Arab Critical Efforts in Ecocritical Literary Criticism (2004-2025): Formation, Expansion, and Proliferation

Abstract

This study examines Arab critical engagement with ecocritical literary criticism between 2004 and 2025, tracing its emergence, expansion, and increasing productivity within Arabic critical discourse. Adopting a historical approach, the research situates ecocriticism within its broader intellectual and cultural context, analyzing the mechanisms through which Arab critics have interpreted and applied environmental perspectives to literary texts. The study is organized into three chronological phases—formation, expansion, and proliferation—each illustrated through representative applied models. The analysis reveals significant variation in critical approaches and analytical strategies, which has resulted in the absence of a unified methodological framework for ecocritical criticism in the Arab context. It further demonstrates that Arab ecocritical studies tend to rely on interdisciplinary frameworks that combine literary analysis with insights from the humanities and natural sciences. In practical application, ecocriticism often depends on supportive critical methods, including genetic structuralism, semiotics, and stylistics, to articulate environmental meanings embedded in literary texts. The study concludes that ecocritical approaches are not limited to contemporary literature but can be productively applied to classical and modern texts, provided that these works fulfill essential artistic and linguistic criteria, thereby confirming the flexibility and scope of ecocritical literary criticism within Arabic studies.