The 13th Literary Studies Conference & The 6th ASLE-ASEAN Ecocritical Conference

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

The world is grappling with numerous issues, including climate change, environmental degradation, social inequality, and technological disruption. Human behavior towards nature has led to irreversible environmental degradation, negatively impacting human dignity and the natural environment. Simultaneous political and environmental disorder has also led to the mismanagement of the earth and ecological injustice. To address these complex issues, multiple approaches are needed including literary studies. Literary narratives have been used to explore complex situations and imagine possible futures, providing insights into the human condition and the issues we face.

Some key theoretical movements that have emerged in the field of ecocriticism include nature writing, social ecology, deep ecology, ecofeminisms, animal studies, postcolonial ecologies, environmental justice, environmental ethics, ecophobia, new materialisms, posthuman directions, environmental humanities, Anthropocene studies, place studies, bioregionalism, and green/blue cultural studies.

The 13th LSC in collaboration with the 6th ASLE-ASEAN Ecocritical Conference 2025 invites scholars to discuss the subfields and the new directions of ecocriticism, including emerging topics and new challenges, ecocriticism’s converging and diverging points from other ecological approaches in social sciences and the humanities such as social ecology, ecopsychology, etc., and its transcultural and transnational visions.