Four Problems, Four Directions for Environmental Humanities: Toward Critical Posthumanities for the Anthropocene

Neimanis, Astrida; Åsberg, Cecilia; Hedrén, Johan

doi:10.2979/ethicsenviro.20.1.67

Cited by 124 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The corresponding mode of governmentality is structured around dialogical forms of consensus formation, technocratic management and problem-focused governance, sustained by populist discursive regimes." The problem of framing climate change and other environmental issues as post-political, with only one way to move forward, is that these issues get seemingly emptied of their connection to power relations and visible political conflicts (see e.g., Mouffe 2005;Macgregor 2013;Swyngedouw 2014;Neimanis, Åsberg, and Hedrén 2015). Political theorist Chantal Mouffe (2005) holds that the post-political frame avoids a critical analysis of modern capitalism, which makes it difficult to challenge the neoliberal hegemony in much of today's world.…”

Section: The Politics Of Environmental Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The visible entanglement of humans with nonhumans might have the potential to challenge the dominant way of viewing our existence (ontology) and our ways of knowing the world (epistemology). An important assumption for this study is that we live in a more than human time (Whatmore 2002, 146), which requires theoretical and analytical tools that take into account that our realities are shaped by both human and nonhuman practices and existences (see e.g., Åsberg 2012;Åsberg 2013;Oppermann 2013;Neimanis 2013;Neimanis, Åsberg, and Hedrén 2015). While environmental issues tend to be framed as affecting us all, many feminist scholars have pointed out the importance of questioning this assumption by asking what is at stake for whom (Haraway 1992;Plumwood 1993;Alaimo 2012;Macgregor 2013).…”

Section: A Feminist Posthumanities Imperativementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Myra Hird (2012) has shown what feminist theory has to offer in order to develop an understanding of the epistemological and ethical implications of knowing waste. I also find great inspiration in feminist researchers' attempts to make feminism relevant for ecological concerns as well as making environmental-oriented scholarships aware of what feminist theory has to offer (MacGregor 2009;Macgregor 2013;Oppermann 2013;Åsberg 2013;Neimanis, Åsberg, and Hedrén 2015). Donna Haraway's (2003;2008b; work on creating feminist figurations and concepts for taking into account both differentiated human and nonhuman dimensions of our existence is a good example of how these feminist environmental humanities ideas have come to matter in different contexts.…”

Section: Research Context Iii: Feminist Environmental Humanitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The separation between nature and culture can be seen as a process where nature and culture are made into different categories with ethical and political consequences (T. Holmberg 2005, 40;Hedrén 2002, 300). One important theoretical inspiration for understanding this divide and its consequences comes from authors within feminist theory in general (see e.g., Plumwood 1993;MacGregor 2009;Macgregor 2013;Oppermann 2013), and authors from feminist science studies in particular (see e.g., Alaimo 2010;Haraway 2008a;Haraway 2008b;Åsberg 2013;Neimanis, Åsberg, and Hedrén 2015). I bring in the work of these authors because of feminist theory's genealogy of paying attention to how power and norms operate in ordering the world with consequences for those inhabiting it.…”

Section: Feminist Interventions Into What Counts As Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In referring to worries, Mats did not seem to believe in a vision of the future as calculable. However, worries can potentially be problematic as they tend to fix positions in ways that do not include the possibility of imagining otherwise (Neimanis, Åsberg, and Hedrén 2015). Turning to Sara Ahmed (2010), we might think of the possibility of imagining otherwise as a rather unpleasant experience.…”

Section: Grappling With the Unknownmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Sustainability for Whom? : The Politics of Imagining Environmental Change in Education

Sjögren

2016

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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Global initiatives regarding environmental change have increasingly become part of political agendas and of our collective imagination. In order to form sustainable societies, education is considered crucial by organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union. But how is the notion of sustainability imagined and formed in educational practices? What does sustainability make possible, and whom does it involve? These critical questions are not often asked in educational research on sustainability.This study suggests that the absence of critical questions in sustainability education is part of a contemporary post-political framing of environmental issues. In order to re-politicize sustainability in education, this study critically explores how education-as an institution and a practice that is supposed to foster humans-responds to environmental change. The aim is to explore how sustainability is formed in education, and to discuss how these formations relate to ideas of what education is, and whom it is for. This interdisciplinary study uses theories and concepts from cultural studies, feminist theory, political theory, and philosophy of education to study imaginaries of the unknown, nonhuman world in the context of education. The focus of the empirical investigation is on teacher education in Sweden, and more precisely on those responsible for teaching the future generations of teachers -the teacher instructors. With help from empirical findings from focus groups, the study asks questions about the ontological, political, and ethical potential and risk of bringing the unknown Other into education.

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Section: The Politics Of Environmental Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Feminist Posthumanities Imperativementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Context Iii: Feminist Environmental Humanitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Feminist Interventions Into What Counts As Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Grappling With the Unknownmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Sustainability for Whom? : The Politics of Imagining Environmental Change in Education

Sjögren

2016

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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Environmental Humanities

Castree

2021

International Encyclopedia of Geography

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The environmental humanities comprise a large, growing, and diverse body of inquiry spanning a multitude of academic disciplines. Along with the social sciences, these humanities disciplines have long been devoted to the study of human affairs, leaving the natural sciences to study things such as ecology, ice sheets, and climate. Broadly, where humanities disciplines differ from social science ones is as follows: unlike, say, economics, which treats social phenomena as possessing universal qualities regardless of location, the humanities focus on the many ways different people make the world meaningful in various registers (e.g., through their ethical beliefs). The humanities thus acknowledge the relativity of belief, the intersubjective nature of human existence, the situatedness of life, the complex ways people apprehend the world, and the many disagreements that arise about moral, aesthetic, and existential issues. They pivot on the human capacity for free will, creativity, and imagination. They explore profound questions such as "How should we live?" "What are human rights?" and "What is justice?" For some humanist scholars, their aim is to identify "the best of human thought," using cross-cultural analysis, critical thinking, and engagement with the (often contentious) value questions avoided by many social scientists. Beginning in the 1960s and achieving considerable momentum since the start of the twenty-first century, a number of The International Encyclopedia of Geography.

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Potential approaches to establishing harmonious river‐human relationships

Greenway

2022

River Research & Apps

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This paper responds to a call to address the development and building of river‐human relationships in the twenty‐first century. Many literatures have identified the historical instrumental exploitation of natural resources underpinning urbanisation and the economic development leading to wide‐spread degradation of environments including rivers. Clearly such relationships can no longer be considered as appropriate in the twenty‐first century. This paper intends to present a conceptual rethink to address the following question: Are there potential approaches by which humans can develop harmonious coexistent relationships with riverine landscapes and associated ecosystems? In answering this question, this paper draws on ideas from new materialism thinking. New materialism offers useful guidance in understanding human‐river relationships in which river landscapes are not static backgrounds to the performance of the social. River systems and environments are active participants influencing and shaping social performances through multiple and diverse interconnected and complex human‐nonhuman relationships and co‐productive partnerships. It is concluded that new materialist perspectives provide important guidance for developing harmonious river‐human relationships. De‐centring the human as the dominant actor in relations with river landscapes and acknowledging rivers as key actors within river‐human relationships may enhance the building of harmonious coexistent and mutually beneficial relationships in the twenty‐first century. It is further concluded the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) and Human‐River Encounter Sites (HRES) frameworks in their capacity to accommodate new materialist thinking provide an opportunity for further exploration and examination of the possibilities for building harmonious coexistent river‐human relationships.

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Four Problems, Four Directions for Environmental Humanities: Toward Critical Posthumanities for the Anthropocene

Cited by 124 publications

References 55 publications

Sustainability for Whom? : The Politics of Imagining Environmental Change in Education

Sustainability for Whom? : The Politics of Imagining Environmental Change in Education

Environmental Humanities

Potential approaches to establishing harmonious river‐human relationships

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