Open research questions in Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature
314 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 5,099 Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
Cultural Scope: The study is limited to 35 proverbs from Yoruba, Hausa, Akan, and related traditions, - Source Verification: Some proverbs may lack precise origins, posing challenges in verifying authenticity or cultural context
future research could incorporate additional traditions to enhance generalizability, - propose future ethnographic research to validate their relevance
Birnam Wood, however, resists a simplistic dichotomy: the activists, whose name is borrowed from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, share their own measure of ambition, revealing that their ideology, unmoored from care, is insufficient to navigate crises.
‘ We’re Still Inside the Fucking paradigm !’: Flagging the Crisis of Attention in Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood · 2026 · DOIWhile resilience theory is being increasingly applied in literary and cultural studies, the narratological significance of the short story cycle as a form structurally homologous to panarchic cycles remains underexplored.
Narrating Panarchy in the Anthropocene: The Adaptive (Short Story) Cycle in Rebecca Campbell’s Arboreality · 2026 · DOIFuture research can explore the application of material ecocriticism to other literary genres. The study suggests further analysis of the role of water in Philippine ecopoetry. Future research can investigate the impact of ecopoetry on environmental awareness and education.
An ethological-hydrographic reading of the ecological literacies of selected Philippine ecopoems in English · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the analysis of Philippine ecopoetry from the perspective of material ecocriticism. The study highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of non-human entities in the biosphere.
An ethological-hydrographic reading of the ecological literacies of selected Philippine ecopoems in English · 2026 · DOIFuture research could explore the application of the 'plastic domestication' convention to other species and genres. It could investigate the implications of plasticity for animal welfare and conservation. Further study could examine the role of plasticity in shaping human-animal relationships in different cultural contexts.
The article identifies a gap in the way we think about species hierarchies and their impact on animal welfare. It highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of animal agency and animal-human relationships.
Future research could further explore the implications of the paper's findings for our understanding of the human condition. It could also examine other works of literature from a postcolonial and posthumanist perspective.
Scale, the Other, and Boundaries: Postcolonial Allegory and Posthuman Reflections in Voltaire’s Micromégas · 2026 · DOIThe empirical evidence for the effectiveness of climate fiction is limited. The genre is not without its critiques, including concerns about genre commodification and anthropocentric humanism.
Climate Fiction and Literary Activism: Imagining the Anthropocene through Narrative Intervention · 2026 · DOIFurther study of the empirical evidence for the effectiveness of climate fiction. Exploration of the potential of climate fiction to promote social and political change.
Climate Fiction and Literary Activism: Imagining the Anthropocene through Narrative Intervention · 2026 · DOIThe role of the natural environment as a medium of 'othering' remains underexamined. The intersection of ecological concerns and Gothic tradition is a relatively new area of study.
There is a lack of research on the potential of fantasy literature to shape environmental attitudes. Ecocriticism has focused primarily on realist environmental writing and nature essays. The intersection between fantasy narratives and environmental consciousness is an understudied area.
The paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the role of ecological consciousness in healing from trauma. The study highlights the need for more emphasis on the intersection of environmental and societal issues in literature.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of environmental responsibility in the novel, - The study highlights the need for further research into the relationship between humans and the natural world
Ecocritical Approach to the Postcolonial Anthropogenic novel Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) · 2026 · DOIFurther study on the role of mythological stories in preserving the environment. Analysis of other literary works that depict the impact of human activities on the environment.
DEPRECIATION OF MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES RESULTED IN DESTRUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY OF AMITAV GHOSH’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN – A FABLE FOR OUR TIMES · 2026 · DOIThe gap between the preservation of mythological stories and environmental degradation. The lack of attention to mythological stories in modern times.
DEPRECIATION OF MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES RESULTED IN DESTRUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT: A STUDY OF AMITAV GHOSH’S THE LIVING MOUNTAIN – A FABLE FOR OUR TIMES · 2026 · DOIThe paper suggests that future research could further examine the role of arts-led co-creation in promoting sustainability and navigating contested coastal contexts.
The paper identifies a gap in understanding how artistic engagement actually operates in practice, rather than just analyzing creative outputs. The study notes that prior work has focused on analyzing creative outputs, but the generative process of artistic engagement remains under-examined.
The study is limited to a specific research site, the SLF flat field research site. The measurements are taken over a limited period, from 1 April 2007 to 25 April 2007. The study does not provide a comprehensive analysis of the uncertainty associated with the modeled results.
The study identifies a research gap in the understanding of snow ablation processes, particularly in relation to the spatial variability of daily ablation rates. The research gap is also identified in the need to investigate the influence of local advection of sensible heat on snow ablation.
Future research should prioritize interdisciplinary collaboration. The concept of the Anthropocene should be further examined. More nuanced approaches to understanding complex phenomena are necessary.
The gap between the humanities and life sciences is a significant challenge. The lack of precise terminology and considered metaphorical use is a limitation. The need for a more nuanced approach to interdisciplinary research is a key gap.
The nature-culture dichotomy paradigm is a challenge to understanding the relationship between human society and nature. The war-like zero-sum game tradition is another challenge. The lack of attention to the environment in the 'war and society' literature is also a challenge.
Future research should focus on the nexus of war, environment, and society. It should also explore the implications of the nature-culture dichotomy paradigm.
Most-cited papers in Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature
- Defining the Anthropocene · Nature · 2015 · 2,485 citations
- The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship · AMBIO · 2011 · 1,174 citations
- The Capitalocene, Part I: on the nature and origins of our ecological crisis · The Journal of Peasant Studies · 2017 · 1,044 citations
- Materialist returns: practising cultural geography in and for a more-than-human world · Cultural Geographies · 2006 · 950 citations
- World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice · BioScience · 2017 · 938 citations
- Neoliberalising Nature: The Logics of Deregulation and Reregulation · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · 2007 · 848 citations
- After Nature · Current Anthropology · 1999 · 698 citations
- Decolonizing posthumanist geographies · Cultural Geographies · 2013 · 616 citations
- The Force of Things · Political Theory · 2004 · 586 citations
- A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative · Journal of American History · 1992 · 583 citations
Most recent work
- Hope or fear? Children’s responses to climate change fiction · Environmental Education Research · 2026
- A Feminist Political Ecology on Women’s Environmental Activism from Latin America/Abya Yala · Latin American Perspectives · 2026
- Verify if you are human: what is the ‘human’ in ‘human migration’? · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · 2026
- Caring pedagogy and climate literacy: teaching English through Han Kang’s fiction in Indonesian higher education · Pedagogy Culture and Society · 2026
- The Aesthetics of the Unreachable, Imagination, and Climate Change · The Monist · 2026
- Talking a Lot, Yet Little to Say: Economics Imperialism in the Economics of Climate Change · Review of Radical Political Economics · 2026
- Ecophenomenology as a link between the fields of environmental education and health education · Qualitative Research Journal · 2026
- Scalar Anglosphere: Wasteocene Waters and Vulnerable Bodies in Chioma Okereke’s Water Baby · Critique Studies in Contemporary Fiction · 2026
- Environmental identity of Global South women climate leaders: an autoethnographic exploration · Environmental Sociology · 2026
- Canadian Forest Imaginaries: The Roots of Poetism · Australian Journal of Environmental Education · 2026
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