7th International e-Conference
7th International Conference (Online Mode)
on
Sustainability in Practice: Re-(Thinking) Literature, Society, and Culture
Date: 15th and 16th October, 2026 (Thursday & Friday)
To be Organized by
New Literaria– An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities
In Collaboration with
Assam University (A Central University), India
Location: Virtual Platform (GOOGLE MEET/ZOOM/YOUTUBE)
Concept Note
The contemporary world is confronted with escalating ecological crises, widening socio-economic disparities, cultural homogenization, and rapid technological transformations. In such a moment, sustainability emerges not merely as an environmental concern but as a comprehensive ethical, cultural, and epistemological framework. The conference seeks to examine how literary and cultural discourses respond to and actively shape sustainable futures. The modern understanding of sustainability gained global prominence through the report of the Brundtland Commission- Our Common Future, which defines sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development [WCED], 1987, p. 43). However, sustainability today extends beyond policy frameworks into cultural production and literary imagination. Buell (1995) argues that environmental imagination plays a decisive role in shaping ecological consciousness and ethical awareness (p. 2). Literature does not merely mirror environmental crises; it actively constructs alternative visions of coexistence between human and non-human worlds.
Ecocriticism and the environmental humanities foreground the interconnectedness of text, environment, and ethics (Glotfelty & Fromm, 1996, p. xviii). Contemporary theoretical approaches such as posthumanism challenge anthropocentric worldviews and encourage multispecies relationality (Haraway, 2016, p. 103). These frameworks invite scholars to reconsider sustainability as a lived cultural and ethical practice rather than a distant developmental objective. Cultural sustainability is equally central to this discourse. It involves preserving linguistic diversity, safeguarding indigenous ecological knowledge, and promoting social justice. Vandana Shiva (2005) emphasizes that indigenous knowledge systems provide sustainable alternatives to exploitative and extractive economic paradigms (p. 67). Literature becomes a critical site where such epistemologies are documented, preserved, and imaginatively reconfigured.
This conference foregrounds sustainability in practice- examining how literature, performance, pedagogy, media, and digital cultures actively contribute to sustainable futures. It encourages interdisciplinary engagement to rethink development, consumerism, migration, identity politics, and environmental justice in the context of cultural production. By situating sustainability at the intersection of literature, society, and culture, the conference seeks to generate rigorous academic dialogue that contributes to ethical imagination, cultural resilience, and transformative sustainable practices.
Sub-Themes (Indicative but Not Limited To):
· Ecocriticism and the Environmental Humanities
· Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) and Narrative Activism
· Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Cultural Sustainability
· Ecofeminism and Gendered Ecologies
· Posthumanism and Multispecies Ethics
· Migration, Displacement, and Climate Crisis
· Urban Ecologies and Sustainable Cities in Literature
· Capitalism, Consumerism, and Ecological Resistance
· Memory, Heritage, and Sustainable Cultural Practices
· Digital Cultures and Sustainable Communication
· Green Pedagogy and Environmental Education
· Trauma, Conflict, and Environmental Justice
· Food, Water, and Resource Politics in Cultural Texts
· Performance, Visual Culture, and Ecological Aesthetics
· Blue Humanities and Oceanic Ecologies
· Energy Humanities and Petrocultures
· Anthropocene Narratives and Geological Imaginations
· Slow Violence and Environmental Degradation
· Waste, Toxicity, and Pollution in Cultural Discourse
· Rural Ecologies and Agrarian Studies
· Sustainability and Global South Perspectives
· Indigenous Literatures and Decolonial Ecologies
· Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
· Sustainability and Human Rights
· Literature, Law, and Environmental Policy
· Religion, Spirituality, and Ecological Thought
· Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Cultural Narratives
· Media Ecology and Environmental Journalism
· Documentary Film and Eco-Activism
· Children’s Literature and Environmental Awareness
· Disability Studies and Environmental Vulnerability
· Pandemic Narratives and Ecological Interconnections
· Climate Anxiety, Solastalgia, and Mental Health
· Sustainable Tourism and Cultural Representation
· Architecture, Space, and Eco-Aesthetics
· Folklore, Oral Traditions, and Ecological Memory
· Translation, Transnationalism, and Environmental Discourse
· Art, Installations, and Ecological Interventions
· Technology, AI, and Sustainable Futures
· Resilience, Adaptation, and Community Narratives
· Sustainable Economies and Alternative Modernities
· Commons, Community Resources, and Collective Practices
· Environmental Utopias and Dystopias
References
Buell, L. (1995). The environmental imagination: Thoreau, nature writing, and the formation
of American culture. Harvard University Press.
Glotfelty, C., & Fromm, H. (Eds.). (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary
ecology. University of Georgia Press.
Haraway, D. J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke
University Press.
Shiva, V. (2005). Earth democracy: Justice, sustainability, and peace. South End Press.
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. Oxford
University Press.
Submission Guidelines:
We welcome submissions of abstracts only from scholars, researchers, and academicians across the globe. Those presenting individual papers should submit an abstract, including keywords, within a maximum limit of 300 words and a brief biography in the Google Form – https://forms.gle/v4CC4NNzmKVq7u4A6 (up to 150 words) by 31st August 2026. Full paper submissions before the conference, are encouraged but not required.
Important Dates:
| SCHEDULE | |
| Conference Dates | 15th and 16th October, 2026 (Thursday & Friday) |
| Deadline for Submission of Abstracts (Restricted to 300 words) and Panel Proposals (750 words) | 31st August, 2026 |
| Acceptance of Abstracts | 5th September, 2026 |
| Registration | 5th – 7th September, 2026 |
| Last date of sending full paper | After the conference is over (30th October, 2026) |
Registration fee:
- Single Presenter: ₹1100 / $40 (USD)
- Joint Presentation: ₹2200 / $80 (USD)
- Conference participation Certificate with hours of participation mentioned- 200 INR / 20 Dollars (For Non-Paper Presenters)
The registration fee covers conference presentation, a soft copy of the certificate of participation, and the opportunity for publication in New Literaria subject to peer review. Please note that acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee publication; only selected papers will be published after successful peer review.
Publication Opportunity:
Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of our Journal, New Literaria, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences.
List of Speakers for the Conference- 2026
- Githa Hariharan, Indian Novelist.
- Prof. Saugata Bhaduri, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.
- Prof Anustup Basu, Professor of English, Film and Media at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States.
- Dr Subir Sinha, Reader in the Theory and Politics of Development, Department of Development Studies & Director, SOAS South Asia Institute, UK.
- Prof. Moumin Quazi, Professor of English at Tarleton State University, Texas, USA.
- Prof. Jolly Das, Professor, Department of English Literature, Language and Cultural Studies, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India.
- Dr. Jati Sankar Mondal, Associate Professor, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University (SKB
- University), Purulia, West Bengal, India.
- Dr. Subhadeep Paul, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Bankura University, West Bengal, India.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Patron: Prof. Rajive Mohan Pant, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Assam University, Assam, India.
Conveners:
Prof. Saugata Kumar Nath, Professor & Head, Department of English, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India.
Dr. Tanmoy Kundu, Editor, New Literaria Journal & Assistant Professor and PG Coordinator of English, Midnapore College (Autonomous), West Bengal, India.
Prof. Prasenjit Panda, Professor, Department of English, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Chhattisgarh, India.
Organizing Secretaries:
Dr. Lalthakim Hmar, Associate Professor, Department of English, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India.
Dr. Parathasarathi Mondal, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Manbhum Mahavidyalaya, Manbazar, Purulia, West Bengal, India & Advisory Editor, New Literaria Journal.
Gokul S., Assistant Professor, Department of English, PGDAV College, Delhi University, New Delhi, India.
Dr. Subhankar Dutta, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Science, NIT Warangal, India.
Dipra Sarkhel, Research Scholar, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
Dr. Moumita Bala, Assistant Professor, Department of English, GLA University, India.
Organizing Committee:
Zahra Ahmad, MA English Student, Patna Women’s College (Autonomous), Patna University, India.
Dr. Sonika Kumari, Assistant Professor of English, NIET College, Greater Noida, Delhi NCR, India.
Heemal Pandey, PhD Research Scholar, Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.
Sanjoy Jana, PhD Scholar, Department of English, Pondicherry University, India.
Sumit Pramanik, Independent Researcher & Former Research Intern, The University of Hyderabad, India.
Riddhi Gupta, Ex-Student, Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal, India.
Ariharan S, Ph.D. Research Scholar, School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Woxsen University, Hyderabad, India.
Advisory Committee:
Prof. David Higgins, Professor of Environmental Humanities, University of Leeds, UK.
Prof. Pinaki Roy, Professor, Department of English, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India.
Prof. Sharmistha Chatterjee, Professor of English, Aliah University, West Bengal, India.
Prof. Elisabetta Marino, Professor of English and American Studies, Department of History, Humanities and Society, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy.
Prof. T. Marx, Professor of English, Pondicherry University, India.
Prof. Siddhartha Biswas, Professor of English, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India.
Prof. Chandrava Chakravarty, Professor & Head of the Department of English, West Bengal State University (WBSU), Kolkata, West Bengal.
Prof. Jai Singh, Professor, Department of Commonwealth Literary Studies, The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India.
Dr. John C Ryan, Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Australia.
Prof. Hitesh D Raviya, Professor and Head of English & Vice Dean of Faculty of Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Prof. Anita Singh, Professor of English and Co-Coordinator of the Centre for Women’s Studies and Development at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India.
Prof Smriti Singh, Professor of English, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, India.
Prof. Tanu Gupta, Professor and Head of English and Foreign Languages, Deputy Director, Malaviya Mission Teacher’s Training Center, Central University of Haryana, India.
Prof. Asima Ranjan Parhi, Professor of English, Utkal University, India.
Dr. Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi, Dean, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (FoHSS), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Jammu & Kashmir, India.
Dr. Chandrakant Langare, Rtd. Associate Professor of English, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, India.
Dr. Jati Sankar Mondal, Associate Professor of English, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, West Bengal, India.
Dr. Neha Arora, Associate Professor of English, Central University of Rajasthan, India.
Dr Sanjukta Chatterjee, Associate Professor of English, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India.
Dr. Subhadeep Paul, Assistant Professor of English, Bankura University, West Bengal, India.
Dr. Madhumita Majumdar, Associate Professor of English, Diamond Harbour Women’s University, West Bengal.
Dr. Upasana Singh, Assistant Professor of English, Kurukshetra University, India.
Dr. Dhurjjati Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of MIL & Literary Studies, Gauhati University, Assam, India.
Dr. Bhanupriya Rohila, Assistant Professor of English, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, India.