“Ecology and Religion in 19th Century Studies” is a multi-site, digitally-linked “flightless” conference that aims to investigate intersections between ecological and religious thinking in the Anglophone nineteenth century. This century was a key moment in the unfolding of the present ecological crisis and a particularly volatile period in the ongoing interchange among religious conviction, ethical thought, and environmental knowledge.
All events are free and open to the public. We ask that participants please register via the registration page so we can have accurate predictions for food and refreshments.
Our shared investigations begin from the conceptual and material importance of this period to the present. Together we will ask how nineteenth-century thinkers drew on religious categories to imagine ecological intertwinement, collaborative agency, and mutual being; how faith and belief figured in the production of environmental knowledge; and how the uneven processes known as secularization interacted, and continue to interact, with relations to the nonhuman world that must proceed from belief. At Georgetown, we will focus even more specifically on poetry, asking how nineteenth-century poetic thinkers used verse form to engage with problems of ecology and religious conviction that remain our own.
Events will take place at four physical locations (Texas; Washington, DC; Seattle; and Lancaster, UK) and be livestreamed digitally to the other nodes. Events at Georgetown take place Friday, September 20th, 2019. Please see the schedule page for details.
Baylor University, Site Organizers
Jennifer Borderud (Director of the Armstrong Browning Library)
Joshua King (Assoc. Prof. of English, Chair in Victorian Studies at Armstrong Browning Library)
Georgetown University, Site Organizers
Nathan K. Hensley (Assoc. Prof. of English)
Patrick R. O’Malley (Prof. of English)
Lancaster University, Site Organizers
Chris Donaldson (Lecturer in Cultural History)
Sandra Kemp (Director of the Ruskin Library, Museum, and Research Centre)
Mark Knight (Senior Lecturer in English)
Emma Mason (Prof. of English and Head of English at the University of Warwick)
Andrew Tate (Reader in Literature, Religion, and Aesthetics)
University of Washington, Site Organizers
Charles LaPorte (Assoc. Prof. of English)
Jesse Oak Taylor (Assoc. Prof. of English)
Production Team
Nicole Bouchard (English Doctoral Student, Research Assistant to Joshua King)
Carl Flynn (Director of Marketing and Communications for IT and University Libraries)
Conner Krey (Classroom Technology Services)
Tanner Osborn (Learning Spaces and Media Services)
Carlye Thornton (Marketing and Communications Coordinator for IT and University Libraries)
Ben Wong (Classroom Technology Services)
