‘OUR HOUSE IS STILL ON FIRE’: New Research in Environmental American Studies
Green BAAS panel, BAAS Annual Conference, 2023
In 2022, the ‘World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency’ stated that the Earth’s ‘vital signs’ have reached ‘Code Red’ and that ‘humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency’. Moreover, COP27’s failure to produce any meaningful or far-reaching international climate action has caused widespread concern to climate scientists and activists. As Greta Thunberg continues to argue, ‘our house is still on fire’.
This Green BAAS panel addresses the ways in which the field of American Studies can respond to the ongoing climate emergency, explore the central roles played by the US in climate crisis, and engage with some of the most pressing questions of the 21st century. Building on the successes of two earlier Green BAAS roundtables – on “Teaching Environmental American Studies in a Time of Crisis” (2021), and ‘Code Red: Embedding the climate crisis in the American Studies curriculum’ (2022) – this third Green BAAS event seeks to showcase the breadth of new and emerging interdisciplinary research in the field, and its relationship to teaching and learning.
The 2023 Green BAAS panel will provide a platform for postgraduate students and early career academics working at the intersection of American studies and the environmental humanities to showcase their research and/or discuss the ways in which their research informs both teaching and learning.
We invite postgraduate and early career academics to submit a 100-word abstract for consideration and a brief bio by 13 January 2023 to rebecca.tillett@baas.ac.uk. The roundtable will showcase a range of voices, interests, and fields that all complement and speak to one another, and we anticipate approximately 6 speakers, each speaking for 10 minutes, with 30 minutes of discussion to follow.
Proceedings from both previous Green BAAS events have been published in the Journal of American Studies and Transatlantica respectively, and contributors to this event will be invited to extend their papers for publication in a special issue of New Area Studies on New Research in Environmental American Studies.
Participants will be confirmed by 1 February 2023
Notes on organizational matters:
