Landscapes of the Imagination: Political ecologies in imaginative literature 

J. R. R. Tolkien, in his essay “On Fairy Stories,” argues that fairy stories can help us “recover” a fresh perspective on the world around us—which may have become dull and ordinary due to its familiarity—and then consider those fantastic possibilities to re-imagine our lived-in world (Tolkien). This re-imagination Patrick Curry terms “re-enchantment”—taking a world made dull and unlovely (almost uninhabitable) by modernism and so-called “progress,” and imagining different possible economies and human-environment interactions (Curry). Imaginative literature thus provides a rich space for analysis of dimensions of political ecology: the political ecologies of our imagined worlds give tremendous insight into the ways we understand our lived-in worlds. This session invites papers that draw from imagined political ecologies to re-enchant our own understanding of and interactions with our lived-in world. Imaginative literature in this session can include fantasy, science fiction, fairy stories, etc., with “literature” interpreted widely to include film, television, video games, etc., in addition to traditional print literature. 

Please send abstracts (250 words) and titles to Kenton Sena (kenton.sena@uky.edu) by December 8. 

References: 

Curry, Patrick. Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity. Houghton, 2004.

Tolkien, J.R.R, "On Fairy-Stories." 1938. The Monsters and The Critics and Other Essays. Ed, Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton, 1984.109-61.