Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor [[electronic resource] /] / Rob Nixon

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910457788403321
• Autore: Nixon Rob <1954->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge, MA, : Harvard University Press, 2011
• ISBN: 0-674-24799-X; 0-674-06119-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (371 p.)
• Classificazione: EC 1850
• Disciplina: 820.9/36
• Soggetti: Commonwealth literature (English) - History and criticism; American literature - History and criticism; Ecology in literature; Environmentalism in literature; Human ecology in literature; Postcolonialism in literature; Colonies in literature; Ecocriticism; Human security; Poor - Developing countries; Imperialism - Environmental aspects; Globalization - Environmental aspects; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1. Slow Violence, Neoliberalism, and the Environmental Picaresque -- 2. Fast-forward Fossil -- 3. Pipedreams -- 4. Slow Violence, Gender, and the Environmentalism of the Poor -- 5. Unimagined Communities -- 6. Stranger in the Eco-village -- 7. Ecologies of the Aftermath -- 8. Environmentalism, Postcolonialism, and American Studies -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index -- Backmatter
• Sommario/riassunto: The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and the environmental aftermath of war takes place gradually ; and often invisibly. Using the innovative concept of "slow violence" to describe these threats, Rob Nixon focuses on the inattention we have paid to the attritional lethality of many environmental crises, in contrast with the sensational, spectacle-driven messaging that impels public activism today. Slow violence, because it is so readily ignored by a hard-charging capitalism, exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation as life-sustaining conditions erode.In a book of extraordinary scope, Nixon examines a cluster of writer-activists affiliated with the environmentalism of the poor in the global South. By approaching environmental justice literature from this transnational perspective, he exposes the limitations of the national and local frames that dominate environmental writing. And by skillfully illuminating the strategies these writer-activists deploy to give dramatic visibility to environmental emergencies, Nixon invites his readers to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time.