This call for papers welcomes current curriculum shifts in which education for sustainable learning—ESD— is becoming an overarching link between disciplines rather than a subordinate pursuit in education. Scholars and lovers of poetry can attest to how it sustains us in our lifelong learning, including our emotional, creative, linguistic, communicative, and analytical development. The concept of “Sustainability” has long-since surpassed the bounds of conservation and recycling; it has a long history in literature, specifically through the development of ecocriticism from the late 20th century and onwards. Yet literature in general, and the field of poetry in particular, is only beginning to come to terms with the larger implications of sustainability as a broader cross-disciplinary discourse, and its potential for lifelong learning.
A central hypothesis of the Poetry and Sustainability in Education volume is that aesthetic abilities are inherent in all humans, and that poetry is therefore an important form of knowledge. Hence exposure to poetry and encouragement to read, write, and perform poetry has the potential to sustain cross-disciplinary learning. The main goal of this volume is to develop competence for research-based teaching of poetry and sustainability in education. The volume intends to explore and promote how poetry can be a central contributor to learning across disciplines in a fastly changing education system, and also in understanding how the field of ESD can contribute to better poetry pedagogies and methodologies.
We welcome teacher-educators, poetry scholars, ecocritics, and others involved in ESD to submit either an abstract or a full essay for publication consideration in the volume. Abstracts should be 200-300 words; full essays 5000-7000 words (including references). Send your proposal to the editors, Professor Sandra Kleppe and Professor Angela Sorby, no later than March 31st, 2019:
If your abstract is accepted, there will be a three-to-nine month period to author the full essay. Please do not submit an abstract if you are not able to work within that time allowance.
All essays will be subject to an editorial review process (between June and December, 2019). If your essay is accepted there will be a 6-week period to complete any necessary revisions. The prospective publisher of the volume is Palgrave Macmillan; the volume will also be subject to their review process. The publication date is 2020.
Note that we are also planning panels/roundtables at two international conferences:
- Poetry and Sustainability in Education, panel/roundtable at the 2019 Midwest Modern Language Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois, November 14-17
- Poetry in Education Symposium, panel/roundtable or workshop, Gothenburg University, Sweden, December 5-7, 2019