CFP-EXTENDED - GAIA HYPOTHESIS JAN 17 - ASLE BOSTON JUNE 3-7
CALL FOR PAPERS
Taking the Gaia Hypothesis Seriously: Spirituality, Modernity, and
Earth-Based Belief Systems
Conference: "The Solid Earth! The Actual World!"
Biannual Conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and the
Environment (ASLE)
Boston University, June 3-7, 2003
Organizer: Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, Ph.D.
Title and Affiliation: Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico,
Mayaguez
Address: P.O. Box 1941, Mayaguez, PR 00681
Email: serena1@cantennialpr.net
The Gaia Hypothesis, which was formulated in the 1960's by biologist James
Lovelock, affirms that the Earth is an organism with a life of its own. His
observations pointed to the difference between the Earth and its neighbors
Mars and Venus, whose life cycles as hosts of a biosphere are finished. It
was corroborated by bio- and geoscientist Lynn Margulis, who focused on the
relation between symbiosis and evolution. Today, Gaian belief systems put
life back into the secularized res extensa of Cartesian reminiscence, and
thus affirm the sacredness of what modern humans have become accustomed to
consider mere usable resources.
This panel will focus on the impact of the Gaia Hypothesis on alternative
communities like those formed by practitioners of New Age spirituality,
Neo-Pagans, Goddess worshippers, and Wiccans; practitioners of the healing
arts, vegetarianism, and veganism; naturist and polyamorous groups; organic
food producers, distributors, and consumers; practitioners of micro-credit,
fair trade, and ecological tourism; and in general, all those whom are
reaching for new forms of spirituality that include a higher awareness of
current health, ecological, and environmental issues.
Philosophical, theoretical, literary, scientific, and interdisciplinary
approaches are welcome.
Please send one-page abstract and a brief biographical paragraph or vita by
January 17 to Dr. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, P. O Box 1941, Mayaguez, PR
00681.
Email submissions are encouraged: serena1@centennialpr.net
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