Aaron Phillips | University of Utah (original) (raw)

Papers by Aaron Phillips

Research paper thumbnail of American Journalism " Wild Horse Annie " Rides on Washington: Mythical Characterization in Newspaper Coverage of Wild Horse Advocacy

Velma Bronn Johnston, also known as “Wild Horse Annie,” advocated for the protection of wild hors... more Velma Bronn Johnston, also known as “Wild Horse Annie,” advocated for the protection of wild horses from 1950 until her death in 1977. Her grassroots efforts culminated in federal legislation, making her an important early female figure in the history of environmental advocacy. This article analyzes newspaper and magazine articles about Johnston’s advocacy to consider how Johnston was framed in terms of myth and memory, cementing her association with the highly symbolic animal she fought to protect and with powerful mythological tropes of the American West.

Research paper thumbnail of Bordering Ecosystems: The Rhetorical Function of Characterization in Gray Wolf Management

Decisions about iconic species such as the wolf provide a key index of human–nature relations. Th... more Decisions about iconic species such as the wolf provide a key index of human–nature relations. The gray wolf’s reintroduction in the USA has been controversial, particularly at the interface of state versus federal management. This essay analyzes discourse surrounding this controversy, focusing on how wolves are characterized as ecological and social actors in official correspondence and management plans. I interpret this textual evidence by drawing from social theory regarding sovereignty, discipline, and population, including studies on bordering practices imposed on humans. As with humans, bordering practices in the case of the wolf may illuminate how political forces impose physical and discursive limits upon mobile bodies motivated to move across political borders by powerful exigencies of need. The essay seeks to amplify understand- ing about how regimes of power enact difference from “others” whose presence strongly influences the health of ecosystems and economies.

Keywords: human–nature relations; wolf reintroduction; borders; rhetoric; Foucault; hybridity

Research paper thumbnail of Eliding Extraction, Embracing Novelty: The Spatio-Temporal Configuration of Natural History

Natural history museums present fertile ground for considering material configurations of “natur... more Natural history museums present fertile ground for considering material configurations of “nature” and “history.” This essay analyzes the Natural History Museum of Utah at Rio Tinto Center (NHMU) to explore how spatio-temporal configurations of nature and history may paradoxically elide the deep time of natural history. Primarily considering its naming and its spatial placement rather than the impressive collections it houses, I identify spatio-temporal distortions related to three elements of the NHMU: its naming after a multinational mining company, its architectural attempt to represent iconic landforms, and its imposition on a heretofore-undeveloped parcel of land. Taking these distortions in sum, I argue that the museum, which is meant by its architects to be in harmony with the land, elides rather than harmonizes with the land that produced its collections by replacing ancientness with novelty and by conjoining extraction and education. This elision, performed by a building purported to embody the full depth of time, may flatten the deep time of the geologic past, thereby abetting the concealment of the ever-expanding extraction.

Keywords: rhetoric; museums; space and place; materiality; deCerteau; natural history

Research paper thumbnail of Climate Change: Scepticism Versus Objectivity?

Books by Aaron Phillips

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice

by Tema Milstein, Aaron Phillips, Geo Takach, Carlos Tarin, Emily Plec, Bridie McGreavy, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Leah Sprain, Karey Harrison, Joy M Hamilton, Stephen Griego, Jeffrey Hoffmann, José Castro-Sotomayor, Maggie Siebert, and Melissa M Parks

Given the urgency of environmental problems, how we communicate about our ecological relations is... more Given the urgency of environmental problems, how we communicate about our ecological relations is crucial. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is concerned with ways to help learners effectively navigate and consciously contribute to the communication shaping our environmental present and future. The book brings together international educators working from a variety of perspectives to engage both theory and application. Contributors address how pedagogy can stimulate ecological wakefulness, support diverse and praxis-based ways of learning, and nurture environmental change agents. Additionally, the volume responds to a practical need to increase teaching effectiveness of environmental communication across disciplines by offering a repertoire of useful learning activities and assignments. Altogether, it provides an impetus for reflection upon and enhancement of our own practice as environmental educators, practitioners, and students. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is an essential resource for those working in environmental communication, environmental and sustainability studies, environmental journalism, environmental planning and management, environmental sciences, media studies and cultural studies, as well as communication subfields such as rhetoric, conflict and mediation, and intercultural. The volume is also a valuable resource for environmental communication professionals working with communities and governmental and non-governmental environmental organisations.

Table of Contents

Introducing Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Tema Milstein, Mairi Pileggi, & Eric Morgan

Section One: (Re)conceptualizing the Environmental Communication Classroom

Chapter 1. From Negotiation to Advocacy: Linking Two Approaches to Teaching Environmental Rhetoric. Garret Stack and Linda Flower

Chapter 2. Pedagogy as Environmental Communication: The Rhetorical Situations of the Classroom. Jessica Prody

Chapter 3. Environmental Communication Pedagogy: A Survey of the Field. Joy Hamilton and Mark Pedelty

Chapter 4. Breathing Life into Learning: Ecocultural Pedagogy and the Inside-Out Classroom. Tema Milstein, Maryam Alhinai, José Castro, Stephen Griego, Jeff Hoffmann, Melissa M. Parks, Maggie Siebert, and Mariko Thomas.

Section Two: Diverse Practices in Teaching Environmental Communication

Chapter 5. The Role of Social Constructionism as a Reflexive Tool in Environmental Communication Education. Lars Hallgren

Chapter 6. "Deep Impressions": The Promise and Possibilities of Intercultural Experiential Learning for Environmental Literacy and Language Attitudes. Aaron Philips

Chapter 7. Further Afield: Performance Pedagogy, Fieldwork, and Distance Learning in Environmental Communication Courses. Mark Pedelty and Joy Hamilton

Chapter 8. Arts-Based Research in the Pedagogy of Environmental Communication. Geo Takach

Chapter 9. Developing Visual Literacy Skills for Environmental Communication. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 10. Teaching Environmental Journalism Though Distance Education. Gabi Mocatta

Section Three: Transformative Practice: Nurturing Change Agents

Chapter 11. Changing Our Environmental Future: Student Praxis Through Community Inquiry. Eli Typhina

Chapter 12. Storytelling as Action. Mairi Pileggi and Eric Morgan

Chapter 13. Insider Windows in Nepal: A Critical Pedagogy for Empowering Environmental Change Agents. Grady Walker

Chapter 14. Repair Cafés - Reflecting on Materiality and Consumption in Environmental Communication. Sigrid Kannengießer

Chapter 15. Cultivating Pride: Transformative Leadership and Capacity Building in the Rare-UTEP Partnership. Carlos A. Tarin, Sarah D. Upton, Stacey K. Sowards, Kenneth C. C. Yang

Section Four: Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Toolbox

Chapter 16. "Moral Vision Statement" Writing Assignment Instructions for Students. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 17. Environmental Privilege Walk: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Tema Milstein and Stephen Griego

Chapter 18. An Experiential Approach to Environmental Communication. Emily Plec.

Chapter 19. Greening Epideictic Speech. Jake Dionne

Chapter 20. Praxis-based environmental communication training: Innovative activities for building core capacities. Bridie McGreavy, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Leah Sprain, Jessica L. Thompson, Laura Lindenfeld

Chapter 21. Image(ination) and Motivation: Challenging Definitions and Inspiring Environmental Stakeholders. Mary Stroud

Chapter 22. Using Infographics. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 23. News Media Analysis. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 24. Newschart Assignment. Karey Harrison

Chapter 25. Speaking for/to/as Nature. Maggie Siebert

Chapter 26. Creating Emotional Proximity with Environment. Maria Clara Valencia

Chapter 27. Growing up with Animals (on screens). Gabi Hadl

Chapter 28. The Student-Run Environmental Communication Blog. Katherine Cruger

Research paper thumbnail of American Journalism " Wild Horse Annie " Rides on Washington: Mythical Characterization in Newspaper Coverage of Wild Horse Advocacy

Velma Bronn Johnston, also known as “Wild Horse Annie,” advocated for the protection of wild hors... more Velma Bronn Johnston, also known as “Wild Horse Annie,” advocated for the protection of wild horses from 1950 until her death in 1977. Her grassroots efforts culminated in federal legislation, making her an important early female figure in the history of environmental advocacy. This article analyzes newspaper and magazine articles about Johnston’s advocacy to consider how Johnston was framed in terms of myth and memory, cementing her association with the highly symbolic animal she fought to protect and with powerful mythological tropes of the American West.

Research paper thumbnail of Bordering Ecosystems: The Rhetorical Function of Characterization in Gray Wolf Management

Decisions about iconic species such as the wolf provide a key index of human–nature relations. Th... more Decisions about iconic species such as the wolf provide a key index of human–nature relations. The gray wolf’s reintroduction in the USA has been controversial, particularly at the interface of state versus federal management. This essay analyzes discourse surrounding this controversy, focusing on how wolves are characterized as ecological and social actors in official correspondence and management plans. I interpret this textual evidence by drawing from social theory regarding sovereignty, discipline, and population, including studies on bordering practices imposed on humans. As with humans, bordering practices in the case of the wolf may illuminate how political forces impose physical and discursive limits upon mobile bodies motivated to move across political borders by powerful exigencies of need. The essay seeks to amplify understand- ing about how regimes of power enact difference from “others” whose presence strongly influences the health of ecosystems and economies.

Keywords: human–nature relations; wolf reintroduction; borders; rhetoric; Foucault; hybridity

Research paper thumbnail of Eliding Extraction, Embracing Novelty: The Spatio-Temporal Configuration of Natural History

Natural history museums present fertile ground for considering material configurations of “natur... more Natural history museums present fertile ground for considering material configurations of “nature” and “history.” This essay analyzes the Natural History Museum of Utah at Rio Tinto Center (NHMU) to explore how spatio-temporal configurations of nature and history may paradoxically elide the deep time of natural history. Primarily considering its naming and its spatial placement rather than the impressive collections it houses, I identify spatio-temporal distortions related to three elements of the NHMU: its naming after a multinational mining company, its architectural attempt to represent iconic landforms, and its imposition on a heretofore-undeveloped parcel of land. Taking these distortions in sum, I argue that the museum, which is meant by its architects to be in harmony with the land, elides rather than harmonizes with the land that produced its collections by replacing ancientness with novelty and by conjoining extraction and education. This elision, performed by a building purported to embody the full depth of time, may flatten the deep time of the geologic past, thereby abetting the concealment of the ever-expanding extraction.

Keywords: rhetoric; museums; space and place; materiality; deCerteau; natural history

Research paper thumbnail of Climate Change: Scepticism Versus Objectivity?

Research paper thumbnail of Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice

by Tema Milstein, Aaron Phillips, Geo Takach, Carlos Tarin, Emily Plec, Bridie McGreavy, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Leah Sprain, Karey Harrison, Joy M Hamilton, Stephen Griego, Jeffrey Hoffmann, José Castro-Sotomayor, Maggie Siebert, and Melissa M Parks

Given the urgency of environmental problems, how we communicate about our ecological relations is... more Given the urgency of environmental problems, how we communicate about our ecological relations is crucial. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is concerned with ways to help learners effectively navigate and consciously contribute to the communication shaping our environmental present and future. The book brings together international educators working from a variety of perspectives to engage both theory and application. Contributors address how pedagogy can stimulate ecological wakefulness, support diverse and praxis-based ways of learning, and nurture environmental change agents. Additionally, the volume responds to a practical need to increase teaching effectiveness of environmental communication across disciplines by offering a repertoire of useful learning activities and assignments. Altogether, it provides an impetus for reflection upon and enhancement of our own practice as environmental educators, practitioners, and students. Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice is an essential resource for those working in environmental communication, environmental and sustainability studies, environmental journalism, environmental planning and management, environmental sciences, media studies and cultural studies, as well as communication subfields such as rhetoric, conflict and mediation, and intercultural. The volume is also a valuable resource for environmental communication professionals working with communities and governmental and non-governmental environmental organisations.

Table of Contents

Introducing Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Tema Milstein, Mairi Pileggi, & Eric Morgan

Section One: (Re)conceptualizing the Environmental Communication Classroom

Chapter 1. From Negotiation to Advocacy: Linking Two Approaches to Teaching Environmental Rhetoric. Garret Stack and Linda Flower

Chapter 2. Pedagogy as Environmental Communication: The Rhetorical Situations of the Classroom. Jessica Prody

Chapter 3. Environmental Communication Pedagogy: A Survey of the Field. Joy Hamilton and Mark Pedelty

Chapter 4. Breathing Life into Learning: Ecocultural Pedagogy and the Inside-Out Classroom. Tema Milstein, Maryam Alhinai, José Castro, Stephen Griego, Jeff Hoffmann, Melissa M. Parks, Maggie Siebert, and Mariko Thomas.

Section Two: Diverse Practices in Teaching Environmental Communication

Chapter 5. The Role of Social Constructionism as a Reflexive Tool in Environmental Communication Education. Lars Hallgren

Chapter 6. "Deep Impressions": The Promise and Possibilities of Intercultural Experiential Learning for Environmental Literacy and Language Attitudes. Aaron Philips

Chapter 7. Further Afield: Performance Pedagogy, Fieldwork, and Distance Learning in Environmental Communication Courses. Mark Pedelty and Joy Hamilton

Chapter 8. Arts-Based Research in the Pedagogy of Environmental Communication. Geo Takach

Chapter 9. Developing Visual Literacy Skills for Environmental Communication. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 10. Teaching Environmental Journalism Though Distance Education. Gabi Mocatta

Section Three: Transformative Practice: Nurturing Change Agents

Chapter 11. Changing Our Environmental Future: Student Praxis Through Community Inquiry. Eli Typhina

Chapter 12. Storytelling as Action. Mairi Pileggi and Eric Morgan

Chapter 13. Insider Windows in Nepal: A Critical Pedagogy for Empowering Environmental Change Agents. Grady Walker

Chapter 14. Repair Cafés - Reflecting on Materiality and Consumption in Environmental Communication. Sigrid Kannengießer

Chapter 15. Cultivating Pride: Transformative Leadership and Capacity Building in the Rare-UTEP Partnership. Carlos A. Tarin, Sarah D. Upton, Stacey K. Sowards, Kenneth C. C. Yang

Section Four: Environmental Communication Pedagogy and Practice Toolbox

Chapter 16. "Moral Vision Statement" Writing Assignment Instructions for Students. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 17. Environmental Privilege Walk: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Tema Milstein and Stephen Griego

Chapter 18. An Experiential Approach to Environmental Communication. Emily Plec.

Chapter 19. Greening Epideictic Speech. Jake Dionne

Chapter 20. Praxis-based environmental communication training: Innovative activities for building core capacities. Bridie McGreavy, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Leah Sprain, Jessica L. Thompson, Laura Lindenfeld

Chapter 21. Image(ination) and Motivation: Challenging Definitions and Inspiring Environmental Stakeholders. Mary Stroud

Chapter 22. Using Infographics. Antonio Lopez

Chapter 23. News Media Analysis. Carrie P. Freeman

Chapter 24. Newschart Assignment. Karey Harrison

Chapter 25. Speaking for/to/as Nature. Maggie Siebert

Chapter 26. Creating Emotional Proximity with Environment. Maria Clara Valencia

Chapter 27. Growing up with Animals (on screens). Gabi Hadl

Chapter 28. The Student-Run Environmental Communication Blog. Katherine Cruger