Appel à publication : « Asian Ceramics and the Environmental Humanities »

Appel à publication : « Asian Ceramics and the Environmental Humanities »

Call for Book Chapters for Edited Volume (Forthcoming with Brill)

Deadline for Abstracts: April 8, 2025

The longstanding tradition of ceramic production in Asia is deeply rooted in the region’s abundant natural resources, including kaolin, water, and wood. The techniques of ceramic production and circulation—such as kiln construction, the grinding and fermenting of kaolin stones, the application of mineral glazes, and firing with timber, gas, or electricity, as well as the transportation of goods by land and sea—result from interactions between human and non-human agents. While scholars have conducted extensive research on Asian ceramics, particularly porcelain, from perspectives including archaeology, art history, material culture, and maritime history, there has been relatively little emphasis on the development of Asian ceramics through the lens of the environmental humanities. This edited volume addresses this gap by examining the influence of environmental histories on the evolution of Asian ceramics.

The volume investigates the ‘more-than-human’ dimensions within the context of Asian ceramics. Rather than focusing solely on the economic, cultural, or social histories of ceramics, this volume will take an ecocritical approach to issues at the heart of the creation and transformation of landscapes, the use of physical environments, the construction of spaces and places, and the histories of forestry, energy, mining, and waterways, among others. Additionally, we will delve into the roles of human-animal and human-plant relationships in the development of Asian ceramics. We will examine the dynamic interactions between humans and non-humans, the organic and inorganic, and tangible and intangible elements (living beings, objects, and artifacts) through sensory approaches, customs, rituals, decorations, and representations. The volume will contribute to an ongoing discourse about climate change and sustainability by analyzing topics such as natural disasters, pollution, waste, recycling, and reuse, particularly in the context of ceramic production, circulation, and consumption.

We invite contributors to submit chapters on, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Ceramics and landscape (topography, mountains, soil, etc.)

2. The kaolin formula and the typology of colors

3. Ceramics and energy (fire, firing techniques, etc.)

4. Ceramics and the blue humanities (water, marine histories, etc.)

5. Ceramics, waste, and recycling

6. Ceramics, natural disasters, and pollution

7. Ceramics and animals, plants, and microworlds

8. Ceramics, customs, and rituals

9. Ceramics and sensory archaeology (smell, taste, sound, and touch)

10. Ceramics, cyborgs, and post-humanism

Submission

Please send an abstract of 300 words (in English) along with a working title, your affiliation, and a short biography to the editors: · Monique CRICK (moniquecrick@gmail.com) · CHEN Yarong (yarong.chen89@gmail.com) · ZHENG Yongsong (zheng.yongsong@yahoo.com)

Key Dates:

· Abstract submission deadline: 8 April 2025 – notification of acceptance by April 30

· Full chapter submission deadline (provisionally accepted articles will be evaluated through a double-blind peer review process): 10 October 2025

· Feedback to authors: December 2025

We welcome contributions addressing Asian ceramics from any period. We welcome contributions in English by one or more authors. Previously published works in other languages (Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, etc.) may be considered if the contributors have copyright permission; please notify the editors if the proposed chapters have been previously published.

The book will be published by Brill in print and online. We are also engaging with potential foundations to secure funding for open-access publication. Each chapter should be no longer than 9,000 words, including references and bibliography. Specific citation styles will be provided later. Contributors are responsible for securing copyright permissions for all images and maps.

Editors’ Biographies

Monique CRICK

A historian of Asian art specializing in ancient China, Monique Crick served as director of the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva, from 2003 to 2017. She is the founding president of the French Society for the Study of Oriental Ceramics (SFECO) and has also participated in several underwater archaeological excavations in Southeast Asia. A curator of numerous exhibitions, she is also the author of several scholarly articles and exhibition catalogues. Notable publications include “Céladon: Grès des musées de la province du Zhejiang, Chine” (2005), “Céramiques chinoises d’exportation pour l’Asie du Sud-Est – Collection de l’Ambassadeur et Madame Charles Müller” (2010), “Chine impériale: Splendeurs de la dynastie Qing” (2014), and “Le Bleu des Mers” (2017).

CHEN Yarong

Dr. CHEN Yarong has a BA degree in museology, a MA in art history from Peking University, and a PhD from Aalborg University. She has conducted multi-site archival research in Paris (2016, 2024), Beijing (2017, 2024), Nanjing (2017), Chongqing (2017), Taipei (2018), Cambridge (2019), and Shanghai (2024). She defended her Ph.D. dissertation on the historical relations between UNESCO and China in August 2020. She is a postdoc researcher at the School of International Organizations, Beijing Foreign Studies University; a part-time research fellow at UNESCO Research Center, Zhejiang University; and a part-time research fellow at the Institute of Global and Area Studies, Capital Normal University. She is publishing on UNESCO-China relations, international history, visual politics, and heritage diplomacy.

ZHENG Yongsong

Dr. ZHENG Yongsong holds a PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Sorbonne University and is an associate lecturer at the École du Louvre. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Art History from the School of Humanities at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA, Beijing) before pursuing his master’s and doctoral studies at Sorbonne University. From 2019 to 2023, he was a junior researcher at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) in France. His research focuses on ancient Chinese ceramics, the history of material culture, and the global collection history of Asian art. He is the editor of the bilingual book “Blanc d’étoiles. Porcelaines de Dehua des Ming aux Qing” (Lienart, 2022), which was awarded the inaugural Bernard Palissy Prize. He also curated the exhibition “Dehua porcelain/Blanc de Chine: Tradition and Modernity” at Galerie 1618 in Paris (December 13, 2019 – January 12, 2020).