This panel explores the question of affect in multispecies relations, focusing on ecocriticism in Korean, Asian American, and transpacific contexts. In a time of accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss, what kinds of affects emerge through multispecies relationships and losses? How do interspecies encounters contribute to senses and sensations of place, thresholds, and borders? The presentations in “Multispecies Affects” explore these questions through close attention to contemporary novels and transnational visual art. Vanessa Baker considers the corporeal experiences and ecological consequences of laboring with the liquid materiality of the ocean through the fisheries literature of Kim Kijin (1903-1985) and Hyŏn Kyŏngjun (1909-1950). Baker foregrounds the volumetric imaginary of these writings as a way of tuning into the space-time of toshigi, a unique, local phenomenon in Hamgyŏng Province when an abundant mass of sardines migrates close to the shore along with the warm ocean currents in late autumn. Eleana Kim critically examines transnational artists Michael Joo, Na Mira, and Ji-hae Hwang, whose works address the DMZ as both a painful scar of internecine war and as a site of unintentional ecological flourishing. Here the multispecies prompts a reexamination of political frameworks toward a “biological peace” that expands beyond human concerns. A.C. Loji’s paper examines the extra-human affective encounters in Albert Wendt’s novel Black Rainbow–specifically, the spiritual and agentive forces pulsing within the earth–exploring how they confront the (neo)colonial conceptions of human-land relations in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that produce crises ranging from nuclear proliferation to climate change.
2 and 3: The rationale for organizing a session on that particular topic and an explanation of how the topic relates to existing scholarship:
This collaborative panel (Korean LLC and TC Ecocriticism and Environmental Humanities) foregrounds the MLA's 2024 presidential theme on joy and sorrow, engaging affect more broadly in our consideration of multispecies relations in ecocritical literature and visual art. Scholars such as Joni Adamson, Karen Thornber, Ursula Heise, Simon Estok, and Won-Chung Kim have argued for greater diversity in ecocriticism (literature and environment studies), a field which has historically given disproportionate attention to Western literatures and theoretical perspectives. Our panel responds to these calls, opening new pathways for scholarly conversation across Korean, Asian American, and transpacific contexts that contribute towards a more inclusive and global ecocriticism.
4. An explanation of how the session will operate within the allotted time while allowing for at least 15 minutes of unstructured discussion.
Our panel has three paper presenters and we are planning for a vibrant discussion afterwards. In terms of the timing breakdown, we are allotting each speaker 18 minutes to present, which will leave 20 minutes of unstructured discussion to conclude the panel.