Thinking ecologically with Judith Butler

Joshua Trey Barnett

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

This essay traces several productive points of overlap and departure between the recent philosophical work of Judith Butler and ecological thinking. While ecological philosophers and theorists have often dismissed Butler's treatment of politics and ethics as narrowly anthropocentric, this essay charges that there are considerable conceptual resources within Butler's oeuvre that are not only in accord with much recent ecological theorising but which also stand to enrich our approaches to ecological thinking and politics. Focusing specifically on three conceptual clusters–exposure and precarity; infrastructure and coexistence; and assemblies and assemblages–this essay demonstrates how Butler's work can be leveraged to augment the ways we approach both ecosystems and our more-than-human cohabitants as elements of and actors within the dynamic play of forces that make coexistence more or less possible.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)20-39
Number of pages20
JournalCulture, Theory and Critique
Volume59
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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