Queer Ecology

European Journal of Ecopsychology, 2012

The recent development of what is known as queer ecology – the bringing together of queer and ecological theories and politics – was a key point of inspiration for this special issue. In order to honour that legacy, and to bring queer ecology discussions to ecopsychology and vice versa, I invited seven contemporary thinkers to sit together at a virtual roundtable. I began the discussion by asking each of the participants to offer their own individual reflection on the nature and value of queer ecology. These scholars bring a diverse range of perspectives to the table (as appropriate for the confluence of queer and ecological perspectives). From literary theory to anticapitalist activism, from the politics of knowledge to the vitality of the material world, from everyday performativities to the enormity of ecosystems, these seven writers offer thoughtful commentary on the intertwined nature of queer, oikos and psyche. In the second round of the roundtable, each participant offers a response inspired by the contributions of the first round. Collectively, this discussion responds to Andy Fisher’s call for a radical ecopsychology (2002) by inviting a careful consideration of the ways in which we see ourselves and the world of which we are a part and, perhaps more importantly, how we can act to undermine, overflow or otherwise release mental and cultural patterns of domination and control. In doing so, we might free up much-needed energy to, in Gavin Brown’s words, “appreciate the queer exuberance of ecosystems”.

_Cambridge Companion to Queer Studies_

Queer ecology is a conceptual framework that interrogates the relationship between the queer and the natural, broadly construed. It combines the critical, confrontational thrust of "queer" found in queer theory with the interest in biological relationships denoted by "ecology"-though this interest is usually more cultural than scientific, as I will show. 1 One of queer ecology's foundational insights is that "the queer" and "the natural" have been opposed in public discourses. This opposition is ironic to the extent that, as scholars such as Greta Gaard have pointed out, both queers and nature-along with people of color and the poor-have historically been exploited. Queer ecology scholarship thus often traces the commonalities among those categories. Other scholars have complicated such analyses by showing that pro-environmental forces can also be homophobic-not to mention racist. Andil Gosine, for example, observes that "discourses on the ecological dangers of overpopulation and [discourses on] homosexuality … similarly function and are similarly invested in the production and maintenance of white heteronormativity." 2 Queer ecology scholarship also takes aim at normative notions of health and purity as they appear across both sexual and environmental discourses-as with, for example, homophobia-and transphobia-tinged fears that androg-yny, homosexuality, and infertility are rising in animal populations as a result of pollution. 3 Some scholars have disarticulated these discriminatory links among queerness and toxicity and contamination-often to recuperate LGBTQI2S connections to nature-whereas others have reframed those links entirely; as Shiloh Krupar remarks in her work on nuclear contamination, "we might all be queer in this ' postnuclear' age-our bodies, families, homes, domesticity." 4 In sum, then, queer ecology scholars variously undertake practices of naturalizing and denaturalizing. chapter 7

PMLA, 2010

nearer than breathing, closer than hands and feet—George Morrison, “The Reawakening of Mysticism”Ecological criticism and queer theory seem incompatible, but if they met, there would be a fantastic explosion. How shall we accomplish this perverse, Frankensteinian meme splice? I'll propose some hypothetical methods and frameworks for a field that doesn't quite exist—queer ecology. (The pathbreaking work of Catriona Sandilands, Greta Gaard, and the journal Undercurrents must be acknowledged here.) This exercise in hubris is bound to rattle nerves and raise hackles, but please bear with me on this test flight. Start with the basics. Let's not create this field by comparing literary-critical apples and oranges. Let's do it the hard way, up from foundations (or unfoundations). Let's do it in the name of ecology itself, which demands intimacies with other beings that queer theory also demands, in another key. Let's do it because our era requires it—we are losing to...

GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 2012

2022

As an emerging and expansive transdisciplinary field of study, queer ecology brings queer theory together with ecology. Drawing from diverse disciplines, through this transformative framework, the meaning of “queer” is twofold in that it centers non-heterosexual and transgender organisms in ecological studies as well as centering the perspectives of LGBTQ+ humans, and it seeks to “queer” environmental perspectives by challenges dominant notions of “naturalness” and “normality” grounded in heteronormative ideas of sex, gender, and Nature. Imagining a Liberated Future with Queer Ecology explores the potential of queer ecology to first disrupt heterosexist and unscientific charges of “unnaturalness” against LGBTQ+ identities, secondly, it extends our understanding of the historical context in which American anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments became institutionalized in Western science, and lastly, it sheds light on how queer ecology’s goals of transformative justice offer new ways of collaboration, solidarity, kinship/familial relations, and care systems across cultures and species. Throughout my work, I explored literature on queer ecology as well as works that are interconnected with queer ecology, especially ecofeminism, Critical Race Theory, decolonization, and Emergent Strategy. I propose that queer ecologies offers LGBTQ+ identities empowerment through the exploration of queer and transness among non-human species, along with offering possibilities in expanding our ability to imagine individually and collectively other potentials for our present and futures. Queer ecologies is crucial for creating alternative models for humans to exist in the world as well as for organizing together in order to address large-scale issues, such as climate change, that threaten life in all its expressions.

ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, 2011

2022

A contribution to a forum parsing the various impacts of Gust A. Yep's article, "The Violence of Heteronormativity in Communication Studies."

European Journal of Ecopsychology, 2012

Table of Contents Editorial: Queering ecopsychology Jamie Heckert, Martin Milton, Meg Barker Queer mad animals Margot Young Eco-queer movement(s): Challenging heteronormative space through (re)imagining nature and food Joshua Sbicca From queer spaces to queerer ecologies: Recasting Gregory Batesons Steps to an ecology of mind to further mobilise & anticipate historically marginal stakeholders in environmental planning for community development Gordon Brent Ingram "Marriages" Michael Leunig Queer ecology: A roundtable discussion Jill E Anderson, Robert Azzarello, Gavin Brown, Katie Hogan, Gordon Brent Ingram, Michael J Morris, Joshua Stephens, Jamie Heckert Gender queering Mother Earth Deborah Anapol An inclusive natural world Kirk Mikel Shepard

The Italianist , 2020