Latina/o Literature and the Cross-Currents of U.S. Environmentalism

This project aims to develop a book-length study, tentatively titled "Latina/o and the Cross-Currents of U.S. Environmentalism," that identifies parallel and countervailing traditions of environmental thought in contemporary Latina/o literature that speak powerfully to environmental justice frameworks. The book will address the lack of attention to environmental issues within Latina/o studies, while also highlighting innovative environmental thinking in Latina/o texts to ecocritics. The analysis of the term Latina/o environmental imaginary explores meanings of ecology, environmentalism, place, and agriculture in Latina/o literature. Moreover, this project builds on the work of postcolonial critics like Ramachandra Guha who argue that marginalized peoples are often at the forefront of environmental thinking. In addition, this project seeks to provide a literary history of the environmental imaginary in Latina/o texts that dates to the very origins of the fields in the late 1950s. This work, therefore, demonstrates a sustained engagement with environmental thinking across a wide range of Latina/o literary texts.