Frontiers of Discourse Studies
FDS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp. 24-40.
Print ISSN: 3106-809X; Online ISSN: 3106-8103
Journal homepage: https://www.fdsjournal.com
DOI：Https://doi.org/10.64058/fds260102elnhr
Ecocriticism as a Lens to the “New Humanities”: Reconfiguring Human, Nature, and Wen
Gong Haomin
Abstract: This essay examines ecocriticism as a central intellectual force in the emergence of the “New Humanities,” arguing that ecological thought offers vital conceptual resources for rethinking the relationships among humanity, nature, and culture under contemporary global conditions. Situating the discussion within both global debates and modern Chinese intellectual history, the essay frames the new humanities as a response to intensified crises—environmental degradation, technological acceleration, geopolitical instability, and posthuman challenges—that have unsettled traditional humanistic assumptions. Through close engagement with key ecocritical debates on science and the humanities, ecology versus environment, nature versus anthropocentrism, and the spatial dialectics of the global, local, and national, the essay shows how ecocriticism restructures the epistemological and ethical foundations of humanistic inquiry. Central to this argument is the Chinese concept of wen, understood as the aesthetic, cultural, and civilizational medium through which humans continuously negotiate their relationship with nature. By foregrounding wen as a bridge between nature and civilization, the essay proposes an ecocriticism that neither abandons the human nor reinstates anthropocentrism but instead situates humanity within dynamic, historically grounded, and materially entangled ecological relations. In doing so, the essay argues that the new humanities are both genuinely “new” and productively rooted in long-standing cultural traditions.
Keywords: Ecocriticism; New Humanities; Human; Nature; wen
Author Biography: Gong Haomin, Associate Professor at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. His research focuses on modern and contemporary literature, comparative literature, and cultural studies. E-mail: haomingong@ln.edu.hk
题目：作为“新文科”的生态批评：重构“人”、“自然”与“文”
摘要：本文将生态批评视为“新文科”兴起中的核心思想力量，探讨生态思想如何为在当代全球语境下重新思考人类、自然与文化之间的关系提供关键的概念资源。文章将讨论置于全球性辩论与中国现代思想史的双重背景之中，将新文科界定为对多重危机加剧的回应——包括环境恶化、技术加速、地缘政治不稳定以及后人类挑战——这些危机已动摇了传统人文主义的基本预设。通过细致考察生态批评在科学与人文学科、生态与环境、自然与人类中心主义之间的关键争论，以及全球、地方与国家空间辩证关系等问题，本文展示了生态批评如何重塑人文研究的认识论与伦理基础。该论证的核心在于中国“文”的概念，将其理解为一种审美、文化与文明的媒介，人类正是通过这一媒介不断与自然协商其关系。通过强调“文”作为自然与文明之间的桥梁，本文提出一种既不放弃人类主体也不回归人类中心主义的生态批评路径，而是将人类置于动态的、具有历史基础且与物质世界相互纠缠的生态关系之中。在此意义上，本文认为新文科既“新”，同时又扎根于文化传统之中。
关键词：生态批评;新文科;人类;自然;文
作者简介：龚浩敏，副教授，香港岭南大学中文系，研究方向：中国现当代文学、比较文学与文化研究。电邮：haomingong@ln.edu.hk
Received: 03 April 2026 / Revised: 01 Jun 2026 / Accepted: 09 Jun 2026 / Published online: 15 Jun 2026 / Print published: 30 Jun 2026
