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Eco-Techno-Cosmopolitanism: Education, Inner Transformation and Practice in the Contemporary U.S. Eco-Disaster Novel

Njiru, Henry Muriithi
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-8083
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429560750

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, English.
My dissertation explores the ways in which environmental justice, disasters and other matters intersect with technology, education and the contemporary cosmopolitan theory and practice in the selected works of Margaret Atwood Leslie Silko, Barbara Kingsolver, Ruth Ozeki, Starhawk and other writers. I argue that by examining the various ecological and technological disasters, the ecocritical and cosmopolitan novels portray the ways in ecological, technological and cosmopolitan education, inner transformation and practices rooted in the material conditions of people can be used to address environmental and social injustices. That is, contemporary ecocriticism must embrace a vision of cosmopolitanism that includes global environmental stewardship, social justice and human responsibility which transcend the limits and parochialisms of race, tribe, political and intellectual affiliations, social class and gender. Such cosmopolitanism is not synonymous with neoliberal ideologies and practices, mimicry of Western lifestyles and ideas, hybridity, multiculturalism, and diversity. I ground my work in ecocriticism, the contemporary cosmopolitan theory and practice, critical theories of environmental and social justice, environmental education and communication, and the critical theory of technology. The selected novels examine how various countries and communities must use cosmopolitan approaches and ecological thought to identify, discuss and combat carbon emissions, climate change and other environmental and technological issues and threats. Such efforts require the tenets, education and practices of democracy at all levels. I argue that the widespread environmental skepticism and manipulation of scientific research enhance necropolitics, necrocapitalism, serious environmental disasters and social injustices as portrayed in A Planet for the President, A Civil Action, All Over Creation, and State of fear. My work also shows how Silko’s Almanac of the Dead imagines environmental and social revolution as a way of dealing with the conspiratorial destruction and distortion of Amerindian and African American histories, environments, epistemologies, religions, identities and cultures. Additionally, I show how ecological penance, storytelling and posthuman cosmopolitanism in Atwood’s trilogy, Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing, and Kingsolver’s A Flight Behavior can overcome the tyranny of corporations, unsustainable consumption and social injustices. The novels emphasize ecological thought since humanity is inextricably connected with the fauna, flora and other planetary phenomena.
Madelyn Detloff (Committee Chair)
Mark Peterson (Committee Member)
Michele Simmons (Committee Member)
Jayasena Nalin (Committee Member)
Erin Edwards (Committee Member)
227 p.
American Literature
Eco-cosmopolitanism; education; ecodisasters; critical theory of technology; environmental communication; environmental justice; apocalyptic novels; posthumanism; environmental skepticism; necropoliltics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Njiru, H. M. (2015). Eco-Techno-Cosmopolitanism: Education, Inner Transformation and Practice in the Contemporary U.S. Eco-Disaster Novel [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429560750

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Njiru, Henry. Eco-Techno-Cosmopolitanism: Education, Inner Transformation and Practice in the Contemporary U.S. Eco-Disaster Novel. 2015. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429560750.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Njiru, Henry. "Eco-Techno-Cosmopolitanism: Education, Inner Transformation and Practice in the Contemporary U.S. Eco-Disaster Novel." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1429560750

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1429560750
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.