Special Issue of the Journal of Contemporary Thought (Winter 2012)

Guest Edited by Alan Johnson

Title:   Locating Literature: Geography, History, Ecology

 This special issue of the journal invites submissions that focus on the role of ecology and geography in literature. Ideally, articles will take into account theorizations of spatiality and the ways in which literary works, from any region, represent geography and/or ecology. The addition of “history” in the sub-title is a reminder that conceptualizations of space change over time, and that literary works across the globe often register conflicting attitudes to geography and ecology. Articles may consider such questions as: How do colonial European paradigms of space continue to inflect literary descriptions today? How do minority groups (and writers) respond to dominant narratives of human agency in natural environments? How do writers from a particular region counter their society’s prevailing attitudes to geography? In what ways do domesticity and geography intersect in the hands of particular writers? How might genre relate to spatiality?  

The article should be sent to Alan Johnson, Editor (email: Alan Johnson <johnala2@isu.edu>) by December 15, 2012, with a copy to: prafullakar@gmail.com