Call for Applications
5th Annual Workshop of the Postgraduate Forum Environment, Literature, Culture
Working-classEnvironmentalism:
Reframing the Interface between Society and Nature
9-10th November 2017
Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Venice, Italy
“Labourdeserves the criticalattentionof green thinkersbecauseitisbothintegral to the functioning and reproduction of ourenvironmentallyrapacious economy, and a fundamentally formative influence on the individual’ssubjectivity, intellect and worldview”.
Martin Ryle & Kate Soper, Introduction: the Ecology of Labour[1]
Manual labourhasbeendefinedas the maininterfacebetweensociety and nature (e.g. R. Williams and L. Conti). The currentecologicalcrisis (ongoingsinceseveraldecades in spite of palliativessuchas the “sustainabledevelopment” and “green growth”), overlapping with the umpteentheconomic and financialcrisisunderway, representsan opportunity to rethink production soas to imagine a labour culture thatissocially and ecologicallysustainable.
An increasinginteresthasbeenshown in the pastfewyears for whathasbeendefinedas “working-classenvironmentalism” (Barca 2012[2]):albeitparticularlymarginalisedafterdecades of neoliberalism, workingclasses are the first to suffer the damages of unlimitedgrowth and work-orientedexistences (e.g. risky and insalubriousneighbourhoods, unhealthyfood, etc.) for whichtheyunconsciouslybecome co-responsible under the constraint of theirsalary. Maybenotsoimmediatelydetectableyetperhaps more sincere than a bourgeoisenvironmentalism, the workingclassecologicalconsciousness shows specificfeatures, sinceitdirectly and explicitlyinterlinks the means of production, the finalisedproducts, the protagonistsubjects of the productiveprocess, and the placeswhere production happens and whereworkers and their families live. Focusingon the potential of the cultural transitionsuggested by workingclassenvironmentalism, this workshop welcomescontributions in, butnotlimited to, the multi-disciplinary area of the environmentalhumanities. Proposalsmay involve e.g.analyses of artisticrepresentations, historiographicalinquiries, and theoreticaldiscussions on the relation betweenlabour and environment. Possibletopics can address:
-workingclassenvironmentalism in literaryrepresentations, biographical and autobiographicalnarratives and stories;
-workingclassenvironmentalism in variousartisticrepresentations (e.g. movies, theatre, photography, music, performances, graffiti);
-workingclassenvironmentalism in the urban culture and in the use of urbanspace;
-the idea and the experience of nature as a form of ecologicalconsciousness of the working-classcommunities;
-PoliticalEcology & the Environmentalism of thePoor (cf. Martinez-Alier).
-materialconnections of work, environment and public health (trans-corporeality, “workscape”/workplace and chemicals);
-thecorrectiverole of culture in reframingideas of progress, prosperity, human well-being and ultimatelyeconomicmodels (“alternative hedonism”);
-utopianvisions of liberatingtransformation of labour and ecologicalrestoration;
-environmentaljusticestruggles.
Topicsshould be addressed by adoptingone or more of theseperspectives: ecocriticism, materialecocriticism, feministecocriticism, and environmentaljusticeecocriticism.
Students can participate by submitting an excerpt of theirdissertationthesis or MA thesis, or a research poster presentingtheirPhDproject. The workshop languageis English. For anyrequest and ifyou are interested in participating, pleasesend an email to by July 15th, 2017 and letusknow in whichformyouwouldlike to contribute (excerpt of own work/poster). Pleasestateyourcurrentprojecttopic and include a short biographical note (200 words). Selectedparticipantswill be notified by July 31th. Wemight be able to offertravelgrants for participantswithoutuniversity or third-party funding - please state ifyouwouldneedfunding in yourapplication email.
Workshop Format and Programme
The workshop isorganized by the Postgraduate Forum Environment, Literature, Culture, whichbringstogetheryoungresearchers from the EASLCE membershipcountries to share and discusstheirresearch with otheryoungscholars in the environmentalhumanities. Pleasevisit the website to readaboutpreviouseditions:
The workshop willopen with a keynotespeech by Prof. Stefania Barca (Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra). Herrespondentwill be Prof. Serenella Iovino (Università degli Studi di Torino). Therewillalso be a lectureby an expert from the CDCA (Documentation Centre on EnvironmentalConflicts). A field-trip to Marghera isoffered to participants by Dr.Gilda Zazzara (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) to explore the specificities of Venice’s industrial area, one of the major industrial parks in Europe in the 20th century and at the same time a contaminatedworking-classurbansettlement, with workersmobilising to preservetheirhealth. The texts for discussionwill be made availablebeforehand (by October 7th) and need to be read by allparticipants in advance.
Organizers
Maria Pia Arpioni, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Arianna Ceschin, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Silvio Cristiano, Università Iuav di Venezia & Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Enrico Riccardo Orlando, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Laura Vallortigara, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Sponsored by: EASCLE; Rector’s Office - Department of Humanities - Special Projects Office within the “Sustainable Ca’ Foscari” Program (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia); Department of ForeignLanguages and Literatures and ModernCultures (Università degli Studi di Torino); IRES Veneto.
[1] Green Letters, 2016, vol. 20, n. 2, pp. 119-126.
[2]S. Barca, "On working-classenvironmentalism. A historicaland transnationaloverview", Interface. A journal for and about social movements,4:2 (2012).