CFP: ‘Ecology’ themed issue of M/C Journal

Ecology is not only a field of study, but a way of thinking, a conceptual mode that emphasises connectivity and conviviality. Donna Haraway has observed that “the world is a knot in motion”, and never has this been clearer than the present moment – a time when impending ecological crisis has forced the uncomfortable awareness of our dependence on an unstable environment and climate, possibly undermining the viability of human life. This uncertain ecological future has prompted the emergence of an array of inter-disciplines, new political, intellectual and cultural alignments that seek an understanding of the whole “organism-and-its-environment” (Rose & Robin). Ecology, at heart, is the study of life, and the interactions that sustain and enrich it.

This issue of M/C Journal calls for interdisciplinary and accessible discussions on the topic of ‘ecology’ from a natural sciences or humanities frame. Papers could engage with the emerging inter-disciplines of the ‘ecological humanities’, ‘ecocinema’ or ‘ecomedia’. Alternatively, papers may discuss Neil Postman’s notion of ‘media ecology’. Adopting a scientific framework, this term denotes the study of media as dynamic environments whereby, “new communications technologies may not wipe out earlier ones” as John Naugton argues, but alter the ecosystem so the old ones that do survive are those that are able to adapt. As a result, changes in the communications environment bring about cultural change.

We particularly welcome discussions on the question of what ecology means for the disciplines of media and cultural studies; papers that seek to perform the inter-connected “tasks of [re]situating humans in ecological terms and non-humans in ethical terms” (Plumwood) and attempt to highlight, as Val Plumwood does in her landmark Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason, how “anthropocentric perspectives and culture … make us insensitive to our ecological place in the world”.

Article deadline: 27 Apr. 2012

Release date: 27 June 2012

Editors: Catherine Simpson and Kate Wright

Please submit articles through the Website. Send any enquiries to ecology@journal.media-culture.org.au.