Mourning Nature: Hope at the Heart of Ecological Loss and Grief

355 Pages·2017·19.214 MB·English

by  Ashlee Cunsolo, Karen Landman

Mourning nature
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MOURNING
Nature
Hope at the Heart
of Ecological Loss
and Grief
edited by ashlee Cunsolo
and Karen landMan
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston | London | Chicago
© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2017
ISBN 978-0-7735-4933-3 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-7735-4934-0 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-7735-4935-7 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-7735-4936-4 (ePUB)
Legal deposit second quarter 2017
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through
the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also
acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada
through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Mourning nature : hope at the heart of ecological loss and grief / edited
by Ashlee Cunsolo and Karen Landman.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7735-4933-3 (cloth). – ISBN 978-0-7735-4934-0 (paper). –
ISBN 978-0-7735-4935-7 (ePDF). – ISBN 978-0-7735-4936-4 (ePUB)
1. Environmental degradation – Psychological aspects. 2. Ecological
disturbances – Psychological aspects. 3. Global environmental change
– Psychological aspects. 4. Grief. 5. Loss (Psychology). I. Cunsolo,
Ashlee, 1979–, author, editor II. Landman, Karen, 1954–, editor
GE140.M68 2017 363.7 C2017-900000-4
C2017-900001-2
Set in 10.3/14 Calluna with Calluna Sans and Newslab
Book design & typesetting by Garet Markvoort, zijn digital
To all those who have grieved beyond the human …
And to those who continue to find hope in the face of
ecological loss and degradation …
May our individual and collective mourning unite, catalyze,
characterize, mobilize, and heal.
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Contents
Figures | ix
Acknowledgments | xi
Prologue: She Was Bereft | xiii
ashlee Cunsolo
Introduction: To Mourn beyond the Human | 3
ashlee Cunsolo and Karen landMan
1 Mourning the Loss of Wild Soundscapes: A Rationale for Context
When Experiencing Natural Sound | 27
bernie Krause
2 Environmental Mourning and the Religious Imagination | 39
nanCy Menning
3 Mourning Ourselves and/as Our Relatives: Environment
as Kinship | 64
sebastian F. braun
4 In the Absence of Sparrows | 92
helen Whale and FranKlin ginn
5 Where Have All the Boronia Gone? A Posthumanist Model of
Environmental Mourning | 117
John Charles ryan
6 Losing My Place: Landscapes of Depression | 144
Catriona sandilands
7 Climate Change as the Work of Mourning | 169
ashlee Cunsolo
8 Auguries of Elegy: The Art and Ethics of Ecological Grieving | 190
JessiCa Marion barr
9 Making Loss the Centre: Podcasting Our Environmental
Grief | 227
andreW MarK and aManda di battista
10 Emotional Solidarity: Ecological Emotional Outlaws Mourning
Environmental Loss and Empowering Positive Change | 258
lisa Kretz
11 Solastalgia and the New Mourning | 292
glenn albreCht
Epilogue: The Wild Creatures | 316
PatriCK lane
Contributors | 319
Index | 327
Figures
4.1 Sign marking the “first encounter” with a sparrow | 102
4.2 One of the “hidden” spaces of sparrows | 105
8.1 Kerr Eby, St Mihiel, September 13, 1918: The Great Black
Cloud (1918/1934). Collection of the Mattatuck Museum,
Waterbury | 194
8.2 Gwen Curry, Song of the Dodo (1999). © Gwen Curry | 200
8.3 Gwen Curry, Song of the Dodo (detail) (1999). © Gwen
Curry | 201
8.4 Edward Burtynsky, Oxford Tire Pile #2, Westley, California, 1999.
Photo © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery,
Toronto | 204
8.5 Christian Boltanski, Personnes (2010), installation view, Grand
Palais, Paris. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery
© Monumenta/MCC. Photo credit: Didier Plowly | 205
8.6 Gwen Curry, Void Field (after Kapoor) (1998–2002). © Gwen
Curry. | 206
8.7 Gwen Curry, Void Field (after Kapoor) (detail) (1998–2002).
© Gwen Curry | 207
8.8 Jessica Marion Barr, Augury : Elegy (2011). © Jessica Marion Barr.
Photo credit: Karen Abel | 210
8.9 Jessica Marion Barr, Augury : Elegy (2011) (detail). © Jessica Marion
Barr. Photo credit: Karen Abel | 211
8.10 Deborah Samuel, Elegy – Cardinal, Duck and Solitaire.1 from the
Elegy series, produced with the Royal Ontario Museum (2012).
© Deborah Samuel | 212
8.11 Chris Jordan, CF000144 from the series Midway: Message from the
Gyre (2009–present). Courtesy and © Chris Jordan Studio | 213