Ecocriticism (1960_Present) is an umbrella term under which a variety of approaches fall; this can make it a difficult term to define.

As ecocritic Lawrence Buell says, ecocriticism is an “increasingly heterogeneous movement” (1). But, “simply put, ecocriticism is the
study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty xviii). Emerging in the 1980s on the shoulders of the
environmental movement begun in the 1960s with the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, ecocriticism has been and continues
to be an “earth-centered approach” (Glotfelty xviii) the complex intersections between environment and culture, believing that “human
culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it” (Glotfelty xix). Ecocriticism is interdisciplinary, calling for
collaboration between natural scientists, writers, literary critics, anthropologists, historians, and more. Ecocriticism asks us to examine
ourselves and the world around us, critiquing the way that we represent, interact with, and construct the environment, both “natural” and
manmade. At the heart of ecocriticism, many maintain, is “a commitment to environmentality from whatever critical vantage point” (Buell
11). The “challenge” for ecocritics is “keep[ing] one eye on the ways in which ‘nature’ is always […] culturally constructed, and the other
on the fact that nature really exists” (Gerrard 10). Similar to critical traditions examining gender and race, ecocriticism deals not only
with the socially-constructed, often dichotomous categories we create for reality, but with reality itself.

First and Second Waves

Several scholars have divided Ecocriticism into two waves (Buell)(Glotfelty), recognizing the first as taking place throughout the eighties
and nineties. The first wave is characterized by its emphasis on nature writing as an object of study and as a meaningful practice (Buell).
Central to this wave and to the majority of ecocritics still today is the environmental crisis of our age, seeing it as the duty of both the
humanities and the natural sciences to raise awareness and invent solutions for a problem that is both cultural and physical. As such, a
primary concern in first-wave ecocriticism was to “speak for” nature (Buell 11). This is, perhaps, where ecocriticism gained its reputation
as an “avowedly political mode of analysis” (Gerrard 3). This wave, unlike its successor, kept the cultural distinction between human and
nature, promoting the value of nature.

The second wave is particularly modern in its breaking down of some of the long-standing distinctions between the human and the non-
human, questioning these very concepts (Gerrard 5). The boundaries between the human and the non-human, nature and non-nature
are discussed as constructions, and ecocritics challenge these constructions, asking (among other things) how they frame the
environmental crisis and its solution. This wave brought with it a redefinition of the term “environment,” expanding its meaning to include
both “nature” and the urban (Buell 11). Out of this expansion has grown the ecojustice movement, one of the more political of
ecocriticism branches that is “raising an awareness of class, race, and gender through ecocritical reading of text” (Bressler 236), often
examining the plight of the poorest of a population who are the victims of pollution are seen as having less access to “nature” in the
traditional sense.

These waves are not exactly distinct, and there is debate over what exactly constitutes the two. For instance, some ecocritics will claim
activism has been a defining feature of ecocriticism from the beginning, while others see activism as a defining feature of primarily the
first wave. While the exact features attributed to each wave may be disputed, it is clear that Ecocriticism continues to evolve and has
undergone several shifts in attitude and direction since its conception.

Tropes and Approaches

Pastoral

This trope, found in much British and American literature, focuses on the dichotomy between urban and rural life, is “deeply entrenched
in Western culture”(Gerrard 33). At the forefront of works which display pastoralism is a general idealization of the nature and the rural
and the demonization of the urban. Often, such works show a “retreat” from city life to the country while romanticizing rural life,
depicting an idealized rural existence that “obscures” the reality of the hard work living in such areas requires (Gerrard 33). Greg Gerrard
identifies three branches of the pastoral: Classic Pastoral, “characterized by nostalgia” (37) and an appreciation of nature as a place for
human relaxation and reflection; Romantic Pastoral, a period after the Industrial Revolution that saw “rural independence” as desirable
against the expansion of the urban; and American Pastoralism, which “emphasize[d] agrarianism” (49) and represents land as a resource
to be cultivated, with farmland often creating a boundary between the urban and the wilderness.

Ecofeminism

As a branch of ecocriticism, ecofeminism primarily “analyzes the interconnection of the oppression of women and nature” (Bressler 236).
Drawing parallels between domination of land and the domination of men over women, ecofeminists examine these hierarchical,
gendered relationships, in which the land is often equated with the feminine, seen as a fertile resources and the property of man. The
ecofeminism approach can be divided into two camps. The first, sometimes referred to as radical ecofeminism, reverses the patriarchal
domination of man over woman and nature, “exalting nature,” the non-human, and the emotional” (Gerrard 24). This approach embraces
the idea that women are inherently closer to nature biologically, spiritually, and emotionally. The second camp, which followed the first
historically, maintains that there is no such thing as a “feminine essence” that would make women more likely to connect with nature
(Gerrard 25). Of course, ecofeminism is a highly diverse and complex branch, and many writers have undertaken the job of examining
the hierarchical relationships structured in our cultural representations of nature and of women and other oppressed groups. In particular,
studies regarding race have followed in this trend, identifying groups that have been historically seen as somehow closer to nature. The
way Native Americans, for instance, have been described as “primitive” and portrayed as “dwelling in harmony with nature,” despite facts
to the contrary. Gerrard offers an examination of this trope, calling it the Ecological Indian (Gerrard 120). Similar studies regarding
representations and oppression of aboriginals have surfaced, highlighting the misconceptions of these peoples as somehow “behind”
Europeans, needing to progress from “a natural to a civilized state” (Gerrard 125).

Typical Questions

Taking an ecocritical approach to a topic means asking questions not only of a primary source such as literature, but asking larger
questions about cultural attitudes towards and definitions of nature. Generally, ecocriticism can be applied to a primary source by either
interpreting a text through an ecocritical lens, with an eye towards nature, or examining an ecocritical trope within the text. The
questions below are examples of questions you might ask both when working with a primary source and when developing a research
question that might have a broader perspective.

 How is nature represented in this text?How has the concept of nature changed over time?How is the setting of the
play/film/text related to the environment?What is the influence on metaphors and representations of the land and the
 environment on how we treat it? How do we see issues of environmental disaster and crises reflected in popular culture and
literary works? How are animals represented in this text and what is their relationship to humans? How do the roles or
representations of men and women towards the environment differ in this play/film/text/etc. Where is the environment placed
in the power hierarchy? How is nature empowered or oppressed in this work? What parallels can be drawn between the
sufferings and oppression of groups of people (women, minorities, immigrants, etc.) and treatment of the land? What
rhetorical moves are used by environmentalists, and what can we learn from them about our cultural attitudes towards
nature?

Further ResourcesTheory and Criticism

 Lawrence Buell - “The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture” (1995)
and “Toxic Discourse,” 1998
 Charles Bressler - Literary criticism: an introduction to theory and practice, 1999
 Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm – The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, (1996)
 Greg Garrard – Ecocriticism, 2004
 Donna Haraway - "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," (1991)
 ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (Journal)
 Joseph Makus - The Comedy of Survival: literary ecology and a play ethic, (1972)
 Leo Marx – The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America, (1964)

Gender(s), Power, and Marginalization

Gender studies and queer theory explore issues of sexuality, power, and marginalized populations (woman as other) in literature and
culture. Much of the work in gender studies and queer theory, while influenced by feminist criticism, emerges from post-structural
interest in fragmented, de-centered knowledge building (Nietzsche, Derrida, Foucault), language (the breakdown of sign-signifier), and
psychoanalysis (Lacan).

A primary concern in gender studies and queer theory is the manner in which gender and sexuality is discussed: "Effective as this work
[feminism] was in changing what teachers taught and what the students read, there was a sense on the part of some feminist critics
that...it was still the old game that was being played, when what it needed was a new game entirely. The argument posed was that in
order to counter patriarchy, it was necessary not merely to think about new texts, but to think about them in radically new ways" (Richter
1432).

Therefore, a critic working in gender studies and queer theory might even be uncomfortable with the binary established by many feminist
scholars between masculine and feminine: "Cixous (following Derrida in Of Grammatology) sets up a series of binary oppositions
(active/passive, sun/moon...father/mother, logos/pathos). Each pair can be analyzed as a hierarchy in which the former term represents
the positive and masculine and the latter the negative and feminine principle" (Richter 1433-1434).

In-Betweens

Many critics working with gender and queer theory are interested in the breakdown of binaries such as male and female, the in-betweens
(also following Derrida's interstitial knowledge building). For example, gender studies and queer theory maintains that cultural definitions
of sexuality and what it means to be male and female are in flux: "...the distinction between "masculine" and "feminine" activities and
behavior is constantly changing, so that women who wear baseball caps and fatigues...can be perceived as more piquantly sexy by some
heterosexual men than those women who wear white frocks and gloves and look down demurely" (Richter 1437).

Moreover, Richter reminds us that as we learn more about our genetic structure, the biology of male/female becomes increasingly
complex and murky: "even the physical dualism of sexual genetic structures and bodily parts breaks down when one considers those
instances - XXY syndromes, natural sexual bimorphisms, as well as surgical transsexuals - that defy attempts at binary classification"
(1437).

 Judith Butler - "Imitation and Gender Insubordination," 1991 *Hélène Cixous - "The Laugh of the Medussa," 1976

Michele Foucault - The History of Sexuality, Volume I, 1980

_____Closely connected to such fields as philosophy, history, sociology, and law, CRT scholarship traces racism in America through the
nation’s legacy of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and recent events. In doing so, it draws from work by writers like Sojourner Truth,
Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others studying law, feminism, and post-structuralism. CRT developed
into its current form during the mid-1970s with scholars like Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, and Richard Delgado, who responded to what
they identified as dangerously slow progress following Civil Rights in the 1960s.

Prominent CRT scholars like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mari Matsuda, and Patricia Williams share an interest in recognizing racism as a
quotidian component of American life (manifested in textual sources like literature, film, law, etc). In doing so, they attempt to confront
the beliefs and practices that enable racism to persist while also challenging these practices in order to seek liberation from systemic
racism.

As such, CRT scholarship also emphasizes the importance of finding a way for diverse individuals to share their experiences. However,
CRT scholars do not only locate an individual’s identity and experience of the world in his or her racial identifications, but also their
membership to a specific class, gender, nation, sexual orientation, etc. They read these diverse cultural texts as proof of the
institutionalized inequalities racialized groups and individuals experience every day.

As Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic explain in their introduction to the third edition of Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge, “Our
social world, with its rules, practices, and assignments of prestige and power, is not fixed; rather, we construct with it words, stories and
silence. But we need not acquiesce in arrangements that are unfair and one-sided. By writing and speaking against them, we may hope
to contribute to a better, fairer world” (3). In this sense, CRT scholars seek tangible, real-world ends through the intellectual work they
perform. This contributes to many CRT scholars’ emphasis on social activism and transforming everyday notions of race, racism, and
power.

Bildungsroman: This is typically a type of novel that depicts an individual’s coming-of-age through self-discovery and personal
knowledge. Such stories often explore the protagonists’ psychological and moral development. /Genre: A kind of literature. For instance,
comedy, mystery, tragedy, satire, elegy, romance, and epic are all genres

. Gender Studies and Queer Theory

Gender theory came to the forefront of the theoretical scene first as feminist theory but has subsequently come to include
the investigation of all gender and sexual categories and identities. Feminist gender theory followed slightly behind the
reemergence of political feminism in the United States and Western Europe during the 1960s. Political feminism of the
so-called "second wave" had as its emphasis practical concerns with the rights of women in contemporary societies,
women's identity, and the representation of women in media and culture. These causes converged with early literary
feminist practice, characterized by Elaine Showalter as "gynocriticism," which emphasized the study and canonical
inclusion of works by female authors as well as the depiction of women in male-authored canonical texts.

Feminist gender theory is postmodern in that it challenges the paradigms and intellectual premises of western thought,
but also takes an activist stance by proposing frequent interventions and alternative epistemological positions meant to
change the social order. In the context of postmodernism, gender theorists, led by the work of Judith Butler, initially
viewed the category of "gender" as a human construct enacted by a vast repetition of social performance. The biological
distinction between man and woman eventually came under the same scrutiny by theorists who reached a similar
conclusion: the sexual categories are products of culture and as such help create social reality rather than simply reflect
it. Gender theory achieved a wide readership and acquired much its initial theoretical rigor through the work of a group
of French feminist theorists that included Simone de Beauvoir, Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous, and Julia Kristeva, who
while Bulgarian rather than French, made her mark writing in French. French feminist thought is based on the
assumption that the Western philosophical tradition represses the experience of women in the structure of its ideas. As
an important consequence of this systematic intellectual repression and exclusion, women's lives and bodies in historical
societies are subject to repression as well. In the creative/critical work of Cixous, we find the history of Western thought
depicted as binary oppositions: "speech/writing; Nature/Art, Nature/History, Nature/Mind, Passion/Action." For
Cixous, and for Irigaray as well, these binaries are less a function of any objective reality they describe than the male-
dominated discourse of the Western tradition that produced them.

*Feminist thought and practice analyzes the production of literature and literary representation within the framework
that includes all social and cultural formations as they pertain to the role of women in history.