50 Shades of Humanities: Environmental, Digital, Medical, and Posthuman Voices

This book, penned by 52 individuals from different generations and diverse academic and artistic backgrounds, brings together the foundational concepts of the rapidly spreading fields of environmental, digital, medical, and posthuman humanities, which are gaining momentum not only globally but also in Turkey. Through a series of original articles, The 50 Shades of Humanities serves as a handbook introducing key terms and concepts from these four domains and their intersections in 50 chapters. It provides a diverse range of perspectives on contemporary intellectual trends and the blending of sciences with art and literature.

While delving into the intertwined historical and intellectual developments of philosophical, literary, biological, medical, ecological, ethical, and technological disciplines, the book also incorporates QR codes to offer visual, auditory, and performative artistic reflections of these processes. In line with the essence of the terms, concepts, and theories discussed, this work presents these various elements cohesively in a comprehensive manner. It has the potential to serve as a valuable reference for anyone interested in keeping up with current academic research in these fields, both globally and within Turkey.

In the era of the Anthropocene, where we confront climate, ecological, cultural, economic, social, and political challenges, this volume, which represents the collective wisdom of various scientific fields rapidly converging under the banner of interdisciplinarity, aims to introduce numerous fundamental concepts and approaches in Turkish for the first time. We hope that this work will prove useful to researchers and readers alike, guiding them in their future scientific endeavors.

Sinan Akıllı
Cappadocia University
Editor of the Environmental Humanities Series

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak Ağın is a faculty member in the Department of English Language and Literature at TED University. She is the founder of PENTACLE. She earned her bachelor’s degree (2002), master’s degree (2006), and Ph.D. (2015) from the Department of English Language and Literature at Hacettepe University, specializing in English Cultural Studies. Her works include “Posthumanism: Concept, Theory, Science Fiction” (2020, Siyasal Kitabevi, monograph), “The Ecofobia Hypothesis” (2021, Cappadocia University Press, translation editor), and “Posthuman Pathogenesis: Contagion in Literature, Media, and Arts” (2022, Routledge, co-editor). She has also contributed articles on posthumanism, material ecocriticism, ecomedia, and material ecofeminism to national and international book chapters and journals such as Ecozon@, CLCWeb, Neohelicon, Translation Review, Configurations, and EJES.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Z. Gizem Yılmaz is a faculty member in the Department of English Language and Literature at Ankara Social Sciences University. She is a member of the founding team of PENTACLE. She obtained her bachelor’s degree (2010), master’s degree (2012), and Ph.D. (2018) from the Department of English Language and Literature at Hacettepe University. Her book titled “Cosmic Choreography: The Elemental Dance of Bodies” (2023) is published by Yeni İnsan Press, and her book “The Posthumanist History of Theater” (2023) is part of the posthumanism series by Siyasal Kitabevi. Dr. Yılmaz combines the fields of posthumanism and ecocriticism with theater and performing arts through her national and international book chapters and performances, which have been featured in journals like Neohelicon, ISLE, English Studies, CLCWeb, and Configurations.

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