Association for the Study of Literature and Environment

Last updated
Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
AbbreviationASLE
Pronunciation
  • Az-lee
Formation9 October 1992(30 years ago) (1992-10-09)
FounderCheryll Glotfelty
Michael P. Branch & others
Founded at Reno, Nevada,
United States
Type Nonprofit organization
Professional association
Scholarly association
54-1640944 [1]
International branches [3]

ALECC (Canada)
ASLEC-ANZ (Australia – New Zealand)
ASLE-J (Japan)
ASLE-Brasil (Brazil)
ASLE-Korea
EASLCE (Europe)
ASLE-Taiwan
ASLE-UKI (UK and Ireland)
ASLE-ASEAN (ASEAN)
tiNai (India)
ASLE-Pakistan

Headquarters Keene, New Hampshire,
United States
Region
International
Fields ecocriticism
environmental humanities
Membership (2019)
1,450
Managing Director
Amy M. McIntyre
(2004-present) [1]
Publication Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE)
Website www.asle.org

The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), also known as ASLE-USA, is the principal professional association for American and international scholars of ecocriticism and environmental humanities. It was founded in 1992 at a special session of the Western Literature Association conference in Reno, Nevada for the purpose of "sharing of facts, ideas, and texts concerning the study of literature and the environment." [4] [5] [6]

The association hosts a biennial conference since 1995, alternating with symposia in non-conference years.

ASLE's journal is Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE), a quarterly published by Oxford University Press, in which the most current scholarship in the rapidly evolving field of environmental humanities can often be found. [5]

ASLE Presidents, Conferences and Symposia

This is a list of people who have served as presidents of ASLE since its inception in 1992. The biennial conferences/symposia held during their tenure are given along. [7] [8] [9]

#PresidentYear(s)AffiliationBiennial Conference

(Dates)

Symposium

(Dates)

ThemeVenue
1Scott Slovic1992-93
(1)

2

Scott Slovic1993-94 University of Tokyo
Cheryll Glotfelty University of Nevada, Reno
(1)Scott Slovic1994-95I

(9-11 June 1995)

- Colorado State University
3 Michael P. Branch 1995-96I

(13-17 August 1996)

Japanese and American Environmental Literature University of Hawaii
4 John Tallmadge 1997 Union Institute & University, Cincinnati II

(17-19 July)

-The Last Best Place University of Montana
5Louise Westling1998 University of Oregon - ---
6Walter Isle1999 Rice University III

(2-5 June )

-What to Make of a diminished thing: Restoration, Preservation, Conservation Western Michigan University
7SueEllen Campbell2000 Colorado State University -II

(15-17 June)

Food and Farming in American Life and Letters Unity College (Maine)
8Randall Roorda2001 University of Kentucky -III

(4-6 January)

Desert Crossings Big Bend National Park
IV

(19-23 June)

-Making a Start Out of Particulars
Northern Arizona University
-IV

(24-27 October )

“Coming Nearer the Ground”: An ASLE Symposium on the South University of Mississippi
9Terrell F. Dixon2002 University of Houston -
10Ian Marshall2003V

(3-7 June)

-The Solid Earth! The Actual World!: Sea–City–Pond–Garden Boston University
11John Elder2004 Middlebury College -V

(4-6 June)

Nature and Culture in the Northern ForestThe Highland Center, Crawford Notch, New Hampshire
VI

(23-25 September )

Globalization and the Environmental Justice Movement University of Arizona, Tucson
12Allison Wallace2005Honors College, University of Central Arkansas VI

(21-25 June)

-Being in the World, Living With the Land University of Oregon
13 Ann Fisher-Wirth 2006 University of Mississippi -VII

(2-4 June )

Maine’s Place in the Environmental Imagination University of Maine at Farmington
14Karla Armbruster2007 Webster University VII

(12-16 June)

-Confluence: literature,art, criticism, science, activism, politics. Wofford College
15Rochelle Johnson2008 College of Idaho -
16Daniel J. Philippon2009 University of Minnesota VIII

(3-6 June)

- Island Time: The Fate of Place in a Wired, Warming World University of Victoria
17Annie Ingram2010VIII

(18-20 June)

The Third Annual Rural Heritage Institute: Is Local Enough? Promises and Limits of Local Action Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, Vermont
18Ursula Heise2011 Stanford University IX

(21-26 June)

-Species, Space and the Imagination of the Global Indiana University, Bloomington
19 Joni Adamson 2012 Arizona State University -IX

(14-17 June)

Environment, Culture & Place in a Rapidly Changing North University of Alaska Southeast
20Paul Outka2013 University of Kansas X

( 28 May – 1 June)

- Changing Nature: Migrations, Energies, Limits University of Kansas
21Mark C. Long2014 Keene State College -
22 Catriona Sandilands 2015 York University XI

(23-27 June)

-Notes From Underground: The Depths of Environmental Arts, Culture and Justice University of Idaho
23Christoph Irmscher2016-17 Indiana University, Bloomington [10] XI

(7-9 June 2016)

Sharp Eyes IX: Local, Regional, Global: The Many Faces of Nature Writing State University of New York College at Oneonta
XII

(8-11 June 2016)

The Heart Of The Gila: Wilderness And Water In The West Western New Mexico University
XIII

(21-22 Oct 2016)

Toxic Borders And Bondages: Intersecting Ecology With Capitalism, Racism, Heteropatriarchy And (Dis)Possession (Graduate Symposium) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Anthony Lioi Juilliard School [10]
XII

(20-24 June 2017)

Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery Wayne State University
24Stacy AlaimoJan 2018

- Dec 2019

University of Texas at Arlington (2010-March 2019)
University of Oregon (September 2019-)
-XIV

(14-30 June 2018)

A Clockwork Green: Ecomedia In The AnthropoceneA Nearly Carbon Neutral Virtual Symposium.

Co-Sponsored with the University of California, Santa Barbara

XIII

(26-30 June 2019)

Paradise on Fire University of California, Davis [11]
Jeffrey Cohen
Arizona State University
25Laura Barbas-Rhoden2020-2021 Wofford College
Bethany Wiggin University of Pennsylvania
26Gisela Heffes2022- Rice University
George B. Handley Brigham Young University N/AXIV

(6-9 July)

- Oregon Convention Center

See also

Related Research Articles

William Howarth was an American writer and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He published fourteen books and also wrote for such national periodicals as National Geographic, Smithsonian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The American Scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental studies</span> Academic study of human–environment interaction

Environmental studies is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sciences, commerce/economics, the humanities, and social sciences to address complex contemporary environmental issues. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, the built environment, and the relationship between them. The field encompasses study in basic principles of ecology and environmental science, as well as associated subjects such as ethics, geography, anthropology, public policy, education, political science, urban planning, law, economics, philosophy, sociology and social justice, planning, pollution control and natural resource management. There are many Environmental Studies degree programs, including a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree. Environmental Studies degree programs provide a wide range of skills and analytical tools needed to face the environmental issues of our world head on. Students in Environmental Studies gain the intellectual and methodological tools to understand and address the crucial environmental issues of our time and the impact of individuals, society, and the planet. Environmental education's main goal is to instill in all members of society a pro-environmental thinking and attitude. This will help to create environmental ethics and raise people's awareness of the importance of environmental protection and biodiversity.

Ecocriticism is the study of literature and ecology from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature. It was first originated by Joseph Meeker as an idea called "literary ecology" in his The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology (1972).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental humanities</span> Study of environmental issues, nature and culture

The environmental humanities is an interdisciplinary area of research, drawing on the many environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged in the humanities over the past several decades, in particular environmental literature, environmental philosophy, environmental history, science and technology studies, environmental anthropology, and environmental communication. Environmental humanities employs humanistic questions about meaning, culture, values, ethics, and responsibilities to address pressing environmental problems. The environmental humanities aim to help bridge traditional divides between the sciences and the humanities, as well as between Western, Eastern, and Indigenous ways of relating to the natural world and the place of humans within it. The field also resists the traditional divide between "nature" and "culture," showing how many "environmental" issues have always been entangled in human questions of justice, labor, and politics. Environmental humanities is also a way of synthesizing methods from different fields to create new ways of thinking through environmental problems.

John Tallmadge is an American author and essayist on issues related to nature and culture. He is in private practice as an educational and literary consultant after a career in higher education, most recently as a core professor of Literature and Environmental Studies at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) and director of the Orion Society. He is a U.S. Army veteran.

Greta Gaard is an ecofeminist writer, scholar, activist, and documentary filmmaker. Gaard's academic work in the realms of ecocriticism and ecocomposition is widely cited by scholars in the disciplines of composition and literary criticism. Her theoretical work extending ecofeminist thought into queer theory, queer ecology, vegetarianism, and animal liberation has been influential within women's studies. A cofounder of the Minnesota Green Party, Gaard documented the transition of the U.S. Green movement into the Green Party of the United States in her book, Ecological Politics. She is currently a professor of English at University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a community faculty member in Women's Studies at Metropolitan State University, Twin Cities.

Brycchan Carey is a British academic and author with research interests in the environmental humanities and the cultural history of slavery and abolition. He was educated at Goldsmiths' College, University of London and Queen Mary, University of London, where he completed a doctorate on "The Rhetoric of Sensibility: Argument, Sentiment, and Slavery in the Late Eighteenth Century". He lectured at Kingston University from 2000 before taking up the role of Professor of English at Northumbria University in 2016.

The Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES) is a research network for environmental studies based primarily in the humanities. By organizing regular conferences, symposia and workshops, NIES aims to create opportunities for researchers in the Nordic countries who address environmental questions to exchange ideas and develop their work in various interdisciplinary contexts. Fields represented by members of the network include Ecocriticism, Environmental history, Environmental philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, Art history, Media studies, Ecological economics, Human Geography, Cultural studies, Anthropology, Archeology, Sustainability studies, Education for Sustainability and Landscape studies.

The Western Literature Association (WLA) is a non-profit, scholarly association that promotes the study of the diverse literature and cultures of the North American West, past and present. Since its founding, the WLA has served to publish scholarship and promote work in the field; it has gathered together scholars, artists, environmentalists, and community leaders who value the West's literary and cultural contributions to American and world cultures; it has recognized those who have made a major contribution to western literature and western studies; and it has fostered student learning and career advancement in education.

Ecomusicology is an area of study that explores the relationships between music or sound, and the natural environment. It is a study which encompasses a variety of academic disciplines including musicology, biology, ecology and anthropology. Ecomusicology combines these disciplines to explore how sound is produced by natural environments and, more broadly how cultural values and concerns about nature are expressed through sonic mediums. Ecomusicology explores the ways that music is composed to replicate natural imagery, as well as how sounds produced within the natural environment are used within musical composition. Ecological studies of sounds produced by animals within their habitat are also considered to be part of the field of ecomusicology. In the 21st century, studies within the field the ecomusicology have also become increasingly interested in the sustainability of music production and performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Carrigan (academic)</span>

Anthony James Carrigan was a British academic noted for his pioneering work in combining the theoretical paradigms of postcolonialism and environmental studies.

Serenella Iovino is an Italian cultural and literary theorist, and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is considered one of the main environmental philosophers of Italy.

Ecofiction is the branch of literature that encompasses nature or environment-oriented works of fiction. While this super genre's roots are seen in classic, pastoral, magical realism, animal metamorphoses, science fiction, and other genres, the term ecofiction did not become popular until the 1960s when various movements created the platform for an explosion of environmental and nature literature, which also inspired ecocriticism. Ecocriticism is the study of literature and the environment from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature. Environmentalists have claimed that the human relationship with the ecosystem often went unremarked in earlier literature.

Christina Gerhardt is an author, academic and journalist. She has written on a range of subjects, including the environment, film and critical theory. She has been the Currie C. and Thomas A. Barron Visiting Professor of Environment and the Humanities at the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University, and held visiting positions at Harvard University, the Free University of Berlin, Columbia University and University of California at Berkeley, where she taught previously and is now a permanent Senior Fellow. She has been awarded grants from the Fulbright Commission, the DAAD, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Newberry Library. Her journalism has been published in The Guardian, Grist, The Nation, The Progressive and Sierra Magazine, among other venues.

Joni Adamson is an American literary and cultural theorist. She is considered one of the main proponents of environmental justice and environmental literary criticism, or Ecocriticism. She is a professor of the environmental humanities and senior sustainability scholar at Arizona State University in Arizona. In 2012–13, she served as president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), the primary professional organization for environmental literary critics. From 1999 to 2010, she founded and led the Environment and Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association (ASA-ECC).

Catriona Sandilands is a Canadian writer and scholar in the environmental humanities. She is most well known for her conception of queer ecology. She is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. She was a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and Culture between 2004 and 2014. She was a Fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation in 2016. Sandilands served as president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in 2015. She is also a past President of the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC) and the American Society for Literature and the Environment (ASLE).

Vegan studies or vegan theory is the study of veganism, within the humanities and social sciences, as an identity and ideology, and the exploration of its depiction in literature, the arts, popular culture, and the media. In a narrower use of the term, vegan studies seeks to establish veganism as a "mode of thinking and writing" and a "means of critique".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Wright (literary scholar)</span> Founder of academic field of vegan studies

Laura Wright is a professor of English at Western Carolina University. Wright proposed vegan studies as a new academic field, and her 2015 book The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror served as the foundational text of the discipline. As of 2021 she had edited two collections of articles about vegan studies.

Michael P. Branch is an ecocritic, writer, and humorist with over three hundred publications, including work in The Best American Essays, The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. An important member of the environmental and writing community, Western American Literature has described him as part of the "enduring procession of outdoor journalists."

Catherine Elizabeth Rigby is a scholar in the interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities.

References

  1. 1 2 "Association for the Study of Literature and Environment". GuideStar.
  2. "Affiliated Organizations". April 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  3. "ASLE around the World". April 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  4. Dobie, Ann B. (2011). Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. Cengage Learning. p. 241. ISBN   978-0-49590-233-1.
  5. 1 2 "Vision & History". ASLE Home Page. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  6. "ASLE Bylaws" (PDF). ASLE Home Page. April 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  7. "ASLE VISION & HISTORY". 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  8. "Archive". ASLE Archive. 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  9. "Archive". ASLE Archive. 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Leadership & Staff". ASLE. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  11. "Biennial Conference". ASLE. 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2018.