Natural Discourse

Christian R. Weisser, Sidney I. Dobrin

Description

The first full-length book to address the relationships between environment and discourse, Natural Discourse explains why and how ecocomposition has become such a critical part of composition studies. Beginning by exploring the roots of ecocomposition, including a history of the use of the term ecocomposition, the book then examines ecological aspects of composition studies, and looks at how ecocomposition is informed by ecocriticism, cultural studies, ecofeminism, environmental rhetoric, and composition studies. The authors draw on their own experiences as teachers of writing and outdoor enthusiasts to describe how ecocomposition can address issues of language and nature, public intellectualism, and pedagogy.
Acknowledgments

Foreword by Edward M. White

Chapter 1: Ecocomposition

Chapter 2: The Evolution of Ecocomposition

Chapter 3: Ecology and Composition

Chapter 4: Ecocomposition and Activist Intellectualism

Chapter 5: Ecocomposition Pedagogy

Chapter 6: Ecocomposition: Perspectives, Perceptions, and Possibilities

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Applied ecology

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488690
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

N AT U R A L D I S C O U R S E

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N AT U R A L D I S C O U R S E

Toward Ecocomposition



S I D N E Y I . D O B R I N

C H R I S T I A N R . W E I S S E R

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

This one’s for Jenna, Jaylen, Roy V, Remi, Daniel, and Eva

This book is for the chiefs of my tribe: Robert V. and Robert C. Weisser • This book is dedicated to the world’s oceans

All authors’ royalties earned from sales of this book will be donated to The Surfrider Foundation to help provide education about and protection for the world’s oceans and beaches. To learn more about The Surfrider Foundation, visit http://www.surfrider.org or write to: The Surfrider Foundation 122 S. El Camino Real PMB #67 San Clemente, CA 92672

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2002 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207 Production by Michael Haggett Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dobrin, Sidney I., 1967– Natural discourse: toward ecocomposition /Sidney I. Dobrin, Christian R. Weisser. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 0–7914–5355–3 (alk. paper)—0–7914–5356–1 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. English language—Rhetoric—Study and teaching. 2. Natural history literature—Authorship—Study and teaching. 3. Environmental literature— Authorship—Study and teaching. 4. Natural history—Authorship—Study and teaching. 5. Ecology—Authorship—Study and teaching. 6. Interdisciplinary approach in education. 7. Academic writing—Study and teaching. 8. Nature— Study and teaching. I. Weisser, Christian R., 1970. II. Title. . 2002 808'.066333—dc21 2001054943

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments

Contents

Foreword by Edward M. White

Chapter 1: Ecocomposition Chapter 2: The Evolution of Ecocomposition Chapter 3: Ecology and Composition

Chapter 4: Ecocomposition and Activist Intellectualism Chapter 5: Ecocomposition Pedagogy Chapter 6: Ecocomposition: Perspectives, Perceptions, and Possibilities

Notes References Index

vii ix

1 17 61 85 115

153

179 183 193

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Acknowledgments

Since writing is an ecological endeavor, and our writing exists in a tangle of relationships with other texts, authors, and conversations, we would like to thank and acknowledge all of those who helped us complete this work. We are especially grateful to Anis Bawarshi, Julie Drew, and Chris Keller for their ongoing suggestions and input. We are grateful to Carla Blount for her support and assistance. We are deeply indebted to M. Jimmie Killings- worth, John Krajicek, Derek Owens, and Randall Roorda for their advice, support, and continuing encouragement. We wish to acknowledge and thank Ed White for contributing his wonderful forward to this book and for his never-ending support. We would like to thank Gary Olson for his continual encouragement and his talent for doubting us enough to push us toward higher aspirations. Thanks to Michael Haggett and Michael Campochiaro of SUNY Press for their work on this project. We are, of course, forever in debt to Priscilla Ross for her support of this project. We also owe a special debt of thanks to photographer David Pu’u, who do- nated the cover photograph for this book. And, as a good deal of this book was conceived and written on board a number of fishing and dive boats, we wish to thank all of those boat captains who told us to quit talking about discourse and either get in the water or reel in a fish.

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Foreword

      .     

Our oldest writings deal with the intersection of humans and their environ- ments: Adam and Eve harvesting more than they ought in the Garden of Eden, Odysseus trying to get home despite the winds and the waves, and so on. Ecocomposition may be a new term but it speaks to the oldest of human concerns. However, as Sidney Dobrin and Christian Weisser point out, something new has been added to this oldest of issues: we have recently gained, and actually begun to use, the power to destroy our environment and most life on our planet along with it. Thus the sense of urgency that we find throughout this book. Is there anything that matters more? This is not just one more composition textbook, nor even less, one more composition topic. Ecocomposition asks us above all to put ourselves in relation to the Mother of all topics, Nature herself. As Adam and Eve learned to their, and our, sorrow, to exploit Nature for personal goals is to lose out Big Time, to lose the intimate connection to Nature that allows us to live in comfort with Her. Or perhaps to live at all.

Every student, to be sure, has written about the environment, and deplored the sad state of affairs in far-off shrinking rain forests and expanding deserts. But that is not really what this book is about. Rather than evoke such routine complaints, Ecocomposition seeks to change the way we think about writing, and hence the way we think about the world we live in. For this is a book about rhetoric and deep theory of composition as much as it is about the natural environment. Here you will find analyses of environ- mental rhetoric, entirely new ways of considering the means of argument, original ways of reconsidering the fundamentals of composition. Logos, pa- thos, and ethos take on new meanings in the context of environmental dis- course. The authors ask us not only to think in new and more profound ways about Nature but also to understand writing as “natural discourse,” whose goals are to help writer and reader deepen their understanding of the