Call for paper

Call for papers

The Changing Nature: New Perspectives from Anthropology and Linguistics on the Relationship Between Human Societies and Their Ecosystem

Symposium for the 50th anniversary of LACITO

Wednesday, April 22 – Friday, April 24 2026,
Roscoff Oceanographic Station (Roscoff, Brittany).

Anthropogenic ecosystem changes are affecting many societies, which are experiencing biodiversity loss as well as the arrival and proliferation of unfamiliar life forms. The adaptation of human activities to this “new nature” (Tsing et al., 2024) is a rich field of study for both humanities and life sciences. However, little research has examined this issue from the perspective of language. Organised to mark the LACITO’s fiftieth anniversary, this conference seeks to explore ecological upheavals through that linguistic lens. On the one hand, insofar as these ecological transformations lead to the disappearance of animal and plant species, it is important to assess the impact of these losses on human knowledge of ecosystems (Kik et al., 2021). This includes the lexicon and knowledge of biodiversity, practical know-how and their transmission, and representations and discourses related to fauna and flora. On the other hand, the introduction of new species into local communities, whether intentional or accidental, involves the entry or creation of new terms in local languages. It also brings about new uses, forms of knowledge and representations that, in turn, enrich the imagination.

Although changes in natural environments are now the subject of intense scrutiny, it should be noted that these concerns are not new to our disciplines. As early as the 19th century, scholars were preoccupied with the preservation of what was vanishing. For example, ethnologist Eugène Rolland (1967a, 1967b) documented local fauna and flora in France, including the diversity of their names, uses, knowledge and representations. Today, however, in addition to issues of species distribution, changes in ecosystems induced by human activities are giving rise to new and unexpected trajectories for living organisms. This includes proliferation, adaptation, mutation, interspecific and multispecific phenomena etc., all of which must now be accounted for. Ecological upheavals have social and cultural implications, leading to migration (Cometti, 2015; Stoll and Simenel, 2024), resistance (Martin, 2016), adaptation (Tsing, 2015), etc. How is this reflected in languages, ways of speaking, practices and the construction and transmission of knowledge within populations?

There are several different types of ecosystem change, depending on their cause and nature. In addition to climate change, other factors, including contacts induced by colonisation, the introduction of new crops, and travel since the beginning of globalisation, have led to the movement and even invasion of multiple species: plants, animals, bacteria, viruses, etc. Many so-called invasive species travel unknowingly in travellers’ luggage or accompany goods in containers and spread uncontrollably, as is the case with numerous insect species. But often, the migration of new species is deliberate, without necessarily being aware of its potential consequences. Examples include the introduction of plants such as tomatoes, mangoes, and oil palms, to new regions in efforts to adapt them to different climates. The spread of an exogenous species may be decided by an authority, as was the case when fish were introduced by the Australian colonial authority into the rivers of Papua New Guinea to promote fishing. In other cases, such diffusion follows a long history of gradual adoption, as in the case of the potato in Europe. The introduction of foreign elements into an ecosystem can even serve as a “weapon”, as exemplified by the distribution of smallpox-infected blankets given to Native Americans. Whether intentional or accidental, all these changes can have profound consequences for biodiversity. This can be illustrated by the case of the cane toad, introduced to Australia by farmers to control beetles, but which, due to its poisonous skin, has decimated lizard populations of cultural importance. (Tsing et al., 2020).

We encourage submissions that engage with the following issues, or with related questions emerging from the intersection of language, ecology and society:

- In the context of the disappearance of species and ecosystems, testimonies collected over decades of fieldwork by anthropologists and linguists could become the only remaining evidence of extinct species. How can we promote and facilitate access to these testimonies in archives? In ongoing fieldwork—where we may be the last witnesses to endangered realities— how can we better document and preserve what we observe, whether fauna, flora or associated knowledge and representations? What new methods of inquiry and observation are emerging to study the links between communities and their environments? How can we more effectively record the terminology and oral repertoires—stories, proverbs, songs (Brown & Evans 2017) —that convey ecological knowledge?

- From a linguistic point of view, how can we account for the phenomena of lexical attrition resulting from the disappearance of biodiversity? Conversely, how do different societies perceive the need to name newly emerging species, new modes of existence, and proliferation of living organisms? Do ecological transformations lead to lexical innovations through borrowing, analogy, semantic extension or, conversely, to lexical attrition and loss?

- From the perspective of practices of transmission, in a context where local knowledge related to flora and fauna is endangered by its disappearance or mutation, how can we envisage its transmission? How is such knowledge transmitted and (re)invented across generations or among peers?

- From an anthropological perspective, what kinds of relationships between humans and other living beings are being challenged by these changes? How are these relationships represented in discourse, personal narratives, ways of speaking about them, and the imagination, including fiction?

- From the perspective of our respective disciplines, how can we reflect on both the negative impacts of these upheavals (zoonoses, fungi, proliferating algae, viruses, etc.) and their potential benefits, such as new crops? How do we put such phenomena in words? Are they framed as losses of diversity, fears of invasion, or as sources of hope and abundance?

- What forms can interdisciplinary collaboration take? While expertise in natural sciences and ecosystems is invaluable to linguists and anthropologists, conversely, “for at least a century, Earth sciences have likewise been urged to incorporate social components into the systems they study” (Collectif Cynorhodon, 2020: XII). Traditional ecological knowledge is crucial—not only for the description of species and ecosystems, but also for research in fields such as pharmacology.

- More generally, we may ask how the link between transformations of our relationship with the ecosystem and changes in our lifestyles is being reshaped: new forms of mobility and digital communications are leading to the relocation of certain linguistic communities to urban environments and distancing them from linguistic and cultural practices linked to traditional ecosystems.

LACITO, founded by Jacqueline M. C. Thomas under the scientific patronage of André-Georges Haudricourt, has a long tradition of interdisciplinarity. Within this laboratory, more specifically, anthropology and linguistics have often interacted with life sciences, as evidenced by the book published in tribute to its first director (Motte-Florac and Guarisma 2004). The Encyclopaedia Aka, whose sixteenth and final volume appeared in 2018 (Thomas et al., 1981-2018), is emblematic of this collaborative ambition. It illustrates how linguistic research cannot be isolated from the lifestyles and concerns of its speakers. On the occasion of this fiftieth anniversary, this interdisciplinary approach will be used to address current questions concerning the description of knowledge and practices related to biodiversity, in the context of the ecosystem changes experienced by human societies.

We hope to create a space for exchange and debate to help our disciplines address new issues, scientific questions and challenges posed by the rapid transformation of our ecosystems.

Cited texts

Albrecht G., 2019. Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World, Cornell University Press.

Beau R. et Larrère C. (dir.), 2018. Penser l’Anthropocène, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.

Brown R. & Evans N. (2017) “Songs that keep ancestral languages alive: A Marrku songset from western Arnhem Land”, Recirculating Songs: Revitalising the Singing Practices of Indigenous Australia, edited by J Wafer and M Turpin, 1st ed., Asia Pacific Linguistics, 287-300.

Brunois-Pasina F., 2007. Le Jardin du Casoar, La forêt des Kasua. Savoir-être et savoir-faire écologiques, Paris, Éditions CNRS/MSH, Collection Chemin de l’ethnologie.

Cámara-Leret, R., & Bascompte, J., 2021. “Language extinction triggers the loss of unique medicinal knowledge”.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(24), e2103683118.

Collectif Cynorhodon, 2020. Dictionnaire critique de l’anthropocène, CNRS édition, Paris.

Cometti G., 2015. Lorsque le brouillard a cessé de nous écouter : changement climatique et migrations chez les Q’eros des Andes péruviennes. Berne: Peter Lang, XIII-244 p.

Cometti G., 2020. “A Cosmopolitical Ethnography of a Changing Climate among the Q’ero of the Peruvian Andes”.Anthropos, 115(1). 37-52.

Crate S. A. and Nuttall M. (eds), 2016. Anthropology and Climate Change, Routledge (2nd Edition).

Études rurales, 2010. Proliférantes natures, n°185. https://journals.openedition.org/etudesrurales/9014

Frye, H. & Si A., 2023. “Variation in the bird-name lexicon in Qaqet (East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea)”. Asia Pacific Language Variation 9(2). 240-266.

Grenand F., 2008. “Nommer son univers : pourquoi ? comment ? : exemples parmi des sociétés amazoniennes”. In : Prat D., Raynal-Roques A. et Roguenant A. (dir.). Peut-on classer le vivant ? : Linné et la systématique aujourd’hui, Paris, Belin : 119-130.

Kik, A., Adamec, M., Aikhenvald, A.Y., Bajzekova, J., Baro, N., Bowern, C., Colwell, R.K., Drozd, P., Duda, P., Ibalim, S. and Jorge, L.R., 2021. “Language and ethnobiological skills decline precipitously in Papua New Guinea, the world’s most linguistically diverse nation”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22), e2100096118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2100096118.

Kumar, A., Kumar, S., Komal, Ramchiary, N., & Singh, P. (2021). “Role of Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge and Indigenous Communities in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals”. Sustainability, 13(6), 3062.

Maffi, L., 2005. “Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity”. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34, 599–617.

Martin N., 2016, Les Âmes sauvages : face à l’Occident, la résistance d’un peuple d’Alaska, Paris, La Découverte.

Martin N., 2022, À l’est des rêves. Réponses even aux crises systémiques, Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Les empêcheurs de penser en rond ».

Minelli A., Ortalli G. & Sanga G. (eds), 2005. Animal Names, Venezia, Instituto Veneto di Scienze, Letter ed Arti.

Motte-Florac E. et Guarisma G. (dir.), 2004. Du Terrain au cognitif. Linguistique, Ethnolinguistique, Ethnosciences. À Jacqueline M. C. Thomas, Paris, Peeters/ SELAF.

Ortalli G. & Sanga G. (eds), 2003. Nature Knowledge. Ethnoscience, Cognition and Utility, Oxford, Bergham Books.

Rolland E., 1967a. Faune populaire de la France, Paris, Maisonneuve, 13 tomes (1877-1915) ; rééd. G.-P. Maisonneuve et Larose, 13 t. en 7 vol.

Rolland E., 1967b. Flore populaire, ou Histoire naturelle des plantes dans leurs rapports avec la linguistique et le folklore (avec Henri Gaidoz), 11 tomes (1896-1914). Reprint G.-P. Maisonneuve-Larose.

Sillitoe Paul (ed.), 2021. The Anthroposcene of Weather and Climate. Ethnographic contributions to the climate change debate, Oxford, Berghahn Books and The Royal Anthropology Institute.

Stoll É. et Simenel R., 2024. La Grande Migration des plantes et des humains, Delachaux & Niestlé.

Stoll É. (dir.), 2025. “Dossier - Migrations végétales : faire monde autrement”, Revue d’ethnoécologie n°27. https://journals.openedition.org/ethnoecologie/11199

Thomas J. M. C., Bahuchet S., Epelboin A., Fürniss S. (dir.), 1981-2028, Encyclopédie des Pygmées Aka (16 volumes), Louvain, Peeters.

Trisos, C.H., Auerbach, J. & Katti, 2021. M. “Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology”. Nat Ecol Evol 5: 1205–1212. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w

Tsing A. L., 2015. The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, Princeton University Press.

Tsing A. L. et al., 2020. Feral Atlas. The More-Than-Human Anthropocene. Stanford University Press.

Tsing A. L. et al., 2024. Field Guide to the Patchy Anthropocene. The New Nature, Stanford University Press.

Submission

Presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Abstracts (in English or in French) must be no more than one A4 page in length, not including material in back matter (examples, figures) or the bibliography. Submissions must be anonymous and in PDF format. In order to submit an abstract, please go to https://lacito50.sciencesconf.org/ and create an account under “Login”. Once you have logged in, go to “My Space”, then to “My Submissions”, and follow the instructions.

Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee.

Schedule

- Abstract submission deadline: 15 November 2025

- Notification of acceptance: 15 December 2025

- Registration deadline: 15 January 2026

- Conference: 22-24 April 2026

Organizing committee (chairs: Cécile Leguy et Sylvain Loiseau)

San San Hnin Tun (Associate Professor, INALCO-LACITO)

Axelle Houbani (PhD Student, USN-LACITO)

Mezane Konuk (Lecturer, Grenoble Alpes University -LACITO)

Yann Le Moullec (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, INALCO-LACITO)

Cécile Leguy (Professor, USN-LACITO)

Sylvain Loiseau (Associate Professor, Paris 13-LACITO)

Julie Marsault (Associate Professor, USN-LACITO)

David Low (PhD Student, USN-LACITO)

Shu Takeda (PhD Student, USN-LACITO)

Scientific committee 

Serge Bahuchet (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, MNHN-Eco-anthropologie)

Isabelle Bril (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, CNRS-LACITO)

Guillaume Jacques (Senior Research Fellow, CNRS-CRLAO et DE EPHE)

Cécile Leguy (Professor, USN-LACITO)

Sylvain Loiseau (Associate Professor, Paris 13-LACITO)

Émilie Mariat-Roy (Associate Professor, University of Tours-CITERES) 

Alexis Michaud (Senior Research Fellow, CNRS-LACITO)

Samia Naïm (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, LACITO)

Aung Si (Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Cologne)

Émilie Stoll (Research Fellow, CNRS-PALOC)

Nicolas Tournadre (Professor Emeritus, Aix-Marseille University-IUF-LACITO)

Sonja Riesberg (Research Fellow, CNRS-LACITO)

Martine Vanhove (Emeritus Senior Research Fellow, CNRS-LLACAN)

Keynote speakers :

- Aung Si, linguist (University of Cologne, Department for Linguistics, Germany)

- Émilie Stoll, anthropologist (CNRS – Patrimoines Locaux, Environnement et Globalisation, France)

- Martine Vanhove, linguist (CNRS – Langages, Langues et Cultures d’Afrique, France)