Congist'26: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Crisis

Session

Session 3.7 (Day 1)

D1-S3-K1

13 May 2026, 17:10

Kurul Odası (Istanbul University Faculty of Letters)

Conveners

Session 3.7 (Day 1): Edebiyat Bilimi / Literary Studies

• Ksenia Kuzminykh (Georg-August-University)

Crisis, Resilience, and Thrutopian Vision: Environmental and Social Adaptation in Butler’s Parables and Okorafor’s Lagoon (D1-S3-K1)

Anne Schmalstig (Hamad bin Khalifa University)

13/05/2026, 17:10

Oral Presentation

This paper examines how Octavia E. Butler’s Parable novels and Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon represent crisis as a catalyst for adaptation, resilience, and ethical innovation. Both texts are set in near-future societies disrupted by climate change, political instability, and entrenched social inequalities. Rather than treating environmental and social breakdown as inevitable apocalypse, Butler...

Le Guin’s “She Unnames Them” as a Posthumanist Plea in a Time of Crisis (D1-S3-K1)

Serhat Uyurkulak (Fenerbahçe University)

13/05/2026, 17:30

Oral Presentation

This paper proposes to examine Ursula K. Le Guin’s flash fiction She Unnames Them (1985) as a literary intervention in the intertwined crises of language, ecology, and gender. Adopting a posthumanist and ecofeminist perspective, the analysis will focus on how Le Guin dramatizes Eve's act of “unnaming” animals and herself, thereby systematically undoing the biblical tradition of hierarchical...

The Lit Candle, The Cast Shadow: Identity Crisis and Transformation in A Wizard of Earthsea (D1-S3-K1)

Elifnaz Yüksel (Middle East Technical University)

13/05/2026, 17:50

Oral Presentation

Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea explores what happens when ambition and pride drive a young wizard beyond his limits, unleashing a shadow that embodies his darkest impulses. This shadow is not just an enemy to be defeated but a reflection of Ged himself, showing how unchecked desire for power can fracture identity and turn selfhood into a site of crisis. The novel therefore presents...