Econarrative - by Arran Stibbe (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Econarratives are all around us, describing and shaping human interactions with other species and the physical environment. This book provides a foundational theory of econarrative, drawing from narratology, human ecology, critical discourse analysis, and ecolinguistics, and offering insights from a rich variety of texts including:

- Creation myths
- Indigenous podcasts
- Ethical leadership speeches
- Haiku poetry
- Documentary films
- New nature writing
- Advertisements and campaigns
- Apocalyptic stories

Adopting a global, transdisciplinary approach, it conducts in-depth analysis of specific works, including the Cherokee myth How the World Was Made, the speeches of Vandana Shiva, Nightwalk by Chris Yates, Naomi Klein's documentary This Changes Everything, the podcasts of Mohawk seed-keeper Rowen White, the Book of Revelation, and The Dark Mountain Manifesto.

Raising awareness of the powerful role that language plays in structuring our lives and society, the book reveals narratological and linguistic features that convey activation, emotion, empathy, identity, placefulness, enchantment, compassion and other key factors that shape interactions with the natural world. If we want real, fundamental change, then we must search for new econarratives to live by.

Review Quotes

"Econarrative is a thought-provoking and insightful book that challenges existing narratives and offers a compelling vision for a more sustainable future. Stibbe's interdisciplinary approach, engaging writing style, and recognition of the agency of other species make this book a valuable contribution to the field of ethics, ecolinguistics, and environmental communication. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reshaping human relationships with other species and the physical environment and exploring the transformative potential of narratives." --Social Semiotics

"A timely publication ... this book offers a well-defined, comprehensive, and coherent overview of econarratives, inspiring readers to recognize the ecological significance of these narratives, so it will be a new masterpiece in ecolinguistics." --Journal of World Languages

"Econarrative continues and develops an existing trend in ecolinguistics to highlight existing ecocentric texts and to create more of them. Indeed, the book's chief contribution lies in pointing the way in this direction ... Perhaps the main goal [of this book] could be to take inspiration from ecolinguistics to change the way we and others live so as improve the way we humans interact with the planet's other species and with the physical environment." --Autonomy and Responsibility Journal of Educational Sciences

"This book, presenting a clearly defined, comprehensive and coherent overview of econarrative with cogent and intrinsically interesting illustrative examples and a strong argument, is set to become the authoritative and seminal text of a new field." --Guy Cook, Emeritus Professor of Language in Education, King's College London, UK

"Timely, compelling and written with great lucidity and clarity, this book offers a wide-ranging account of econarrative and its crucial function in protecting the ecosystems that life depends on. Alongside narratological and linguistic reflections, it presents an impassioned case for challenging our unsustainable civilisation and finding new econarratives to live by." --Emanuela Ettorre, Professor of English, Università degli Studi 'Gabriele d'Annunzio', Chieti-Pescara, Italy

About the Author

Arran Stibbe is Professor of Ecological Linguistics at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. He has an academic background in both linguistics and human ecology and combines the two in his research and teaching. He is founder of the International Ecolinguistics Association, author of Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By (2020), and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy for teaching excellence.