This roundtable discussion will take place at the annual conference of the
Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, which will
take place in Flagstaff, Arizona, June 19-23 at Northern Arizona
University. For more information, visit http://www.asle.umn.edu/
Ecocriticism after Seattle: Labor and the Environment
During the protests against the policies of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund in Seattle in November 1999, and again in
Washington, DC in April 2000, green activists found themselves fighting side
by side with some surprising allies=8Bsteelworkers, loggers, longshore
workers, and representatives of a broad range of other labor unions. In
Seattle, union bureaucrats attempted to prevent their members from marching
into the "no-protest zone" where police were attacking non-violent
environmental protesters. Rank-and-filers pushed past their leadership,
with one steelworker shouting, "Get out of the way! I'm going down there to
help those turtle kids!"
This roundtable discussion will take up theoretical and practical versions
of the following questions:
Are the broad coalitions that have developed in the international
anti-globalization movement merely conjunctural?
If not, do they require us to rethink the long-standing opposition between
ecocriticism and Marxism? If so, how?
What are the similarities and differences between ecological models of
complex systems and classical dialectical materialism?
How do Marxism and environmentalism similarly and differently envision an
utopian future? How do they envision the process of getting there?
Each participant will be asked to deliver a brief position statement. These
will be followed by a moderated, in-depth discussion. If you would like to
participate in this discussion, please contact Lance Newman as soon as
possible at:
Department of English and Philosophy
State University of West Georgia
Carrollton, GA 30118-2200
W: 770-836-6512
H: 404-627-1086
lnewman@westga.edu
http://www.westga.edu/~lnewman
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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