Literature and the Anthropocene in EFL Education.
Virtual Conference, 20-21 February 2024.
Abstract submissions: 31 August 2023.
The Anthropocene is a contested term that refers to the present geological era, where human activities are negatively impacting the Earth’s environment and systems, including its climate, land, oceans, and biodiversity. English as a foreign language (EFL) education provides valuable opportunities to introduce global and intercultural perspectives on the challenges of the Anthropocene. One way to engage EFL learners critically with the Anthropocene and make its complexity more accessible, immediate, and meaningful to them is through literary studies.
Literature has the power to challenge established ideas, inspire change, and offer fresh perspectives on real-world problems associated with the Anthropocene. By envisioning alternative futures and scenarios, literature can serve as a catalyst for positive action towards a sustainable future. It can also highlight the intergenerational dimensions of the Anthropocene and provide context and continuity between the present, past, and future. In addition, literature can help learners understand the human and non-human experience of living in the Anthropocene and explore the social, political, and economic factors that contribute to environmental problems. By analyzing and otherwise approaching literary texts, learners can develop empathy and insight into the diverse experiences of living in different parts of the world and gain a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of global systems.
The conference aims to promote multidisciplinary research collaborations. A purpose of the conference is to establish an international network focusing on how the study of literature in EFL can help readers better understand and critically approach the challenges of the Anthropocene in ways that are both significant and urgent. Keynote speakers are Roman Bartosch (University of Cologne), author of Literature, Pedagogy and Climate Change: Text Models for a Transcultural Ecology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and Pieter Vermeulen (University of Leuven), author of Literature and the Anthropocene (Routledge, 2020).
We welcome 250-300-word abstracts for 15-minute conference papers that explore the role literature has or can have in helping learners of EFL in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, including pre service teacher education, to identify respond to, challenge, or otherwise critically engage with the Anthropocene. Topics can include but are not limited to the following:
- climate change
- ecological anxiety
- human-animal relationships
- imaginary futures, dystopian or utopian perspectives on the future
- imaginary or real technological challenges
- indigenous perspectives
- non-human perspectives
- representations of natural spaces and landscapes
- rewilding
Paper presentations can introduce research ideas as well as present ongoing or completed research and should be given in English. Please send a 250-word abstract of your proposed paper with a brief, 50- word, biography to malin.lidström.brock@ltu.se, marie.wallin@ltu.se, christian.ludwig@ltu.se by 31 August, 2023.
Post-conference plans are to publish a selection of the papers either as a collection of essays or as a special issue in a scholarly journal.
For more information about the conference, please visit the conference website: https://www.ltu.se/research/subjects/Engelska-med-didaktisk-inriktning/Konferenser/Digital konferens-Litteratur-under-antropocen-i-engelskamnet-1.228746?l=en
CFP
Literature-and-the-Anthropocene-in-EFL-Call-for-Papers(Posted 25 April 2023)
Historical Fictions Research Network Conference.
University of Malmö (Sweden), 23 to 24 February 2024.
Paper proposals: 1st September 2023.
Conference Organisers: Cecilia Trenter (University of Malmö), Kristina Fjelkestam (University of Stockholm) and Claudia Lindén (University of Södertörn)
The Historical Fictions Research Network (see https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/) aims to create a place for the discussion of all aspects of the construction of the historical narrative. The focus of the conference is the way we construct history, the narratives and fictions people assemble and how. We welcome both academic and practitioner presentations.
The Network addresses a wide variety of disciplines, including Archaeology, Architecture, Literature, Art History, Cartography, Geography, History, Memory Studies, Musicology, Reception Studies, Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Museum Studies, Media Studies, Politics, Re-enactment, Larping, Gaming, Transformative Works, Gender, Race, Queer studies.
For the 2024 conference, HFRN seeks to engage in scholarly discussions on the topic of adaptation in historical fictions.
What happens when well-known historical narratives are adapted for present-day audiences, or are transformed into another genre or medium? Historical fictions induce questions about mediated heritage and collective memories and problematize processes of canonization and appropriations in local as well and global contexts (Cartmell, Hunter and Whelehan 2000). The term “classics” brings up discussions on claims about originals and copies, challenged by the idea of every mediation as one of a kind (Hutcheon 2012). Debates on what constitutes originals, models and adaptations raise questions on authenticity, eye-catching aspects when dealing with historical fiction. A central issue is how the afterlives and appropriations of historical canon and established narratives in history-writing are transformed into new generations of historical fictions.
The term adaptation refers to how art work move from one medium to another. But as Linda Hutcheon states in A Theory of Adaptation, the phenomenon involves more than the journey from novel to film or film to video game or novel to filmscript and explains its complexity as “an acknowledged transposition of a recognizable other work or works; A creative and an interpretive act of appropriation/salvaging; An extended intertextual engagement with the adapted work. Therefore, an adaptation is a derivation that is not derivative—a work that is second without being secondary. It is its own palimpsestic thing.” (p. 9)
Thus the combination of adaptation and historical fictions sheds light on epistemological and cultural aspects on form and content, aesthetics and embodiment, values and ethics, authenticity and credibility, traditions and re-thinking and a variety of uses of the past in fiction. The perspectives of adaptation furthermore explore historical fiction as transformative contents in transmedial storytelling, mediated in old as well as new media, exploring how processes of adaptations and media form the content, including how story worlds and franchises are created. (Thomas 2022; Harvey 2015) Yet another angle is how adaptations invite users to interact in transcultural encounters such as fan culture in gaming and social media.
Papers are invited on topics related, but not limited, to:
- The past in fictional adaptations
- Heritage, adaptation and historical fiction
- Historical fiction and cultural legacy
- Intermedial storyworlds and historical fiction
- Adapting non-fiction to fiction
- Renewals and traditions in historical fiction
- Popular and ‘classic’ adaptations
- Authenticity, adaptation and historical fiction
- Adaptations between genres
- Franchises, adaptation and historical fictions
- Epistemological aspects on historical fictions and adaptations
- Adaptation, historical fiction and pedagogics
Our Keynote Speakers:
- Anna Sofia Rossholm (Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, Stockholm University), https://www.su.se/english/profiles/aross-1.403165?open-collapse-boxes=research-projects
- Ylva Grufstedt (Senior Lecturer at Malmö University) https://mau.se/en/persons/ylva.grufstedt/,
- Anna Pettersson (film director and artistic director for Strindberg’s Intima Teater), https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pettersson
Please use the form on our website to register a proposal:
https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/hfrn-conference-2024/
Paper proposals are due 1st September 2023. They should consist of a title, and an abstract of no more than 250 words. The decisions on acceptance will be communicated by 1st November 2023 at the latest.
HFRC 2024 will be an in-person event. The venue is at Malmö University, which is 25 minutes by train from Copenhagen airport. For information about Malmö University, please visit https://mau.se/
Contact
Visit our website (https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/) for more details and regular updates. You can also write to HFRN conference manager Dorothea Flothow on historicalfictionsresearch@gmail.com
References:
- Deborah Cartmell, IQ Hunter, Heidi Kaye, Imelda Whelehan (2020). Classics in Film and Fiction, Pluto.
- Harvey Colin B (2015). Fantastic Transmedia. Narrative, Play and Memory Across Science Fiction and Fantasy Storyworlds, Palgrave Macmillan.
- Linda Hutcheon, Siobhan O’Flynn (2012). A Theory of Adaptation, Routledge. Christian Thomas (ed.) (2022). The Art of Adaptation in Film and Video Games, Art.
(Posted 15 April 2023)