[mscp] CFP: Be true to the earth

[Esther Anatolitis]

“Be true to the earth”

INAUGURAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF LITERATURE AND
THE ENVIRONMENT (AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND)

Organized by the journal Colloquy under the auspices of The Centre for
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies and the Schools of
Languages, Cultures and Linguistics and Literary, Visual and Performance
Studies at Monash University

Dates: March 31-April 1, 2005
Venue: Monash University
Registration: $80/$50 (Students)
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/lcl/conferences/earth/ 

Keynote Speakers: Louise Westling (U Oregon), past Pres. ASLE-US,
Richard Kerridge (Bath Spa University College), past Pres. ASLE-UK, and
David Abram, acclaimed author of The Spell of the Sensuous.

The inaugural conference of ASLE-ANZ, to be held at Monash University in
April 2005, takes as its theme Friedrich Nietzsche’s injunction in Thus
Spake Zarathustra to “be true to the earth.” The organizers of the
conference invite papers that engage with the question of what it might
mean to ‘be true’ to ‘the earth’ in relation to their own work, whether
creative, critical, or reflective, as well as with regard to the
particular location(s) of their work, whether in place, time or other
(cultural, social, institutional) contexts. In particular, we welcome
papers which address this theme in relation to: literatures,
philosophies and practices of place, especially in Australia and New
Zealand; poetics, politics and practical action; indigenous,
intercultural or cross-cultural perspectives; rural, urban or suburban
ecologies; non-modern, counter-modern or postmodern perspectives;
interspecies ethics, poetics or communication; reinhabitation,
dislocation and social justice;  ecocriticism and cultural studies;
ecocriticism and religious studies; ecocriticism and European critical
theory. Conference proceedings will be published in Colloquy.

The trans-Tasman branch of the Association for the Study of Literature
and the Environment (http://www.asle-anz.asn.au/) was founded in 2004,
with the aim of promoting the exchange of ideas and information about
literature and other cultural representations that are concerned with
human relationships with the natural world in Australia and New Zealand.
In addition to encouraging new environmentally oriented,
nature-literate, and place-sensitive writing in this region, ASLE-ANZ
seeks to foster both traditional and innovative approaches to
environmental literature, ecocritical approaches to all cultural
representations of nature, and interdisciplinary environmental research,
including discussions among literary scholars and environmental
historians, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, art historians,
architects, scholars of religion, critical theorists, economists and
scientists. 

Proposals (150 words max.) for twenty minute papers should be sent by
February 18th 2005 by email to ASLEANZ.Conference at arts.monash.edu.au ,
or by post to Peter Coleman, Centre for Comparative Literature and
Cultural Studies, School of LCL, Building 11A, Wellington Rd., Monash
Vic 3800, Australia.