Environmental humanities and ecocriticism

Environmental humanities signifies an interdisciplinary perspective on the environment and humans’ relationships to it. Seeking a holistic vision of such interactions, this “field” often includes concepts not only from traditional humanities disciplines such as history, cultural studies, philosophy, and literary studies, but also from social sciences such as sociology and natural sciences such as biology.  Ecocriticism describes a flexible, broad scholarly methodology that investigates various textual genres and modes; it addresses questions of how cultures construct and are constructed by the other-than-human world. Both environmental humanities and ecocriticism emphasize activism, social responsibility, and a planetary perspective.

Professor Kilcup’s work in environmental humanities and ecocriticism illuminates how earlier women writers contribute to traditions of American environmental writing, what their affective strategies accomplished, and what we can learn from these strategies in facing current environmental challenges.

Please click on the image above for examples of Professor Kilcup’s work in environmental humanities and ecocriticism.