Call for Chapter Submissions –
Ecocritical Approaches to
Francophone Literatures
Deadline: 1 October 2012
Submissions are now being accepted for a new collection of works on ecocritical approaches to francophone literatures that explore perspectives of environmentality, examine ecologies rooted in the specificity of local place, and illuminate the aesthetic, cultural, and political characteristics of ecocritical approaches to the environment. Ecocritical scholarship that intersects with postcolonial studies, feminist theory, philosophy and ethics, environmental justice, regional studies, and other fields are welcome.
TOPICS: Contributions may analyze specific historic or contemporary literature from the Hexagon and francophone cultures in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Attention to poetry and drama are particularly welcome. Chapters may also propose and explore francophone ecological criticism. Finally, pedagogical perspectives or teaching notes for exploring francophone ecological literature in the classroom will be considered.
SUBMISSION & SELECTION:
Detailed abstracts of 1200 words may be submitted electronically as MS Word attachments by October 1st to: Marnie Sullivan, msullivan@mercyhurst.edu. Include your complete contact information, academic affiliation, and a brief biography in your email.
Full chapter material should be no longer than 25 pages, inclusive of all tables, figures, and references. Full chapters may be submitted with or without prior chapter proposals. Co-authored submissions are acceptable. The final collection will be published using the Harvard author-date system, however prospective chapters may be submitted using MLA guidelines. All work should be submitted as electronic files in Microsoft Word.
The selection process will be based upon those submissions that are judged to be most applicable to the overall publication; these works will demonstrate a wide range of representations and explorations of ecocriticism of francophone literatures. Feedback will be given for each submission presented to the editors.
BACKGROUND:
The proposed text would be an edited collection of critical essays on francophone literatures, i.e.: writing in French, from France and other French-speaking cultures. The use of the ecocritical approach to literature as a critical lens is what binds this collection together and makes it unique. Ecocriticism as a field is strongly rooted in North American literature written in English. Applying this lens to francophone literatures, therefore, not only breaks new ground in French andf literary studies, it also helps expand and explore the field of ecocriticism itself as the critical tools of the discipline must be re-examined and reconsidered regarding their potential applicability in a language in which the cultural context and intellectual baggage associated with concepts like nature, environment, and ecology are not necessarily the same as found in the anglophone North American context.
The primary audience for this collection would be graduate students and scholars of literature. We hope that the text would attract the interest of faculty looking to introduce graduate students and other to ecocriticism as a literary lens, which is why an article focusing on pedagogical applications features in the collection. Clearly those specializing in francophone literatures would find the collection most interesting, but we are asking the contributors to write in English. This would increase accessibility to scholars of other literatures and the collection should be of interest to scholars of literatures in languages other than English which, like francophone literatures, are under-represented in ecocritical studies.
GENERAL TIMELINE
To submit a chapter proposal, for more information on the submission of full chapters, or questions about this project, please send an email Marnie Sullivan.
- October 1, 2012: 1,200 word chapter proposal due
- December 1, 2012: Feedback from internal review sent to authors (accepted, accepted with revision, or rejected)
- May 31, 2013: full chapters of no more than 25 pages are due
- August 1, 2013: feedback from internal and external review sent to authors
- October 31, 2013 revised chapters due
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: msullivan@mercyhurst.edu