Author calls for ecocriticism elective

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Rina Garcia Chua urges the University to include ecocriticism, or the interdisciplinary study of literature and environment, among electives in the college curriculum. (Photo by Enrico Miguel S. Silverio/The Varsitarian)

A UST Publishing House (USTPH) author said the University must include ecocriticism, or the interdisciplinary study of literature and environment, among electives in the college curriculum.

“[I]t’s about time… UST has the tools, resources and people to do it.  I feel that students will be interested to read on it,” Rina Garcia Chua said during a book discussion at the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) on Friday.

Chua said ecocriticism tackles not only the environment, but also social issues.

“[E]cocriticism… responds to racism, misogyny, oppression, and a lot of things. They are all interconnected, even the stereotypes that we attach to ourselves,” Chua said.

Chua emphasized that ecocriticism also connects readers to their identity formation.

“[T]he space we live in is a part of our identity. [It is] another way to resist the kind of things that are happening in the government right now: the death of the languages, and the militarization,” she said.

Chua is the editor of “Sustaining the Archipelago: An Anthology of Philippine Ecopoetry,” published in 2018.

The event, titled “Multiplicities of Space: A Conversation about Sustaining the Archipelago,” was organized by the USTPH and part of CCWLS’s 6th Thomasian Undergraduate Writers’ Workshop.

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