Reframing Narratives With Ecocriticism, With Dr Jenny Kerber
In this episode, Ariel discusses the topic of ecocriticism with Dr Jenny Kerber, Associate Professor of English at Wilfrid Laurier University.
What is ecocriticism? Why is it important, especially for environmental activists and solarpunks, as a narrative reframing device? Solarpunks work very closely with speculation and imagination and as architects of the narratives by which we live our lives, it helps to have tools like ecocriticism at our disposal.
Join Ariel and Dr. Kerber to think through terms like “wilderness” and “nature” and “the Anthropocene”. How do we hold on to hope, despite critical engagement with the dark side of our environmental narratives?
References:
A bit more about the WLU Land Acknowledgement
Dr Kerber’s profile at Wilfrid Laurier U
“The Trouble with Wilderness” by William Cronon
Kerber, Jenny. "Tracing One Warm Line: Climate Stories and Silences in Northwest Passage Tourism." Journal of Canadian Studies 55.4 (July 2022): 271-303.
Timothy Clark, The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment
Kate Soper, What is Nature? Culture, Politics and the Non-Human
David Huebert's Chemical Valley
Lord Byron's "Darkness"
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism: Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age
Phoebe Wagner and Brontë Christopher Wieland, Almanac for the Anthropocene: A Compendium of Solarpunk Futures