The Greater Caribbean region stands at the forefront of global environmental challenges encompassing rising sea levels, the proliferation of sargassum blooms, the intensification of hurricanes, as well as the pollution of seas and soils. These environmental issues call for new perspectives and innovative approaches, at the intersection of arts and sciences, with the vocation to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this perspective, this special issue of Caribbean Studies wishes to welcome contributions exploring the diversity of artistic practices that describe, reflect and reimagine the environmental crises crossing the Caribbean archipelago and its continental margins. The challenge is to generate a plurality of approaches, whether theoretical or empirical.

On the theoretical level, contributors may draw from theoretical frameworks provided by environmental humanities (Heise, 2008; Nixon, 2011), ecocriticism (Glotfelty & Fromm, 1996), Anglophone ecological thought (DeLoughrey & Handley, 2011; Huggan & Tiffin, 2010, DeLoughrey, 2019; Sheller, 2020; Walcott, 2021) as well as French contributions to physical, postcolonial and decolonial ecology (Saffache, 2003; Saffache et al., 2003; Descola, 2005; Confiant, 2007; Viveiros de Castro, 2009; Chamoiseau, 2013; Latour, 2017; Ferdinand, 2019), or Hispanic environmental criticism (Benítez-Rojo, 1996; Escobar, 2008; Alimonda, 2011; Machado Aráoz, 2013; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018, Svampa, 2019; García-Caro, 2020,). We invite researchers to submit articles that examine the dynamic intersections between creative expression and environmental consciousness.

The concepts of "slow violence" (Nixon, 2011), "toxic discourse" (Pellow, 2017), "blue humanities" (DeLoughrey, 2019; Mentz, 2009), "political ecology" (Latour, 2004), and "colonialidad de la naturaleza" (Lander, 2000; Alimonda, 2011) find their place and relevance here, as well as those that develop new vocabularies to understand and address ecological challenges through the prism of visual, sonic and living arts (painting, sculpture, music, theater and cinema, performance art, etc). Studies that demonstrate how the convergence of humanities, sciences, technology and artistic practice generates new approaches, creating connections between environmental awareness and action, are therefore welcome. These latter contribute, indeed, to the emergence of "new forms of collaboration between science and society having an important impact on research and sustainability" insofar as "the arts constitute tools for modeling and responding to environmental issues expressible in terms of sustainability, pollution, environmental or climate change, and biodiversity loss" (Carrasco, Pinto & Reis, 2023).

The community of researchers, in the broad sense of the term (lecturers, scientists, artist-researchers, field practitioners, doctoral students, scholars, etc.) is thus invited to examine the dynamic intersections between creative expression and environmental consciousness. Their work will shed light on how artists, communities and cultural institutions interact with environmental issues. These contribute, indeed, to the emergence of "new forms of collaboration between science and society having an important impact on research" insofar as "the arts constitute tools for modeling and responding to environmental issues expressible in terms of sustainability, pollution, environmental or climate change, and biodiversity loss" (Carrasco, Pinto & Reis, 2023).

This issue also opens up to a diversity of methodological approaches. One could, for example, in connection with practice-based research and artist reflections, focus on ethnographic studies of artist communities and environmental movements. Participatory action research involving artists, researchers and local communities is in the same vein and is also the subject of leading scientific meetings, such as the international symposium 'Homo Sargassum' recently organized by Florida State University in partnership with MoFA and the Tout-Monde Art Foundation. This type of research is also found transposed to the performance art scene, sometimes addressing the political dimension of the theme (Mélyon-Reinette, 2024). Also of interest are transnational studies centered on the Greater Caribbean (including the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent coastal regions), or those that adopt comparative perspectives with other island regions, coastal communities, or environmental art movements across the Americas. Studies that examine networks, exchanges and collaborations across these regions are particularly welcome, as are proposals based on visual and cultural analysis of environmental artworks.

Types of contributions

• Research articles (6,000-8,000 words): academic work with substantial theoretical and/or empirical components

• Case studies (4,000-5,000 words): detailed examinations of specific projects, initiatives or collaborations

• Artist portraits (3,000-4,000 words): in-depth profiles of environmental artists, including interviews and visual documentation, analysis or film criticism

• Visual essays (2,000-3,000 words + images): image-centered narratives with substantial analytical commentary

• Reviews and reflections (1,500-2,500 words): critical evaluations of recent exhibitions, publications or events

Schedule

• Deadline for complete articles: December 30, 2025

• Publication date : June 30, 2026

Instructions for contributors

• Articles must be submitted in French, English or Spanish

• Include 5-7 keywords

• Provide abstracts in French and English (200 words each)

• Include high-resolution images with appropriate permissions and captions

• Follow Caribbean Studies style guidelines (instructions for authors): https://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/812

Submission process

Papers must be sent to the following addresses: frederic.lefrancois@univ-antilles.fr and thierry.nicolas@univ-guyane.fr. Proposals and articles will be subject to double-blind peer review.

Editorial coordination

Guest editors: Frédéric Lefrançois & Thierry Nicolas

References

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Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. Paris: Gallimard, 2013.

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