Call for Chapter Contributions - Edited collection: The Clash of Culture and Environmentalism in Irish Ecocritical Studies

Summary:

This book will explore the influence culture has on attitudes towards environmentalism in Ireland, demonstrating that working with indigenous peoples who have deep-seated relationships built with their landscapes offers nuanced interventions that can connect communities with place promoting environmental awareness. This form of ecological intervention can provide opportunities for local people to develop a sense of agency and responsibility for the land around them. It will also interrogate economic and environmental policies in Ireland and Europe that can cause or ease tension around ecological practices. Prospective contributions may consider contemporary Ireland’s place in Europe and globally and the agendas at play between differing fractures such as local government, EU, environmentalists, farmers and businesses. Alternative ways of being in relationship with place, through animism, care practices, storytelling, teaching, noticing and translating are presented as forms of resistance to cultural and ecological erasure. The environmental crisis may, in this way, present opportunities to forge a new ecological awareness that alters over-consumption and materialistic modes of living to usher in an ecologically integrated society. Ireland’s fraught political past can aid this cultural stewarding, as neo-colonial practices are recognised and challenged.

As this is an edited collection, the chapters will be collected from suitable applicants that fit the theme and scope of the text. Generally, this will be academics working in the area of the environmental humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and Irish literature with particular interest in Irish identity and culture through relationship with place. We particularly encourage early academics/PhD students to apply.

Themes and topics:

Paper proposals are invited on themes including but not limited to the following:

• Species extinction and language extinction.

• Biodiversity loss and conservation and the connection to land-use.

• Ecological activism in Ireland- fracking, oil rigs etc.

• Ireland’s political place in Europe and how this intersects with our understanding of land rights and conservation.

• The intersection of housing crisis and ecological crisis in Ireland.

• The shaping of Ireland’s topography through colonialism.

• The Celtic tiger boom and bust and the repercussions on the ecological landscape.

• Ancient Ireland’s indigenous connection with land: mythology, folklore and spirituality.

• Contemporary Environmental debates in Ireland related to agriculture, forestry, marine ecology.

• The Humanities role in healing and nurturing the relationship between people and place in Irish culture.

• Rewilding of urban spaces and the challenges and pushback from the public and residents.

• Comparative readings of Irish authors through ecocritical analysis, particularly with a link to geopolitics.

• Analysis or case studies on wildlife protection, conservation, rewilding projects.

• Analysis of schemes purporting to make farming eco-friendly.

Submission Process

Please submit an abstract of 300 words and a brief biography by 31 July 2026 to the editor Niamh Donnellan: niamhdonmail@gmail.com

Full manuscripts of 5000-7000 words will be expected by the end of November 2026.