The 2026 Online Symposium of the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy
Theme 2026: Mud, Islands and Ocean
Dates: November 5 (Thu) – 6 (Fri), 2026 No conference fee, participation is free.
Mud, islands and ocean are places of mixture and changes. Animals and people leave traces in the mud. The NAEP symposium 2026 dives into blue humanities and interrogates the fringes between worlds and aims to explore views in terms of fluidity and process. In the mud, soil and water shift forms and transform. Boundaries are not clearly apparent. Environmental philosophy forces us to reconsider certain assumptions about clear boundaries delimiting and isolating things, and mud invites us to this journey.
Oceans can be places of both encounters and separations, and islands can easily trigger narratives of isolation. Mud involves and interconnects lands and seas. Mud also hosts specific ecosystems and bridges the worlds of different species. But places of mixtures and changes can also be places of tensions; the encounter between different worlds can unleash clashes about access and belonging. Many struggles about justice unfold in muddy waters.
The NAEP 2026 Online Symposium welcomes contributions from scholars, practitioners and stakeholders on a broad range of aspects within Asian worldviews, including but not limited to:
- Silt, sand and shells, changing materialities and temporalities
- Philosophies of microbiology and oceanology
- Sea-faring people, slow living, Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and practices
- Justice and radical approaches to transformation
- Mangroves and coastal ecosystems as protectors from climate change
- Sea level rise and the futures of islands
- Ecofeminism insights on water and birth
- Philosophical explorations about natural boundaries, artificial delimitations, holism and animism
- Whale songs and artistic expressions (narratives, artforms, storytelling, memory landscape…) related to mud, islands and ocean in Asian cultures
Early- and mid-career scholars are especially encouraged to send proposals.
We welcome abstracts for individual presentations, panels, online posters and workshop proposals. Please submit your 200-250 words abstract with your name, affiliation and contact information through this form, by August 16th, 2026 (or by email to asiaenviphilo@gmail.com).
Language: The primary language of the conference is English. We aim to be non-native friendly, so we make it a rule that we speak slow and accessible English. If you would like to present in a language other than English, please contact us.
Organisation: Laÿna Droz, Orika Komatsubara, Dipanwita Pal, Concordia Marie Lagasca-Hiloma, Romaric Jannel, Spriha Roy, Felipe Cuervo, May Aye Thiri.
About the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy (NAEP)
The Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy (NAEP) was founded by a group of scholars in the field of environmental philosophy in Asia in 2019 with the goal to support works related to environmental philosophy within Asian traditions of thoughts broadly conceived or related to grassroots perspectives on environmental issues in Asia. Visit our website: www.asiaenviphilo.com
Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy 
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