9 July 13:30–15:30 | Panel: Hierarchies of the Past, Entanglements of the Future
Part of the EXC 2020 Annual Conference 2025 "Futures of Doing Literature", 9–11 July 2025.
By way of short presentations and a moderated discussion, the panel examines the role of storytelling in envisioning and moulding futures, particularly through the lens of climate fiction and ecocriticism. Linking to questions of global inequalities and hierarchies that continue to shape our world via extractivism, colonial/neo-colonial endeavours and their manifold repercussions, the panel aims to highlight the ability of literature to negotiate visions of the future and stimulate critical reflection on humanity's relationship with the environment in a postcolonial world. The contributions will explore how narratives address ecological and societal challenges and provide imaginative frameworks for understanding and responding to crises by questioning hierarchies of the past and constructing a shared future.