Something for environmental/affect group?

From: enscan-request@uia.no <enscan-request@uia.no> On Behalf Of Stefka Georgieva Eriksen
Sent: den 28 januari 2026 13:11
To: enscan@uia.no
Subject: [enscan] CfP: Eco-emotions on Earth, 2.-4. September, Oslo

Dear colleagues,

The Eco-emotions research initiative is happy to share the Call for Papers for our next annual conference, Eco-emotions on Earth, to take place on September, 2^nd-4^th, 2026, in Oslo.

Throughout the history of humanity, earth, with all its lifeforms, has had a crucial significance and impact on human existence, from providing essential resources, to symbolizing Mother Earth and home, or bringing forth earthquakes, draughts and landslides, and being a main motivation for violent conflicts and occupations. Whether hunter-gatherers’ communities, the pioneers of the agricultural revolution, or inhabitants of urban and industrial centers, human cultures have always relied on stable relationships to earth and its resources and have strived to tame changes in these through different means, including trade, religion, or technology. With its rural and wild, cultivated and gardened forms, earth has enticed and inspired, as well as threatened and harmed, which has also led humanity to search for new lands, or to imagine alternative earths and lifeforms.

This conference invites scholars to explore how literature, on its own or in comparison to other humanities disciplines, has captured these shifting affective responses to earth and all its lifeforms in any literary genres, fiction and non-fiction, from any historical and geocultural areas, such as classical, medieval and modern literatures, Nordic and global. We welcome papers on topics including but not limited to:

• the role of earth and landscapes in representing and shaping emotional responses to climate change
• the aesthetical and ethical dimensions of earth
• earth as metaphor for affective responses to places and spaces
• agency of earth and all its lifeforms
• alternative/imaginary earths and lifeforms

Our keynote speakers this year are:

• Emily Lethbridge, Associate Professor at Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
• David Farrier, Professor at School of Literature, Languages and Cultures, Personal Chair of Literature and Environment, The University of Edinburgh
• Serenella Iovino, James Gordon Hanes Distinguished Professor in Humanities, Department of Romance Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

If you are interested in contributing to the conference with a 20-min paper, send a title, a brief abstract of 200 words, and a short bio to eco-emotions@iln.uio.no by March 15th, 2026. For more information, see the full Call for Papers here.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, and feel free to share the CfP widely with other colleagues and students who may be interested.

With all best regards,

Stefka, on behalf of the organizing committee

Stefka G. Eriksen

Associate Professor, Old Norse Studies/Medieval Studies

Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies

University of Oslo

PB 1102 Blindern

0317 Oslo

PI of research initiative Eco-Emotions (2024-2028)

Head of Research ILN – Institutt for lingvistiske og nordiske studier (2025-2026)