The proliferation of studies bearing on the intellectual movement known as the “new materialisms” evinces that a material turn is becoming the novel 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 preparation of our forthcoming Material Ecocriticism, a co-edited collection of original essays aiming to enrich ecocriticism with new philosophical and hermeneutical categories, we would like to draw for Ecozon@’s readers an introductory map of this paradigm. In this article we will illustrate what we consider to be the main features of material ecocriticism, 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.
Material Ecocriticism: Materiality, Agency, and Models of Narrativity
IOVINO, Serenella;
2012-01-01
Abstract
The proliferation of studies bearing on the intellectual movement known as the “new materialisms” evinces that a material turn is becoming the novel 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 preparation of our forthcoming Material Ecocriticism, a co-edited collection of original essays aiming to enrich ecocriticism with new philosophical and hermeneutical categories, we would like to draw for Ecozon@’s readers an introductory map of this paradigm. In this article we will illustrate what we consider to be the main features of material ecocriticism, 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.
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