Call for Papers: 3rd International Conference on Global Plant Humanities (GPH26), 8–10 May 2026

3rd International Conference on Global Plant Humanities (GPH26)

The 3rd International Conference on Global Plant Humanities hosted by Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, 8–10 May 2026, will further the dialogue between the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences towards novel perspectives on the botanical world and human-flora relations.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Date of Conference: 8–10 May 2026 (Friday-Sunday)

Theme: Botanical Life in Art, Science, and Imagination

Mode: Hybrid (Online participation is only available to international delegates residing outside India)

Host: Department of English, North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Venue: North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Partners: Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Australia; Sadhan Chandra Mahavidyalaya (affiliated with the University of Calcutta); Department of English, Cotton University, Guwahati, India; NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract Submission: By email (globalplanthumanities@gmail.com)

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 March 2026 at 5pm IST

A PDF version of the CFP is available here.

The 3rd International Conference on Global Plant Humanities: Botanical Life in Art, Science, and Imagination at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, 8–10 May 2026, will further the conversation between the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences towards new perspectives on the vegetal world and human-botanical relations. Foregrounding comparative, cross-cultural approaches to studying plants, the conference will highlight advances in plant humanities scholarship globally.

We invite paper and panel proposals including, but not limited to, the following topic areas:

Art, literature, performance, music, and the botanical world
Narratives of vegetal agency, sensing, behavior, learning, and cognition
Narratives of vegetal temporality, memory, and communication
Plants ethics, aesthetics, and phenomenology
Botanical conservation, citizen science, arts, and humanities
Social and cultural implications of scientific advances in plant intelligence
Gender, sexuality, identity, and flora
Artistic and design practices engaging plants as partners, collaborators, and agents
Botanical film, media, and popular culture
Phytopoetics, phytocriticism, and phytosemiotics
Plants, posthumanism, and the posthumanities
Plants, postcolonialism, and globalization
Spiritualities and theological traditions involving plants
Plants, nostalgia, solastalgia, mourning, and memorialization
Interactions between flora, fauna, and fungi in narratives
Traditional and folk botanical knowledge systems
Indigenous people’s relations to plants and ecosystems
Botanical pedagogies addressing issues of ‘plant blindness’ and ‘plant awareness disparity’
The emergence of the Plant Humanities in the Global South
South Asian interventions in the field (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).
Southeast Asian interventions in the field (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,