The Humanities community is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Fourteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities. The Humanities Conference will be held 8-11 June 2016 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Student Center East. We welcome submissions from a variety of disciplines and perspectives and encourage faculty and students to jointly submit proposals, discussing the humanities through one of the following themes:
Conference Themes:
• Critical Cultural Studies
• Communication and Linguistic Studies
• Literary Humanities Civic, Political, and Community Studies
• Humanities Education
• “Nature at the Crossroads: New Directions for the Humanities in the Age of the Anthropocene”

2016 Special Focus: ‘Nature at the Crossroads: New Directions for the Humanities in the Age of the Anthropocene’

The purpose of the various fields of the humanities is to reflect on the human condition. One of the fundamental questions of our times, and one that is increasingly central to the question of our human condition, is the condition of nature. In this regard, there is a growing concern that our very species’ existence is now under threat as a consequence of human activity. The age of ‘the Anthropocene’ is characterized by the blowback of a ‘great acceleration’ in human impacts upon nature: modern industry, population growth, and increasing per capita consumption. These have resulted in human-induced changes to global temperatures, sea levels, CO2 in the atmosphere, to name just a few consequential eco-systemic changes.

The special focus for the Fourteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities – Nature at the Crossroads: New Directions for the Humanities in the Age of the Anthropocene – is to explore the conceptual and historical framing of the Anthropocene. How does this reconceptualization of natural history demand new approaches to the work of the humanities? How in this frame of reference is self positioned in relation to community and nature? What is the ontological basis of knowledge, autonomy, and freedom as interpretative perspectives on human action in the natural world? How do we read the symbolic and its distinction from or imbrication with, the material? What is the unique character of human history and its contra-distinction with natural history, of geological time compared to human time? How should the humanities and the natural sciences relate to each other as we address the challenges of the Anthropocene?

Proposal Submissions and Deadlines

The current review period closing date for the latest round of submissions to the Call for Papers (a title and short abstract) is 7 May 2015*. Please visit our website for more information on submitting your proposal, future deadlines, and registering for the conference.

If you are unable to attend the conference, you may still join the community and submit your article for peer review and possible publication, upload an online presentation, and enjoy subscriber access to The Humanities Collection.

*Proposals are reviewed in rounds adhering to monthly deadlines. Check the website often to see the current review round.