Call for Papers

Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, UK and Ireland, Postgraduate Conference 2026

‘No Future? Hopeful Worldings in Haunted Times’

3-4th September 2026, University of Chichester

The deadline for proposals is 31st March 2026

Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Prof Hugh Dunkerly

The 2026 postgraduate conference for the Association for the Study of Literature and
Environment, UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI) will be hosted by the Arcanum of Apocalyptic
Anthropocenes at the University of Chichester. ASLE-UKI welcomes participation from
postgraduate and early career scholars, readers, and creative practitioners interested in the
relationships between literatures, arts, environments and cultures – past, present, or future
– from anywhere in the world.

In the preface of the Italian philosopher Federico Campagna’s Technic and Magic, Timothy
Morton sketches out a disturbing image of our current times. A crumbling reality caught in
the constant act of consuming itself (2018: x) however he is not the first. The Sex Pistols’
iconic God Save the Queen (1977) rhapsodises the non-coming “no future for you”, whilst
Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history (1989). The rise of the field of hauntology
from Derrida (1993), Fisher (2014), through to Coverly (2020) decries a future that expands
and contracts upon a single moment of never-ending nowness. There is no future beyond.
Or is there? Haraway’s no(on of chthonic companionship (Haraway, 2016) encourages kin-making with more-than-human species as an act of care influencing new-worlds.
As with previous ASLE-UKI conferences, we are happy to receive papers on any aspect of
literature, culture, creative practice and the environment, but we particularly welcome
responses to the following prompts:

Nostalgia as a projection of future worlding: our habit of reconstitution and reliance on
sequels, prequels, and remakes risks the possibility of breaking out of ‘the grip of a formal
nostalgia’ (Fischer, 2014: 8). Can nostalgia be utilised in new ways to be a “projection” in/on
to a future, ‘unshackled from its former connections with actual reality’ (Campagna, 2025:
269) or is it doomed to always be a project of conservative longing for a non-existent lost
past, providing a plan of ac(on for that past’s ‘reestablishment in the present’ (Campagna,
2025: 296). What can these “fantasies” do to provide a way beyond the “no future”, and
what role can literature play in this task? Weary of the fragile nature of the ‘double exposure
[of] home and abroad, past and present, of dream and everyday life’ (Boym, 2001), can
nostalgia ever be utilised in fresh ways?

Ending stories of Endling species: An Endling is the last surviving member of a species
(Webster & Erickson, 1996), but do the names we give them, ‘Turgi’, ‘Sudan’, ‘Lonesome
George’, tell us more about ourselves than the species these nomenclatures were meant to
memorialise? Is the naming of an Endling an anthropocentric attempt of ‘laying claim’ (Pyne,
2022) to their stories, to ‘empathise with the imminent end of a whole animal’s line’
(Jørgensen, 2017), or simply a refusal to take response-ability (Haraway, 2012) for our
actions? As the list of Endlings grows ever longer, what can these more-than-human figures
tell us about our own place on that list? Who will be the Endling of the Human Species, and
how will their final stories be documented?

Haunted Environments: Haunted environments, landscapes, ecosystems and buildings, are
layered with traces of the political, historical or social. Residues of previous violences or
displaced lives linger within the sites where ‘both [the] absent and present, challenge our
belief in the unbroken progression of linear (me’ (Coverley, 2020: 11). Within The Arts of
Living on a Damaged Planet (Tsing et al, 2024) ghosts are found in various formats: human
and nonhuman species, the histories of marginalised peoples, the ecological aftermath of
human-caused disasters and the spectral presence of minute particles. The lives of each of
these acting as a reminder of their troubled past, and potential ‘imagined futures’ (Tsing et
al., 2017: 15), which they may find themselves returning to. What other revenant figures are
found within haunted environments, and what may they be trying to communicate?

Finding feral identity in response to human systems and environments: Tsing acknowledges a feral nonhuman being as one which destabilises the boundaries between “wild” (nothing to do with humans) and “domes(c” (under human control) by instead ‘engag[ing] with
human projects, but not in the way the makers of those projects designed.’ (Tsing et al.,
2024: 19) Feral beings find a way of evolving despite the development of human systems
found within their shared environment. As feral identities continue to develop and grow,
what will these environments begin to look like over time? Will humans find a way to not
only live alongside these identities but instead move towards a place of learning from them
and their systems?

Kin-making as a mode of practice: The 2016 text Staying with the Trouble by Haraway acts
somewhat as a call to action, suggesting a need to confront the ecological crisis and foster
resilient ways of living through engaging with “sympoiesis” (making-with) to practice
companionship. Entangled relations across multispecies offer approaches to consider how
kinship is formed. Haraway suggests ‘SF’ as a methodological framework (science fictions,
speculative feminism, science fantasy, speculative fabula(on, science fact, and also string
figures) (2016: 27) in which new possibilities can be imagined. How may these modes of
practice be used to understand kinship between humans and more-than-human?

Submission Process:

We welcome proposals for 15-minute papers/presentations/performances (we are taking a liberal approach to what a performance is). To propose a contribution please submit an abstract of around 250 words and a brief speaker biography by 31 March 2026 (although earlier submissions would be welcome) using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf-RlQfELmENAtoWejJR_hvTmNsgBIIWWyRj0fS6vmnvdpCxw/viewform?usp=dialog

Works Cited:
Boym, S. (2001) “Nostalgia”, Atlas For Transforma?on. (Online). [Available at:
hkp://monumenkotransforma(on.org/atlas-of-transforma(on/html/n/nostalgia/nostalgiasvetlana-
boym.html]. Accessed: 12.01.26
Campagna, F. (2018) Technic and Magic. London: Bloomsbury.
Campagna, F. (2025) Otherworlds: Mediterranean Lessons On Escaping History. London:
Bloomsbury
Coverly, M. (2020) Hauntology: Ghosts of Futures Past. Harpenden: Oldcastle Books Ltd.
Derrida, J. (1993) The Specters of Marx. London: Routledge.
Fischer, M. (2014) Ghosts of My Life. London: Verso.
Fukuyama, F. (1989) ‘The End of History?’, The Na?onal Interest, Issue 16. pp. 3-18.
Haraway, D. (2012) “Awash in Urine: DES and Premarin® in mul(species response-ability”,
Women’s Studies Quarterly, Vol.40(1/2). Pp. 301-316
Haraway, D. (2016) Staying With the Trouble. Duke University Press Books.
Jørgensen, D. (2017) “Endling, the Power of the Last in an Ex(nc(on-Prone World”,
Environmental Philosophy. Vol: 14. Issue: 1. Pp.119 – 138.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26894342
Pyne, L. (2022) Endlings: Fables for the Anthropocene. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press
Sex Pistols. (1977) God Save The Queen. [Music] Virgin Records.
Tsing, A.L. et al. (2017) Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. University of Minnesota Press.
Tsing, AL., Deger, J., Alder Keleman Saxena and Zhou, F. (2024). Field Guide to the Patchy
Anthropocene. Stanford University Press.
Webster, R.M., & Erickson, B. (1996). “The last word?”, Nature. Vol 380: 386.
hkps://doi.org/10.1038/380386c0