The emergence of categories that, in general, aim to observe the (geological) impact of the human in its various subjectivities and through different critical perspectives – anthropocene, capitalocene, plantationcene or chthulucene (Moore, 2016; Haraway 2015), among others – configures the environment and environmentalism as a central theme and problem in the field of literary studies, offering the possibility of (re)defining African literatures – their aesthetics, forms and genres, as well as their critical and conceptual paradigms – from an ecocritical perspective. (Falconi, 2023) In this sense, literary studies, and especially studies of African literatures, can play a central role in (re)defining what is usually defined as environmentalism (Nixon, 2011) and, above all, what has been defined as “the environmentalism of the poor” (Martinez-Alier, 2003; Guha, 2000; Nixon; 2011). Based on these premises and operationalizing the concept of “literary environmentalism”, the possibility arises of mapping the discourses and practices – political and aesthetic – that are located on the African continent and especially in the field of African literature, and therefore also in Portuguese-speaking African countries, where ecocritical and environmentalist approaches present themselves as cartographies yet to be drawn.
Environmentalism and ecocriticism stand out among the most current developments in contemporary literary studies, especially in the field of comparative literature, postcolonial studies and the debate on world literature. However, these are critical and analytical perspectives that are still underdeveloped in the field of African literary studies, especially with regard to the literatures of Portuguese-speaking African countries (Falconi, 2023). Environmentalism, to be understood as the relationship between nature, culture and society and which, in theory, guides the formation of the modern and contemporary African novel, is rarely (re)known as a theme – a content or an aesthetic – in the field of African literary studies, reproducing the logic of inequality that, according to Ramachandra Guha (2000), guides discourses on ecology and environmentalism in the field of social and political sciences, where the hegemony of Western and especially North American perspectives silences and erases what is defined as “the environmentalism of the poor” (Martinez-Alier, 2003). Based on these premises, the panel “The literary environmentalism of the poor. Towards an ecocriticism of African literatures” aims to bring together works that fall within the broad scope of what has been defined as environmental humanities, privileging, on the one hand, critical reflections on environmentalism in the field of African studies and, on the other hand, analyses and (re)readings of works of African literature that problematize environmentalism, in various geographical and linguistic contexts on the African continent. The main objective of the panel is therefore to map, in an exploratory and cartographic sense, the environmental debates in Africa and the “literary environmentalism” that guides African literatures and especially the literatures of Portuguese-speaking African countries, stimulating and strengthening inter- and transdisciplinary approaches in the field of ecocriticism and environmental humanities.
Falconi, Jessica “Ecocritica” in Fernanda Gallo (org.) Breve Dicionário das Literaturas Africanas (Campinas, Editora Unicamp, 2023), pp. 57-66
Guha, Ramachandra. Environmentalism: A Global History (New York: Longman, 2000) .
Haraway, Donna. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin”. In Environmental Humanities (2015) 6 (1): 159–165. https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615934
Martinez-Alier, Joan. The Environmentalism of the Poor: A Study of the Ecological Conflicts and Valuation (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003).
Moore, Jason W. Anthropocene or Capitalocene?: Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. (Oakland: PM Press, 2016).
Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2011).
