"Challenging Humanity’s Answers to Nature’s Global Evolution (*CHANGE): Anthropocene Poetics of French and Francophone Literature and Cinema"


Through History, French and Francophone intellectuals and artists have frequently represented the ever-changing human relationship with Nature through their works. Yet, since the Industrial Revolution, people must not only adapt to their environment to thrive, but they are also defined by it. The implications of climate change for ecological, physical, and sociological systems are profound and disturbing. “The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt”, the United Nations recently reported. Arguments occur as to when the Holocene ended, and the Anthropocene began.

This year we invite proposal submissions on the evolving relationship between humankind and Nature. We are especially interested in papers that critically examine the adaptation to the devastating effects of climate change as part of pathways of change in contemporary French and Francophone literature and/or cinema.

Please send a 250-word abstract either in French or in English and a short academic biography to Aude Jehan (Western Washington University) at jehana@wwu.edu and Frederic Leveziel (University of South Florida) at fleveziel@usf.edu by May 31, 2022.