’ll ask the question: in a world increasingly characterized by climate change, environmental disasters, and technology, why does literature matter? How can an environmental writing practice be a political act?
Web Resources
- Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC)
- The Association for the Study of Literature & Environment (ASLE)
- Yann Martel’s What is Stephen Harper Reading?
- Alternatives Journal – What Harper Should Read
- The Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium (CCAMU)
- Canadian Chemical News Interview with Adam Dickinson
- Edie Steiner’s Website
Works Cited
- Arendt, Hannah. “The Crisis in Culture.” Between Past and Future: eight exercises in political thought. London: Penguin Books, 1977.
- Beck, Ulrich. World at Risk. Trans. Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009.
- Beck, Ulrich. Risk society: towards a new modernity. London: Sage Publications, 1992.
- Dickinson, Adam. The Polymers. Scarborough ON: House of Anansi Press, 2013.
- Dickinson, Adam. “End Of The Year Or Sooner.” boulderpavement: arts and ideas 2 (2010): http://www.boulderpavement.ca/issue002/
- Dillman, Donna. Workshop–‘Uranium: Coming Soon to a Lung Near You.’ Canadian Environmental Network. n.d. Web 21 May 2012. [PDF]
- Nixon, Rob. Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011.
- Van Wyck, Peter. Signs of Danger: Waste, Trauma, and Nuclear Threat. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 2005.
- Milne, Anne. “Reading My Skin: Experiential, Academic, and Creative Explorations in Skin Cancer.” English Studies in Canada. Special issue on Skin edited by Julia Emberley. 34.1. March 2008, 29-36.
- ReGreen: New Canadian Ecological Poetry (Scrivener Press, 2009)
Music Credits
- Pants Productions
Other Contributors
- Armand Garnett Ruffo
- Janine McLeod
- Catriona Sandilands
- Ella Soper
- Molly Wallace
- Rita Wong
- Anne Milne
- Adam Dickinson
Citation: Di Battista, Amanda and Andrew Mark, “Poetic Nature(s): Literature and Politics at the Green Words/Green Worlds Conference” CoHearence. 24 May 2012.
PODCAST – CoHearence Podcast #3: Resistance for Breakfast: Hegemony, Arts, and Environment
(Photo: Edie Steiner, Industrial Ruins at Michipicoten Bay, 2010.)
“My name is this and that and I come from here and there and I practice I don’t know what and I am not myself because I am also my government and I am also my economy and I am very much my one-directional totalitarian culture which subdues me and misuses me and uses and misuses my work to the point where I don’t know where my work is itself or where my work is something other than itself or where my work is the opposite of itself and this one-directional culture uses and misuses not only my production but also my protest against these uses and misuses because my protest is part of its pluralistic glory which is part of its world governing economic order which presents itself as a religion and is as fervently believed in as a religion and extracts from its believers the fanaticism of a fervently believed in religion and the chief characteristic of this self-righteous world governing order is that it is marching on and on and on and on and this marching on and on and on and on has no opposition because it eats opposition for breakfast.”
– Peter Schumann, Bread and Puppet
The title of this episode, Resistance for Breakfast: Hegemony, Arts, and Environment, is a playful departure from Peter Schumann’s words, and suggests that, perhaps, we could all use a little more resistance in our diet. We will investigate how hegemonic power manifests itself in environmental art and how art practices can also expose and challenge such power. Hegemony is a social condition in which dominant groups exercise power in all aspects of social reality not through militarized violence but rather through implied means (Mayo, 35). The scholars, activists, and educators we speak with call for resistance to hegemonic power that is not only critical and subversive but also beautiful.
Featuring interviews with FES Professor Deborah Barndt, storyteller and FES contract faculty Chris Cavanagh, FES PhD candidate Heather McLean, and artist and FES PhD candidate Edie Steiner, we will discuss the ways ‘the arts’ reinforce common sense understandings of what constitutes ‘good art.’ We’ll also explore the problematic relationship between large art festivals and local arts movements and suggest ways in which critical environmental art practices can facilitate meaningful activism and create change.
CoHearence Contributor Websites/Blogs
- Chris Cavanagh’s Blog
- Creative Class Struggle Blog
- Edie Steiner’s Website
- FES Community Arts Practice Program Website
Community Art and Arts Activist Web Resources
- Artbridges/ToileDesArts
- Bread and Puppet
- Catalyst Centre
- Neighbourhood Arts Network
- Toronto Free Gallery
Works Cited
- Atwood, Margaret. “Girl Without Hands.” In Morning in the Burned House, 112-113. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995.
- Barndt, Deborah (ed). VIVA! Community Arts and Popular Education in the Americas. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2011.
- Cavanagh, Chris. “The Pedagogy of the Short Tale.” Comeuppance: Thoughts on popular education, storytelling and activism for a possible better world. Entry posted April 3, 2007.
- Cole, Thomas. The Course of Empire. 1834-1836. The Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC.
- Dillon, Brian “A Short History of Decay,” In Ruins: Documents of Contemporary Art Series. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.
- Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination. Toronto: Anansi, 1971.
- Hall, Stuart. “Gramsci and Us,” in Gramsci’s Political Thought, Roger Simon. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1991.
- Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American cities. New York: Random House, 1961.
- Jordon, Chris. “Midway: Message from the Gyre.”
- Mackey, Clarke. Random acts of culture: reclaiming art and community in the 21st century. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2010.
- Marino, Dian. Wild Garden: art, education, and the culture of resistance. Toronto: Between The Lines, 1997.
- Mayo, Peter. Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action. London: Zed Books, 1999.
- McLuhan, Marshal. Understanding Media: the extension of man. New York: New American Library, 1964.
- Solnit, Rebecca. Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007.
Music Credits
- Albert Chimedza
- The New York Path to Peace
- Joel Kerr
- Craig Pedersen
- Pants Productions
Other Contributors
- Deborah Barndt
- Chris Cavanagh
- Heather McLean
- Edie Steiner
Citation: Di Battista, Amanda and Andrew Mark, “Exploring the Intersections of Culture, History, and the Environment” CoHearence. 11 April 2012.