Dr. Simon C. Estok
Title
Perceiving through the Blue Humanities: Eco-dimensionalism as a Reading and Methodological Practice
Abstract
If, as Princeton University’s Anne McClintock has claimed, “the problem of the Anthropocene is a problem of perception,” then a possible solution to this problem could be dissolved in the mix that has come to be known as the Blue Humanities. Emerging from the Environmental Humanities, this field has developed into an interpretive force that reshapes our understanding of and relationships with global waters.
Focusing on artistic representations of water—an element deeply intimate and essential to the human experience—the Blue Humanities invites methodological practices that expand possibilities for perceiving and understanding our hydrological experiences. Water challenges expectations, reshapes perception, and encourages us to rethink the assumptions through which we understand our world.
My talk explores these possibilities through the concept of eco-dimensionalism, examining immersive experiences in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide and theoretical discussions by Macarena Gómez-Barris on the work of Indigenous Colombian filmmaker Carolina Caycedo. The discussion then moves into colder climates to reflect on ice and the mourning of its disappearance before shifting toward parched environments shaped by heat waves, deserts, and water scarcity.
Water frequently touches the divine and occupies a central place in many religious narratives. Indeed, one of the earliest extinction stories shared by major religions involves a catastrophic flood. The emotional intensity of water’s presence throughout history animates literature and art, and eco-dimensionalism intensifies these experiences so that they become intimate, sensuous, liberating, dangerous, and deeply relevant.
Keywords: Blue Humanities, eco-dimensionalism, perception, practice
Bio
Dr. Simon C. Estok is Professor of Literature and Senior Fellow at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, the country’s oldest university (established 1398). He is an editor of Neohelicon and an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Art.
Estok is widely known for his interdisciplinary theory of ecophobia, which has significantly influenced ecocritical studies and helped launch the field of ecogothic studies. His major works include Ecocriticism and Shakespeare: Reading Ecophobia (2011), East Asian Ecocriticisms (2013), and The Ecophobia Hypothesis (2018). His latest book, Slime: An Elemental Imaginary, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2024.
He has published more than one hundred articles and numerous book chapters. His forthcoming book, The Agony of Water in an Age of Climate Change, will appear as the inaugural volume in the Bloomsbury Blue Humanities series in October 2026.