Stories from the Thick of Things: Introducing Material Ecocriticism. (original) (raw)
Related papers
"A Lateral Continuum: Ecocriticism and Postmodern Materialism"
19.3 (Summer 2012)
This essay is part II of "Theorizing Material Ecocriticism: A Diptych."(Part I is by Serenella Iovino, titled "Material Ecocriticism:A Paradigm Proposal") The essays are part of ISLE's Special Cluster on “Dirt, Waste, Bodies, Food, and Other Matter,” co-edited by Heather Sullivan and Dana Phillips. In preparation of our co-edited book on Material Ecocriticism, we propose a “diptych”--a double vision of converging paths--about the key concepts of this new interpretive paradigm for ecocritical studies. The diptych provides a map of its most notable formulations (theoretical models for the intertwining of bodies, discourses, and natures), and examines the effects of the “material turn” on ecocriticism in our combined vision. (Forthcoming in Spring 2012) "
Theorising Material Ecocriticism: From Abstract to Concrete
SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH
The material-turn in the millennial period brought in newer insights in the understanding of the relationship between the material and its users. It would be interesting to explore the trajectory from this point, for the New Materialism that came about was founded on drawing from multifarious disciplines – natural sciences, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, history, geology and cultural studies. Today, the theoretical framework of Ecocriticism has adopted several tenets of New Materialism and has evolved into ‘Material Ecocriticism’. The present paper aims to study the latest development of ecocriticism in association with materialism, while paying particular heed to how ‘matter’ plays a pivotal role in constructing and communicating narratives. The study also looks at reading matter as an active agent in propelling any alterations in our relationship with nature. Along with a quick rereading of William Blake’s selected poems, the study proceeds to highlight the importance of ac...
Intersections, 2016
Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann's brilliant collection, Material Ecocriticism, testifies to the fruitfulness and urgency of the critical perspective opened up by the particular reticulation of influences that characterizes the project of material ecocriticism. Although the essays consider a diverse array of phenomena, all of the essays are unified by their alignment with a specific constellation of critical perspectives, and the editors' skillful arrangement of the chapters enables the essays to coalesce into something resembling a narrative. At the same time, this adept configuration of the material also allows room for differences of perspective and emphasis.
This review essay illustrates the proliferation of studies about the "new materialisms" and examines the potential influx of this conceptual trend on ecocriticism. In the discussion, in particular, I provide a comparative analysis of four books: Stacy Alaimo and Susan Hekman, Eds. Material Feminisms (Bloomington: Indiana U P, 2008), Stacy Alaimo, Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self (Bloomington: Indiana U P, 2010), Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (Durham and London: Duke U P, 2010), David Abram, Becoming Animal (New York: Vintage Books, 2010).
2014
Material Ecocriticism offers new ways to analyze language and reality, human and nonhuman life, mind and matter, without falling into well-worn paths of thinking. Bringing ecocriticism closer to the material turn, the contributions to this landmark volume focus on material forces and substances, the agency of things, processes, narratives and stories, and making meaning out of the world. This broad-ranging reflection on contemporary human experience and expression provokes new understandings of the planet to which we are intimately connected. Blurbs: "An extremely valuable resource for anyone seeking an advanced introduction to the conversations and controversies animating the new ‘material’ turn in ecocriticism." —Lawrence Buell, Harvard University "This book is not an extension of spirituality to the boring domain of materiality, and it is not the opposite either, the humbling appeal to material infrastructure in order to dampen the dreams of scholars, priests, ecologists, and militants for a more uplifting world of meanings and beauties. It is the exploration of how many dimensions—many indeed spiritual—have been lost in not taking materiality seriously enough. A move that meets scientists half way to help them profit from their science so as to explore in common what geophysicitsis now call "critical zones." Critical zones indeed!" —Bruno Latour, Université Sciences Po Paris "References and engages with the major works and writers on the new materialism with its focus on material entanglements and material agency. . . . The quality of the essays ensures that this will be a useful volume for both undergraduate and graduate courses." —Anne Elvey, Monash University "The contributions to this collection are consistently well-written, balancing technical language, poetic vividness, and accessibility. Of interest to literary scholars and readers throughout the environmental humanities and theoretical sciences." —Scott Slovic, Idaho State University
Material Ecocriticism: Materiality, Agency, and Models of Narrativity
"The proliferation of studies bearing on the intellectual movement known as the "new materialisms" evinces that a material turn is becoming an important paradigm in environmental humanities. Ranging from social and science studies, feminism, to anthropology, geography, environmental philosophies and animal studies, this approach is bringing innovative ways of considering matter and material relations that, coupled with reflections on agency, text, and narrativity, are going to impact ecocriticism in an unprecedented way. In consideration of the relevance of this debate, we would like to draw for Ecozon@'s readers an introductory map of the new paradigm and introduce what can be called "material ecocriticism." We will illustrate what we consider to be its main features, situating them in the conceptual horizons of the new materialisms. From this genealogical sketch, we will examine the re-definitions of concepts like matter, agency, discursivity, and intentionality, with regard to their effects on ecocriticism and in terms of their ethical perspectives."
Echoes of Ecocriticism: An Introduction
Otago German Studies, 2017
Press, 2010), 5. That the new materialisms adopt the term 'materialism' in an unorthodox and, according to some critics, improper way is a point of contention among scholars in the humanities, but I believe this to be productive to all parties. Among other things, and perhaps counter-intuitively, such a controversial "reference" to materialism constitutes a call for ecocritics to ponder once again the relevance and impact for ecocriticism of socalled constructivism (the rather broad umbrella term under which quite distinct positions are often brought together indiscriminately, in my opinion, and without due attention). As far as material ecocriticism is concerned, this is true insofar as the latter, while embracing and incorporating new findings in science, cannot and does not wish to relinquish the concept of "text"-as
Materia Agens, Materia Loquens: Ecocriticism and the Narrative Agency of Matter
Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 2018
Inspired by the theoretical debates about distributed fields of agency and of meaning, the so-called "material turn" sheds its effects also on ecocriticism. Its main conceptual tenet, the agency of matter, has in fact vast implications on the ideas of narrativity and text. If matter is agentic, and endowed with meanings, every material configuration, from bodies to their contexts of living, is "telling," and therefore can be the object of a critical analysis aimed at discovering its stories, its material and discursive interplays, its place in a "choreography of becoming." In this article I will explore this new dimension of ecocriticism looking at the example of some meaningful narratives about the intermingling of living bodies, social forms, and what, following Bruno Latour, we can call "actants": "things" or assemblages of things that, in various forms and patterns, interact and interfere with human life, interlacing with the emerging meanings and agencies. In particular, I will concentrate on visual media and literary "embodied" narratives that show how the "material self" is a crossroads of multiple agencies.
Material Ecocriticism: Matter, Text, and Posthuman Ethics.
In: Literature, Ecology, Ethics. Ed. Timo Müller and Michael Sauter. , 2012
Challenged by the many ways literature and art give voice to the issues of materiality and shape “narratives of matter,” this essay is an invitation to examine the effects of the “material turn” on ecocriticism. In my discourse, I argue that a re-conceptualization of materiality will enhance both ecocriticism’s epistemology and political stances, providing theoretical and practical tools for an ecological horizontalism and a cultural ethics of liberation.