Quo Vadis, Comparative Environmental Humanities?

Abstract

<p> <span>This article provides an example of the environmental humanities in action through a comparative analysis of texts describing mountains in medieval Europe and China. This case study of mountains shows how mountains have been variously associated with the sacred, fear and loathing, spiritual communion with the divine, an all-too-human mastery, or celestial transcendence. What are we to make of these conflicting sentiments across time and place? While there was never a single “Chinese” or “European” understanding of mountains, different cultures and eras had markedly divergent assumptions about them. Carving out space for the environmental humanities means recognizing that the information we seek to center was embedded into broader nexuses of knowledge, much of which may be unfamiliar to audiences today. In this article, we suggest ways environments can be appropriately addressed—and contextualized—in humanities scholarship.</span> <br></p>