Modernism & Environment

Modernism & Environment is a community of scholars from diverse places and positionalities coming together to foster conversation between the environmental humanities and the study of modernism and modernity, broadly defined. In the spring of 2023, the Modernist Studies Association founded 4 special interest groups--of which this is one--to strengthen community among MSA members, but also to invite in people who share our interests but may not be aware this could be an intellectual home for them. If you’re interested in sharing ideas and inspiration on modernism and environment scholarship, pedagogy, or praxis, we invite you to join us! See our about and events pages for more information about programming and involvement.

As scholars of modernity and modernism, we know that the institutions we operate in are shaped by processes of fossil-fueled modernization which have brought benefits to some while causing disproportionate harm to others–particularly racialized, colonized, and marginalized communities, as well as nonhuman species and the earth’s ecosystems. We therefore have a particular responsibility to move from analysis to action, to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and make our practices more consistent with environmental health and climate justice in all ways that are feasible. 

The Modernism & Environment Special Interest Group is committed to fostering sustainability in multiple senses. This begins with environmental sustainability and climate justice, but also necessarily includes organizational sustainability and sustainability on the level of personal and collective well-being for ourselves and our students and colleagues, especially those who are precariously employed and/or members of marginalized communities. 

To that end, we are actively exploring ways to reduce the environmental and climate impact of the MSA’s conferences and other activities, as other organizations like ASLE and ASECS have already done. We recognize that the climate footprint of academic travel is an environmental justice issue and one that we can and should address both individually and collectively. As a first step, we might consider making an individual commitment to Flying Less. 

Will you be skipping this year's conference? Have you in the past? Fill out our ongoing anonymous form collecting data on environment & justice related  impacts on conference attendance HERE.