Springtime 2025 in Ghent has been marked by a lot of emphasis on setting up the analytical framework of the project, testing the methodological setup of thematic comparative analysis through empirical stress-testing and some valuable help from my colleagues at the department, and preparing some texts on these initial outcomes, hopefully to be published once they go through the necessary stages of internal (and external) review.
I also had the wonderful chance to discuss questions on ecofeminist analysis of literary works together with my colleagues Marco Caracciolo and Chiara Xausa in a panel organized by Shannon Lambert and Leila Wilson as part of their fantastic ongoing working group on ecocriticism. While Marco discussed matters on care and queering for the nonhuman and Chiara did a wonderful job in laying out the grounds and definitions of the discipline through her case studies, I decided to talk about how ecofeminist concerns can emerge also as a way to reveal reactionary motives in works that otherwise would have been overlooked. I used the case of Tenki no ko, or Weathering with you, by Makoto Shinkai, to show how the romantic love relationship that structures this disaster narrative can be seen as reactionary when read through an ecofeminist lens.
A written version of these arguments will – hopefully – be available soon in publication.
Jordi Serrano-Muñoz 