From Rusty Genetics to Octopussy’s Garden

Alaimo critiques the “rusty” understanding of genetics, gender, and sex in Middlesex, advocating instead for queer ecological futurism

Material Engagements: Science Studies and the Environmental Humanities

Key words: materiality, natural world, humanities, ethical ecocriticism, agency In the twentieth century the principle tendency has been to denigrate the value of non-human nature.  In this sense, scientific studies can help recover the materiality of the natural world for research in the humanities, especially when dealing with ecocriticism. Our current image of the environment has been deprived of its living beings and turned into an empty space at the disposal of humans. Natural sciences can provide theoretical and methodological models which can advance ethical and political projects of ecocriticism and encourage research that would consider the materiality of the non-human world, thereby restoring entity to the natural world. Twenty-first century environmental movements need to view the material and natural world as subjects with agency and not take for granted that these exist “somewhere out there.” Palabras clave: materia, naturaleza no humana, humanidades, ética ecocrítica,  agencia  En el siglo XX la tendencia fundamental hacia el medioambiente fue la de menospreciar el valor de la naturaleza no humana. En este sentido, los estudios científicos pueden ayudar a recuperar la materialidad del mundo natural para la investigación de las humanidades, especialmente en lo que concierne a la ecocrítica. El medioambiente actual ha sido privado de sus seres vivos y convertido en un espacio vacío a disposición del ser humano. Las ciencias naturales pueden aportar modelos teóricos y metodológicos que hagan avanzar los proyectos éticos y políticos de la ecocrítica, en definitiva, crear una investigación que considere la materialidad del mundo no humano: que devuelva entidad al mundo natural. Los movimientos medioambientalistas del siglo XXI deben contemplar el mundo material y natural como  sujeto agente, pues no se puede dar por sentado que éstos existen “por ahí, en alguna parte.”&nbsp

Transcorporeality: an interview with Stacy Alaimo

The interview was mainly conducted at Tallinn University in January 2019, when Stacy Alaimo visited the Graduate Winter School “The Humanities and Posthumanities: New Ways of Being Human” and gave a plenary lecture titled “Onto-epistemologies for the Anthropocene, or Who will be the Subject of the Posthumanities?”, and completed in spring 2020, to address immediately unfolding issues. Alaimo is an internationally recognized scholar of American literature, ecocultural theory, environmental humanities, science studies, gender theory, and new materialism. She is the author of three monographs on environmental theory and ecocultural studies: “Undomesticated Ground: Recasting Nature as Feminist Space” (Cornell University Press, 2000); “Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self” (Indiana University Press, 2010); and “Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times” (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). Alaimo has edited and co-edited essay collections, including “Science Studies and the Blue Humanities” (essay cluster for SLSA journal, “Configurations”. Fall 2019); Matter (MacMillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks, 2017); “Material Feminisms” (with Susan Hekman, Indiana University Press, 2008), and is the author of a significant number of essays and book chapters. She co-edits a book series, “Elements,” at Duke University Press. Her current work focuses on oceans and marine life: she is currently finishing a book tentatively titled, Composing “Blue Ecologies: Science, Aesthetics, and the Creatures of the Abyss”. Alaimo served as co-President of ASLE (The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment), and created and directed the cross-disciplinary minor in Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the University of Texas and Arlington. She joined the faculty of the University of Oregon in 2019, where she is Professor of English and core faculty member in environmental studies. The interview addresses the evolution of her views as represented in “Undomesticated Ground” (2000), as well as the connections and tensions of feminism and environmentalism; it moves on to “Bodily Natures” (2010), in which she develops her seminal concept of transcorporeality; and looks into her ongoing interest in the deep sea and its representation in culture, the focus of her current book project, “Composing Blue Ecologies”. The interview discusses the importance of transcorporeality in the Anthropocene, as an alternative to “self-aggrandizing” accounts “in which some transhistorical ‘Man’ acts upon the inert, external matter of the world.” Examples from both science and culture illustrate the concepts discussed, reaching out into important political concerns of the day, such as climate refugees, sustainability as a labour and power issue, divisive dichotomies and understanding difference. The theme of water as an example of transcorporeality and a burning ecological issue is taken up, touching upon the current vulnerability of the Baltic Sea and elaborating on the material and ideas developed in the new book that Stacy Alaimo is working on. The final part of the interview addresses the environmental implications of the COVID-19 crisis.“Las Humanidades y las Posthumanidades: Nuevas Maneras de Ser Humano” de su Escuela de Invierno para Doctorandos, donde impartió una conferencia plenaria titulada “Onto-epistemologías para el Antropoceno, o ¿quién será el Sujeto de las Posthumanidades?”, y se completó durante la primavera de 2020, con el objetivo de abordar los acontecimientos que estaban desarrollándose en ese momento. Alaimo es una académica reconocida internacionalmente que está especializada en los campos de literatura estadounidense, teoría ecocultural, humanidades ambientales, estudios de ciencias, teoría de género y nuevo materialismo. Es la autora de tres monografías dedicadas a la teoría medioambiental y a los estudios ecoculturales: “Undomesticated Ground: Recasting Nature as Feminist Space” (Cornell University Press, 2000); “Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self” (Indiana University Press, 2010); y Exposed: “Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times” (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). Además, coedita “Elements”, una colección de libros de la Duke University Press. Su trabajo actual se centra en los océanos y en la vida marina: está terminando un libro provisionalmente titulado “Composing Blue Ecologies: Science, Aesthetics, and the Creatures of the Abyss”. Alaimo ejerció como co-presidente de ASLE (The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment), y creó y dirigió la carrera interdisciplinar en Estudios Medioambientales y de Sostenibilidad en la Universidad de Texas y Arlington. Se incorporó al claustro de la Universidad de Oregón en 2019, donde ejerce de Catedrática de Estudios Ingleses y es una parte central de la plantilla docente dedicada a los estudios medioambientales. La entrevista aborda la evolución de las teorías propuestas en “Undomesticated Ground” (2000), así como las conexiones y las tensiones entre el feminismo y el ecologismo; continúa con “Bodily Natures” (2010), en el que la autora desarrolla su influyente concepto de transcorporealidad, y finalmente termina con una mirada a su actual interés en el mar profundo y sus representaciones culturales, que conforma el núcleo de su actual proyecto literario: “Composing Blue Ecologies”. La entrevista examina la importancia de la transcorporealidad en el Antropoceno como una alternativa a los relatos de “enaltecimiento propio”, “en los que “un supuesto ‘Hombre’ transhistórico actúa sobre la materia del mundo, que es inerte y externa a él”. Para ilustrar los conceptos tratados se emplean ejemplos provenientes de la ciencia y la cultura, abarcando preocupaciones políticas actuales como los refugiados ambientales, la sostenibilidad como trabajo y como estructura de poder, y las dicotomías divisivas y el entendimiento de la diferencia. Además, se trata el concepto del agua como ejemplo de transcorporealidad y de problema ecológico urgente, mencionando la vulnerabilidad actual del Mar Báltico y detallando el material y las ideas desarrolladas en el nuevo libro en el que Stacy Alaimo está trabajando actualmente. La parte final de la entrevista se entra en la trascendencia medioambiental de la crisis del COVID-19

Body burdens: the materiality of work in Rita Wong's 'Forage'

Rita Wong’s work is fundamentally concerned with exploring and exposing the entanglement of economic, subjective and ecological exploitation. Wong is an Asian Canadian writer who, as a critic, has addressed theories of work and labour, both in regards to Asian racialization and labour in literature, and the ‘work’ of the writer within and against capitalism. This chapter, however, focuses on Wong’s poetry, specifically her 2007 collection 'forage'. Much of the poetry collected in forage addresses the social and environmental injustices of global capitalism by following the disguised and mystified routes of supply chains to reveal the materiality of work. The forms and techniques of Wong’s poetry—including ruptured lyric, found text, open field poetics and citation—reveal the movement of materials around the world, at the same time as they attend to the experiences of migrant and indentured workers exposed to noxious materials and degraded environments. Before poetry is discussed, however, it is necessary to introduce the theories of transcorporeality and slow violence. This theoretical framework will help reveal how Wong’s poetry advances a new way of seeing work and exposing capitalist complicity in human suffering and environmental damage by making visible the materiality of labour exchange. Materiality emerges as a fundamental consideration in any theory of work, proposing a counter-narrative to theories of full automation, deterritorialisation and dematerialisation