Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies

Front Cover
Chi P. Pham, Chitra Sankaran, Gurpreet Kaur
Vernon Press, Sep 9, 2019 - Nature - 166 pages

Ecocriticism in relation to the Southeast Asian region is relatively new. So far, John Charles Ryan’s Ecocriticism in Southeast Asia is the first book of its kind to focus on the region and its literature to give an ecocritical analysis: that volume compiles analyses of the eco-literatures from most of the Southeast Asian region, providing a broad insight into the ecological concerns of the region as depicted in its literatures and other cultural texts.

This edited volume furthers the study of Southeast Asian ecocriticism, focusing specifically on prominent myths and histories and the myriad ways in which they connect to the social fabric of the region. Our book is an original contribution to the expanding field of ecocriticism, as it highlights the mytho-historical basis of many of the region’s literatures and their relationship to the environment.

The varied articles in this volume together explore the idea of nature and its relationship with humans. The always problematic questions that surround such explorations, such as “why do we regard nature as ‘external’?” or “how is humankind a continuum with nature?”, emerge throughout the volume either overtly or implicitly. As Pepper (1993) points out, what Karl Marx referenced as ‘first’ or ‘external’ nature gave rise to humankind. But humanity “worked on this ‘first’ nature to produce a ‘second’ nature: the material creations of society plus its institutions, ideas and values.” (Pepper, 108). Thus, our volume constantly negotiates this field of ideas and belief systems, in diverse ways and in various cultures, attempting to relate them to the current ecological predicaments of ASEAN. It will likely prove an invaluable resource for scholars and students of ecocriticism and, more broadly, of Southeast Asian cultures and literatures.

 

Contents

Bonding ASEAN together through Literary Studies
1
Chapter 2
21
Chapter 4
49
Chapter 5
59
Chapter 6
73
Chapter 9
111
Chapter 10
129
Chapter 11
141
Bionotes of Contributors
155
Copyright

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Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies
Chi Pham,Gurpreet Kaur,Chitra Sankaran
No preview available - 2019
Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies
Chi Pham,Chitra Sankaran,Gurpreet Kaur
No preview available - 2019

Common terms and phrases

Abad-Jugo Amedea animals Anthropocene ASEAN Asian Atwood becomes Bobis children’s literature civilisation conceptions contemporary countryside culture Day River Delta destruction discourse Đỗ Phấn earth ecocritical Ecocriticism Ecofeminism ecological narrative templates emphasises environment environmental epic hero excrement fantasy fiction food security forest global Hanoi harmony heaven Hinilawod hometown Hoya Humadapnon human and non-human humans and nature imagine Lê Minh Khuê Le Thanh Tong literary living Locust Girl Margaret Atwood Merlinda Bobis mode of identification modern Mong’s story Myanmar myths narrator natural world neoliberal Nguyen Huy Thiep Nguyen Quang Thieu’s night soil novel numinous Nyein orangutans Oryx and Crake perspective Phấn’s Philippines poem political pollution protagonists protection public toilets Quang Thieu’s poetry readers region relations relationship rice risk Satoyama short stories social society souls Southeast Asian space species spirit symbolic thẻn traditional farming trees tropical monsoon urban urbanisation văn Vết Vietnam Vietnamese literature village Western wild worship writing Yawa

About the author (2019)

Chi Pham (PhD) is a tenure-researcher at the Institute of Literature in the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. She completed her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Riverside (USA). Her dissertation, her researched articles and conference presentations examine Vietnamese literature and politics. Of late, Chi has become increasingly interested in the field of literature and the environment; she chaired the organising committee of the second ASLE-ASEAN conference in Hanoi (January 2018), for which she put together the call for papers. Chi’s native knowledge of Vietnamese culture and literature adds a dimension of authenticity.

Chitra Sankaran (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, NUS. Her research interests include South and Southeast Asian fiction, feminist theory and ecocriticism. In 2012, she published History, Narrative and Testimony in Amitav Ghosh’s Fiction with SUNY Press. Her other publications include monographs, edited volumes on Asian Literatures, chapters in books and research articles in IRJs including Journal of Commonwealth Literature, ARIEL, Theatre Research International, Journal of South Asian Literature, Australian Feminist Studies and Critical Asian Studies. She is an invited contributor to the Oxford History of the Novel in English (OHNE) series. She is currently working on ecofeminism in South Asian and Southeast Asian fictions.

Gurpreet Kaur (PhD) has recently finished her PhD in English and Comparative Literatures from the University of Warwick, UK. She received her BA (Hons) and MA degrees in English Language and Literature from the National University of Singapore. Her research, publications and conference presentations centre on postcolonial ecofeminism, South Asian and Southeast Asian fiction, film and gender studies.

Bibliographic information

TitleEcologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies
Series in Literary Studies
EditorsChi P. Pham, Chitra Sankaran, Gurpreet Kaur
PublisherVernon Press, 2019
ISBN1622736834, 9781622736836
Length166 pages
Subjects › 

Literary Criticism / Comparative Literature
Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection
  
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