Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures: Histories, Myths and Societies

Ecologies in Southeast Asian Literatures is truly an exciting and original contribution to the rapidly growing field of ecocriticism. I agree with the editors that the emphasis on the mythic and socio-cultural dimensions of Southeast Asian environmental literature in this collection adds a new dimension to previous ecocritical approaches to literature from this part of the world. What is particularly exciting, is the fact that so many of the contributors to this book come from the countries they are writing about and are thus able to express both local perspectives and authoritative scholarly interpretations of the issues and materials they study.

I believe this work will appeal widely to scholars in the environmental humanities field, not only in ecocriticism per se. There are researchers who work specifically in such subfields as disaster studies, endangered species and literature, environmental nostalgia, food and farming in environmental literature, the study of urban places, war and ecology, and eco-mythology, all of which are explored in this book. The fact that this is a trans-national volume, too, places the collection in the vanguard of environmental humanities research. These studies offer cultural specificities and overarching bioregional perspectives, both of which are necessary for authoritative environmental humanities analyses.

Scott Slovic, PhD

Professor of Literature and Environment

University of Idaho