A Special Issue of Literary Oracle

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Call for Papers

Special Issue Theme

Blue Humanities in the Age of Climate Crisis: Oceans, Coasts, and Aquatic Futures

About the Special Issue

The accelerating climate crisis has brought the world’s oceans, seas, rivers, wetlands, and coastal regions to the forefront of global environmental concerns. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification, coastal erosion, marine pollution, biodiversity loss, overexploitation of aquatic resources, and the displacement of coastal communities have transformed water into one of the most contested and critical spaces of the twenty-first century. These challenges call for interdisciplinary approaches that extend beyond scientific and policy responses to examine the cultural, historical, ethical, and imaginative dimensions of aquatic environments.

The Blue Humanities has emerged as a vibrant interdisciplinary field that rethinks human relationships with oceans, rivers, estuaries, lakes, and other water bodies by bringing together perspectives from literature, history, philosophy, cultural studies, anthropology, geography, media studies, and the arts. Moving beyond terrestrial frameworks, Blue Humanities foregrounds water as a dynamic agent that shapes histories, identities, livelihoods, mobility, memory, and ecological futures. It also interrogates the intersections of environmental justice, maritime cultures, the blue economy, ocean governance, and the more-than-human worlds inhabiting aquatic ecosystems.

This special issue, “Blue Humanities in the Age of Climate Crisis: Oceans, Coasts, and Aquatic Futures,” invites scholars to explore how literary, cultural, historical, and artistic representations engage with the ecological, social, and political dimensions of aquatic environments. We particularly encourage contributions that examine the experiences of coastal and island communities, Indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge, fisheries, maritime heritage, and the uneven impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations. The issue also welcomes studies that foreground the Global South, especially the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal regions, while remaining open to transnational and comparative perspectives.

By bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship, this special issue seeks to advance critical conversations on oceanic and aquatic humanities, environmental justice, climate resilience, and sustainable blue futures, while reimagining humanity’s relationship with the world’s waters in an era of unprecedented ecological change.

Suggested Topics

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Blue Humanities and oceanic studies
  • Hydrocriticism and aquatic ecologies
  • Oceans, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and coastal landscapes in literature and culture
  • Climate change, sea-level rise, and coastal vulnerability
  • The Anthropocene, oceans, and planetary futures
  • Marine biodiversity and more-than-human worlds
  • Blue justice, environmental justice, and coastal communities
  • Fisheries, maritime livelihoods, and traditional ecological knowledge
  • Indigenous, coastal, and island cultures
  • The Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and transoceanic studies
  • Water, memory, migration, and displacement
  • Maritime histories, colonialism, and postcolonial oceanic studies
  • Oceanic mobilities, migration, and diaspora
  • Blue economy, sustainability, and resource governance
  • Marine pollution, plastics, toxic waters, and environmental degradation
  • Environmental ethics and aquatic sustainability
  • Ecofeminism, gender, and water
  • Disaster narratives, cyclones, floods, and coastal resilience
  • Ports, harbours, and maritime urbanism
  • Water in mythology, religion, folklore, and cultural traditions
  • Blue humanities and food cultures
  • Marine conservation, restoration, and environmental activism
  • Oceanic cinema, visual culture, photography, and digital media
  • Blue pedagogy and public humanities
  • Artificial Intelligence, digital technologies, and aquatic environmental monitoring
  • Posthumanism, new materialism, and the Blue Humanities
  • Comparative perspectives on global oceans and aquatic environments

Submission Guidelines

  • Manuscripts should be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.
  • Articles should normally be 4,000–6,000 words, including Works Cited.
  • All submissions must follow the MLA Handbook (9th edition).
  • Authors should include an abstract of 200–300 words and 5–7 keywords.
  • All manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer-review process.

Important Date

Full Paper Submission: 31 October 2026

Please submit your manuscript in MS Word (.doc/.docx) format via email: editor.litoracle@gmail.com