CALL FOR PAPERS
INTERDISCIPLINARY SCHOLARSHIP IN LAND USE AND ETHICS
IN SEARCH OF A WILD-EARTHEN GOD
June 9-11, 2017
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Northern Forest Institute
At Huntington Wildlife Forest
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s
Northern Forest Institute invites submissions for its fourth symposium
of interdisciplinary scholarship in land use and ethics.
Author and environmental activist Wallace Stegner
grounded his argument for the protection of wild places in the spiritual
imagination. Wilderness was a landscape that he said was worth saving
for the likelihood that it might in turn save us soulfully. Stegner is
one of many who rest their defense of wilderness on the idea of open
plains, deep forests and vast deserts as spiritual centers. Philosopher
Henry Bugbee calls us to a sabbatical placement in
wild places where the rituals of mindfulness, of acknowledgement, keep
faith with the deliverances of solitude.
More than merely employing the language of redemption,
these philosophers, writers and activists trace the reverence humans
have felt for wild nature from indigenous cultures forward to the men
who corrupted Judeo-Christian teachings in order to
colonize and devastate them. In every known spiritual tradition, wild
geographies are thought to be earthen domains of grace even as we
acknowledge a national history of perverting faith traditions in order
to subdue and violate other communities who nevertheless share a vision
of the value of wild nature.
Wilderness advocates who turn towards the mythical and the spiritual value of these so-called landscapes of hope in
fact make an ecological argument that honors the sanctity and the
complementarity of all living things with rights to exist independent of
species, kind and importantly, extractive human usefulness. The wild as
mystical landscape is complex territory, and still pan- cultural
theological, spiritual, transcendental and inspirational arguments for
land preservation remain one compelling and important moral approach.
We welcome submissions related to the Symposium theme
from perspectives including and not limited to Traditional Ecological
Knowledge, spiritual ecology, eco-theology, deep ecology, Gaia theory, animism as well as eco-spiritual
and theological resistance to industrial, social and political ruin of
wild and natural ecosystems. We will accept 15 proposals that together
are meant to generate a discussion around this variety of approaches to
land use, the moral implications and usefulness of these approaches, as
well as the ways that they influence the ongoing debate over how to
achieve social and environmental justice. Submissions are encouraged
from emerging or established writers and scholars, activists as well as
anyone whose primary work lies outside the liberal arts and/or academia.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
DEADLINE for submissions is January 15, 2017. All submissions must be submitted as a Word document via e-mail to Symposium Chair Marianne Patinelli-Dubay according
to the guidelines below. Acceptance notifications will go out no later
than February 15, 2017 along with detailed travel and accommodation
information, preliminary information is below.
Electronic submissions require the following:
- Title
- 250 word abstract and paper is not to exceed 4,500 words
- Author information:
- Affiliation (independent writers and scholars are welcome)
- Full name
- Daytime phone
E-mail - Mailing address
SUBMISSIONS
Submissions: One aim of this meeting is to provide a collegial environment for new and in-process
work, and for ideas to be offered for comment and critique. If the
paper/essay is not completed at the time of submission, the committee
will accept an abstract and may contact the author for additional
information prior to making a decision. The Symposium Chair will accept
electronic submissions and distribute them blindly to the committee.
**Event Style: Authors will not read
their work in traditional conference style. Instead, in turn, each
participant will present key ideas and questions raised in/by their work
that she/he would like to pursue in conversation. In this way, the
symposium discussion will be conducted in round-table or
seminar fashion and participants will receive a reader including all of
the accepted papers no later than April 15, 2017. Participants should
read the packet prior to the event in order to allow for full
participation in the discussion. Each presentation is
meant to further the overall discussion and for this reason, presenters
are expected to participate in the entire program scheduled between noon
on Friday, June 9 and Sunday, June 11, 2017.
Confirmation: Anyone making a
submission will receive confirmation of receipt within 48 hours. If you
have not received confirmation of receipt and/or notification regarding
the Program Committee’s decision about your submission by February 15,
2017 please contact Marianne Patinelli-Dubay.
CONTACTS
- All correspondence regarding submission and/or program content should be directed to Symposium Chair Marianne
Patinelli-Dubay - Meals, accommodations will be provided
on-site and included in the cost of participation. For information on registration, fees, lodging and accommodations contact Guest Services Manager Daphne Taylor.
