Languages
“Reading Nature” International Conference
Instituto Franklin’s Research Group “Friends of Thoreau” and the Department of English Studies II of the UCM are organizing the Reading Nature International Conference, titled “Cultural Perspectives on Environmental Imagery”, which will be held on December 14th- 16th 2011, at Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Environmental disciplines have recently gained prominence due to the potentially devastating consequences of climate change: increasing natural disasters, the greenhouse effect, temperature variations, changing sea levels, etc. Such issues have raised awareness on the necessity for a drastic change in thinking. Ecocriticism—along with other green disciplines dealing with the relationship between society and the environment—places nature as the center of the intellectual debate. As Kate Rigby states, "culture constructs the prism through which we know nature." Reading Nature Conference aims to explore from a critical perspective how such a prism is constructed. International reputed experts, along with young scholars will examine the way in which different notions on nature and the environment are conveyed in cultural manifestations.
The keynote speakers will be Carmen Flys from the Universidad de Alcalá; Bill McKibben from Middelbury College; Paul Waldau Harvard, Yale and Tufts University; María Novo from the UNED; Philip Terrie from Bowling Green State University; Mario Petrucci, British poet and artist; and José B. Ruiz, photographer of nature.
To view the program please click here.
