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.