Environmental Criticism

Abstract

We live in a time of rampant environmental crisis and environmental injustice. Environmental criticism seeks to analyze the role of material and symbolic rhetoric in deconstructing, mediating, and composing relationships between humans, more-than-humans, and the environment. This essay offers a reflection on the status of environmental criticism as a subfield within rhetorical criticism with a focus on two topoi that have animated discussions about rhetorical criticism for many years: text and critical judgment. Through exploring these topoi, I reflect on the state of environmental criticism, what it has to offer to broader conversations within rhetorical criticism, and some future directions. The essay concludes by arguing that environmental criticism is an inherently critical approach that is premised on the idea of a crisis/care discipline.

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