Shows
ASLE EcoCast PodcastCows in the Caribbean: Cattle Chat with Chaz and AndrewThis month, we got to speak with Chaz Yingling and Andrew Kettler about their forthcoming book: The Once and the Future Cow. The book's aim is to show an understudied history of the cow not just in the American West, but on the islands in the Caribbean. But recentering the cow also means paying attention not to the typical unilateral framing of human-nonhuman interaction as humans impacting cows, but instead to how cows themselves are agential actors that profoundly shaped their surroundings.
For more of Yingling and Kettler:
Yingling Website: https://ww...
2026-01-0657 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFocusing on the "Wolf" in Werewolf: EcoGothic with Kaja FranckKaja sat down with Lindsay and I this month to discuss how scholars typically focus on the "were" in the term werewolf, but she wants us to bring more focus to the "wolf" aspect. Why are we fascinated by the prospect of becoming a wolf, and why do coyotes captivate us when they come into cities? In her new book, The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature: Wolves, Woods and Wilderness, she tells us what werewolves tell us about ourselves and about wolves themselves. Recorded right after Halloween, this episode is a spooky one!
For more of K...
2025-12-0556 minASLE EcoCast PodcastExpanding Our Sense of Ecofascism: Everyday Ecofascism with Alex MenriskyWhat is ecofascism and who "is" ecofascist or "does" ecofascism? Alex Menrisky walks us through why his new book is titled "Everyday Ecofascism," or the ways that ecofascism is not solely a far-right governmental structure but a genre, a mode of storytelling. This means that ecofascism emerges through not just laws and political leaders but through quotidian acts and utterances by citizens and politicians alike. Listen in as he walks us through representations of land, food, drugs, tools, and more that often utilize both ecological visions of catastrophe and alarm with fascist thought.
For more o...
2025-11-071h 03ASLE EcoCast PodcastWorshipping the Gas Station: Rethinking Energy with Bart WellingThis month we had a fascinating conversation with Bart Welling, whose presentation at the ASLE Conference this last summer was caught by Lindsay! Bart's research was informed by his own road trip around the country, a month-long, 12,000-mile trip. This chat was particularly special as Bart is still completing his book project, and we aim to have more episodes in the future with more research-in-progress!
Bart walked us through his new book project, "Resisting Energy: The Long Struggle Against Irresponsible Power," that looks at the modern debates over fossil fuels and energy, arguing we need t...
2025-10-0349 minASLE EcoCast PodcastBecoming Botanical: Plant Life in Modern JapanThis month we sat down with Jon Pitt to discuss his new book "Botanical Imagination: Rethinking Plants in Modern Japan." The book spans Japanese writers and filmmakers from the 1930s to today whose works all ask a similar question: What would it mean for humans to be more like plants? Looking at the ways that this question informed critiques of colonialism and even today immigration in these works, Pitt labels how these authors take up the plasticity of plants "becoming botanical."
This episode is a great companion piece to our last episode with Rachel DiNitto o...
2025-09-0547 minASLE EcoCast PodcastDefining Disaster, Defining Ecocinema: Taking a Closer Look at Japan with Rachel DiNittoFor this month’s episode, we sat down with Rachel DiNitto to discuss the pioneering edited volume Eco-Disasters in Japanese Cinema (2024) and her own chapter in it on "Toxicoscapes." With thematic coverage that ranges from contaminated childhoods, to nuclear anxiety, and all the way to apocalyptic futures, this manuscript both expands the overall definition of “eco-disaster” and focuses in on the specificity of the Japanese context. Join us for a conversation that offers new perspectives to ecocinema enthusiasts in general and scholars of Japanese environments alike!
For more from Rachel:
https://www.racheldinitto.com/
ASLE...
2025-08-0343 minASLE EcoCast PodcastEnvironmentalisms: Latinx Catholicism and the EnvironmentIn this episode, Alex sat down with Amanda Baugh to chat about her new book, Falling in Love with Nature: The Values of Latinx Catholic Environmentalism. An ethnographic study of Hispanic Catholics, Baugh's book argues to widen the definition of environmentalism to include those who commit more sustainable actions (recycling, public transportation) not because of an express desire to be an environmentalist, but because of pious attention to loving nature in order to uphold one's faith. Spurred by a Public Religion Research Institute survey that found that Hispanic Catholics were more concerned about climate change than any other religious...
2025-07-0342 minASLE EcoCast PodcastOne Day At A Time: Kate Rigby's Meditation on CreationFor this episode, we sat down with Kate Rigby to discuss her new book Meditations on Creation in an Era of Extinction. The text is a reclaiming of the ancient theological meditation form, the hexameron, to consider the climate crisis and mass extinction. Meditating on a day of creation in each chapter, she tells us about the insights each day of creation has for the Anthropocene like contemplative practices in the First Day and the move from a "Kingdom" to a "Kindom" of species in the Fifth Day. This episode and the next will be on religion and ecology...
2025-05-3057 minASLE EcoCast PodcastCreating Coralations: Melody Jue and Finding New Coral ProtagonistsWe sat down with Melody Jue for a second episode to discuss her new work Coralations, a fascinating deep dive into the coral we know and the coral we need to know. Though tropical corals inundate perceptions of coral, there are other deep water and cold water coral that have different connections or coralations to anthropogenic climate change. By rethinking "normative coral," new media across photography, sci fi, and more come into the light.
For more about Melody Jue:
Website: Melodyjue.info
Email: mjue@ucsb.edu
G...
2025-05-0245 minASLE EcoCast PodcastBuilding an Audio Series: BlueLab's "Mining for the Climate"This month's episode is a podcast about a podcast! We sat down with Nate Otjen and Jessica Ng, two of the leaders of the audio story series "Mining for the Climate," to discuss the audio documentary series and its investigation of the rhetoric arguing for continued mining as essential to the "green transition." The first season, set in Gaston County, North Carolina, details the controversy surrounding a proposed lithium mine in the county, and the upcoming second season takes listeners to Nevada to discuss the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine. We discuss their creation process, how they constructed the narrative...
2025-04-0452 minASLE EcoCast PodcastArrhythmic Time Keeping: Seasonality in the AnthropoceneIn this month's episode, we spoke with Sarah Dimick about her new book Unseasonable: Climate Change in Global Literatures. It connects literature and the environment through an idea of seasonality and rhythm. Climate change can be understood as a time of unseasonableness, of environmental events and cycles being outside normal rhythms of time. Living today is defined by this arrhythmia, and Sarah charts new territory in studying literature for its reflections of this cyclicality, what she calls literary phenology.
For more from Sarah Dimick:
Email: sarah.dimick@northwestern.edu
...
2025-02-2836 minASLE EcoCast PodcastWhat 'Might' The World Be, What Might It Become? Carolyn Fornoff's Subjunctive AestheticsToday's episode begins a slight turn toward ecoaesthetics in the next few episodes, and we begin with Carolyn Fornoff's new book Subjunctive Aesthetics: Mexican Cultural Production in the Era of Climate Change (2024). Carolyn spoke to us about subjunctivity, a grammatical mood characterized by hypotheticals, and how its imaginative style has sprouted up in recent Mexican film, activism, and texts not to depict climate change in an "evidentiary" sense (a typical narrative style of eco-literature and scholarship to highlight society's quantifiable effect on the environment) but in a more conditional and conjectural sense of possibility. What might the future hold...
2025-01-2945 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFighting Extinction in the Field: A Conversation with Two North Carolina Extinction BiologistsIn the final episode of our extinction series, we chatted with two extinction biologists, Hope Sutton and Sara Schweitzer, who work for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Sara is the assistant chief and wildlife diversity program director and Hope is the eastern wildlife diversity supervisor. We discussed their challenges in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville and their triumphs in the successful rehabilitation of some of the more than 100 endangered animals under their purview! While their work is field-focused, they remind us that the stories told about the animals are extremely important to influence public support for...
2024-12-3046 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFrameworks of Extinction and Negation in Cinema: A conversation with Jean-Thomas Tremblay and Steven SwarbrickIn this second episode of our ongoing extinction series, we sit down with Jean-Thomas Tremblay and Steven Swarbrick to discuss their thought-provoking co-written manuscript, Negative Life: The Cinema of Extinction. Our conversation with them touches not only on the concrete topics of extinction and cinema, but also explores the theoretical potential of negations and contradictions as frameworks for understanding the relationship (or not) between humans and the more-than-human world.
For more from Jean-Thomas and Steven:
https://jeanthomastremblay.carrd.co/
https://www.stevenswarbrick.com/
ASLE EcoCast:
2024-11-2949 minASLE EcoCast PodcastShould Humans Go Extinct? Asking the Big Question with Todd MayIn this first episode of our extinction series, we met with Todd May to discuss his new book Should We Go Extinct? A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Times. This massive question is accessibly analyzed yet Todd also brings in issues underdiscussed in extinction discourse: Who is the inexact "we" behind the question, how do different humans contribute to ecological crisis and therefore human and nonhuman extinction, and what is the role of art in deciding whether humanity's existence should continue? Instead of concluding on one side or the other, Todd finds asking the question of humanity's extinction itself is...
2024-10-2748 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFinding the "Symphony Inside You" - Nadia Colburn's I Say The Sky Poetry CollectionIn this episode, we met with Nadia Colburn to discuss her new poetry collection I Say the Sky! Deeply engaged with the ecological collapse happening around us while also reinvesting in our own existence, her poems range from the simplicity in appreciating the beauty of an onion to reassessing childhood trauma. We also talk through her multi-hyphenate pursuits and the continual search for the "symphony inside you".
For more on Nadia:
Website: nadiacolburn.com
Email: nadia@nadiacolburn.com
ASLE EcoCast:
If you have an idea fo...
2024-08-2740 minASLE EcoCast PodcastPolar Newspapers and Textual Production in Extreme Environments: Polar Series Finale!In our final episode of our polar environmental humanities series, we have Penn State English professor Hester Blum on to discuss her environmental humanities research on polar ecomedia! Dr. Blum discusses the ephemeral texts and productions aboard Arctic and Antarctic voyages including newspapers. Newspapers on polar voyages? Yes, you heard that right. These texts have contemporary and global lessons to teach in that their production took place while in extreme environments.
For more on Hester:
Twitter: @hesterblum
Email: hester.blum@psu.edu
Website: hesterblum.com
...
2024-07-2850 minASLE EcoCast Podcast(Mis)Conceptions of Antarctica with Dr. Leane!In our second episode of our polar environmental humanities series, we jump from the landscape paintings of the circumpolar north to the southern continent of Antarctica and speak with Dr. Elizabeth Leane at the University of Tasmania! As a Professor of Antarctic Studies, we discuss her work on perceptions of Antarctica historically and also sensorially. From pandemic misconceptions of cleanliness and silence on the continent to science fiction and Antarctic tourism, Leane walks us through the complex histories of the South Pole. We have one more episode in the series coming out next month!
For m...
2024-06-2741 minASLE EcoCast PodcastLandscape Paintings of the Circumpolar North: Polar Environmental Humanities Series Episode 1This is the first episode in our polar environmental humanities series with Dr. Isabelle Gapp from the University of Aberdeen! We met to discuss her new book, "A Circumpolar Landscape", and the fascinating comparisons between Scandinavian and Canadian landscape painting beyond national borders. We discuss the way the paintings can often exhibit masculine performativity in their erasures and how the painters are nostalgically reminiscing about a landscape changing in front of their eyes from colonial environmental degradation, making the landscapes they painted an "environmental history [that] had become a memory". Stay tuned for two more episodes in this series!
2024-05-2754 minASLE EcoCast PodcastMaking Photography Material: Siobhan Angus and The Elemental History of PhotographyOur conversation with Professor Angus discusses her brand-new book Camera Geologica: An Elemental History of Photography. As the title suggests, Angus connects photography with the materials that make it possible: bitumen, silver, platinum, iron, uranium, and rare earth elements. Each has been used at various points in photography's history to physically produce an image, and Siobhan tells us how photography doesn't exist without the mine and extraction. If, in Rob Nixon's words, capitalism "extract[s] in order to abstract", then Camera Geologica is undermining this abstraction by enmeshing photography with its material origin.
Fo...
2024-03-2644 minASLE EcoCast PodcastAgrotopias: Abby Goode and the Imagined Elsewheres of American Sustainability RhetoricOur conversation with Professor Goode explores her recent book Agrotopias: An American Literary History of Sustainability. Two recent phrases form the impetus of her book: "We Can't Solve the Climate Crisis Unless Black Lives Matter" and "Climate Change Is also a Racial Justice Problem". Goode traces these back to the enigmatic Thomas Jefferson to illuminate and enmesh the supposedly protoecological American past with its racist and eugenic histories by analyzing agrotopias. She defines agrotopias as "seemingly ideal worlds of agrarian stability and productive labor" (3).
Below are the three texts Goode offers as examples of alternatives t...
2024-02-2641 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFarewelcomeThis episode is a goodbye and a hello. Brandon Galm, the creator of EcoCast in 2020 and co-host since its inception, is now stepping away from the podcast to make more time for his new roles at Cloud County Community College in North Central Kansas. We say hello to Alex Tischer, a recent graduate from Wright State in English who is now applying to English Ph.D. programs. Brandon and Alex are on either side of the Ph.D. process, and this episode discusses the co-host transition, Brandon's next endeavors, and even recounts the origin story of the podcast four...
2024-02-0144 minASLE EcoCast PodcastThis Episode is a Whale Oiled Machine: A Conversation with Jamie L. Jones and the History of WhalingMany apologies for the whale pun in the title, but Brandon can never resist. This month he and Lindsay chat with Jamie L. Jones, author of Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling. Jamie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We discuss the fascinating history of whaling in the United States, ranging from the environmentally destructive to the culturally traditional. Moby Dick may or may not be discussed; you’ll have to listen to find out!
For more on Jamie:
Rendered Obsolete: ht...
2024-01-1539 minASLE EcoCast PodcastSpecial Episode: ASLE/AESS Conference ConversationsThis month’s episode was recorded live throughout the ASLE/AESS Conference in July 2023 in Portland. Brandon had the opportunity to set up a table at the conference and the five wonderful people who you’re getting to listen to on this episode stopped by and shared their work with him (and now you!)
Guest List:
Rajendra Ponde, Man, Nature, and Wildlife Depicted in the Jungle Literature of Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson
Lori DiPrete Brown, Montañas and 3 or 4 Rios: Antología Bilingüe, ebook available at various retailers
Pam Uschuk, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Art...
2023-12-2236 minASLE EcoCast Podcast“The Paradox of Place”: Appalachian Ecocriticism with Laura Wright and Jessica CoryIn this episode, Lindsay and Brandon are joined by Laura Wright and Jessica Cory to discuss their recent edited collection Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place. The episode kicks off with some gleeful sharing of a love for cryptids, but then gets into the heart of what it means to be from Appalachia, the common misconceptions of the area, and the important role those perceptions play in understanding the environmental issues facing the region.
For more on Laura and Jessica:
Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place:
https://ugapress.org/book/9780820363950/appalachian-ecocriticism-and-the-paradox-of-place/
2023-09-1052 minASLE EcoCast PodcastSaving the Day, Saving the Oceans: A Conversation with Ryan Poll about AquamanEcoCast heads back to the ocean again as its theme, this month to discuss Ryan Poll’s recent book Aquaman and the War Against Oceans. He and Brandon examine the character’s evolution, the comics’ role in an oceanic imaginary, and how Aquaman comics can help bring attention to the issues facing the environment.
ASLE is also looking for new showrunners! If you’re interested in taking over as a co-host, editor, and/or producer, please send an email to ASLE.EcoCast@gmail.com with a short bio and explanation of any experience with podcasting, interviewing, or audio pr...
2023-07-0240 minASLE EcoCast PodcastWhat is Your Center?: Re-thinking Maps and Oceans with Christina GerhardtThis month Lindsay and Brandon are joined by Christina Gerhardt, Associate Professor and Founder of the Environmental Humanities initiative at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and the Editor-in-Chief of ISLE. We discuss Christina’s recently released book (it comes out the same day as this episode!) Sea Change: Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean, which challenges us to re-consider the idea of mapping in a world increasingly affected by global warming.
For more on Christina:
Sea Change: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520304826/sea-change
Twitter: @TinaGerhardtEJ
Going to ASLE/A...
2023-05-2344 minASLE EcoCast PodcastWhat Stage are We In?: A Conversation on Ecological Grief with Joshua Trey BarnettThis month Lindsay and Brandon are joined by Joshua Trey Barnett, assistant professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, to discuss his recent book Mourning in the Anthropocene. We talk about extinction, what it means to grieve nature, and even get a little personal with the idea of naming and loss of pets.
Joshua’s Info:
Twitter: @joshuatbarnett
Email: barnett@psu.edu
Mourning in the Anthropocene: Ecological Grief and Earthly Coexistence: https://msupress.org/9781609177041/mourning-in-the-anthropocene/
Joshua’s Book Recommendations:
Shimmer: Flying Fox Exuberance in Wor...
2023-04-0940 minASLE EcoCast PodcastA Home on Their Back: A Conversation with Thom Van Dooren on Snails and ExtinctionThis month’s episode is no slog. It’s no slug, either. This month is all about the wonderful world of snails! Lindsay and Brandon are joined by Thom Van Dooren, Deputy Director at the Sydney Environment Institute and an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Sydney, Australia. Thom joins EcoCast to discuss his most recent book, A World in a Shell: Snail Stories for a Time of Extinction.
Thom’s Info:
https://www.thomvandooren.org/
A World in a Shell: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262047029/
Deborah Bird Rose...
2023-03-0136 minASLE EcoCast PodcastPeace with Nature: Exploring the Korean DMZ with Eleana KimEleana Kim, professor of anthropology and Asian American studies at UC Irvine, joins Lindsay and Brandon to discuss her work that examines the unique liminal space of the Korean DMZ, and the natural, militaristic, and hybrid ecosystems within it. Eleana argues that this particular space helps us better understand the impacts of war on the natural world, but that it also helps us better connect with the natural world and each other when we explore that space.
To contact Eleana:
https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/eleanakim/
The bir...
2023-01-0343 minASLE EcoCast PodcastReading the Blue: Melody Jue and Oceans as MediaThis month we dive deep (pun intended) into the work of Melody Jue, Associate Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara. Melody joins us to discuss her most recent book Wild Blue Media, and we get below the surface (pun intended) of how important oceans are, the human fascination with them, and how they serve as a space for orientation. The episode is a real splash (no pun intended)!
For more on Melody:
http://www.melodyjue.info/
Wild Blue Media: https://www.dukeupress.edu/wild-blue-media
ASLE EcoCast:
If you hav...
2022-11-1740 minASLE EcoCast PodcastWhy Did the Podcast Cross the Road?: Eco-comedy with Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. HeumannThe laughs are aplenty in this episode, which highlights the recent book by Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann: Film, Environment, Comedy: Eco-comedies on the Big Screen. Both Robin and Joseph are Professor Emeritus at Eastern Illinois University, in English and in Communications, respectively. In between the ha-has, we discuss what makes a comedy an eco-comedy, why laughter is important, and how comedy and activism might connect.
For more on Robin and Joseph:
Film, Environment, Comedy: Eco-comedies on the Big Screen: https://www.routledge.com/Film-Environment-Comedy-Eco-Comedies-on-the-Big-Screen/Murray-Heumann/p/book/9781032250410
Robin and Joe’s “E...
2022-10-1050 minASLE EcoCast PodcastOh, Snap: The Anti-Creep Climate Initiative’s Webzine Fighting EcofascismIt’s a full house this month! Lindsay and Brandon are joined by the six-member superhero team that makes up the Anti-Creep Climate Initiative to discuss their webzine, “Against the Ecofascist Creep” The Initiative is made up of the following:
April Anson, Assistant Professor of Public Humanities at San Diego State University, core faculty for the Institute for Ethics and Public Policy, and affiliate faculty in American Indian Studies.
Cassie Galentine, doctoral candidate in English at the University of Oregon.
Shane Hall, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Salisbury University.
Alex Menrisky, Assistant Professor in English and affiliate faculty i...
2022-09-0850 minASLE EcoCast PodcastEmpires in Ruin: A Conversation with Rina Garcia Chua and Jeffrey Santa AnaThis month Lindsay and Brandon are joined by Rina Garcia Chua and Jeffrey Santa Ana to discuss their recent edited collection Empire and Environment: Ecological Ruin in the Transpacific. Rina is an incoming Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellow in the Humanities at Simon Fraser University and she completed her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Jeffrey is an associate professor of English and affiliated faculty in Asian and Asian American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University. Among other things, the group discusses cigar-smoking monsters, the recent edited collection, and...
2022-08-101h 03ASLE EcoCast PodcastTwo Years Strong and GrowingAnother episode and another year older! That’s right, this episode marks TWO years of ASLE EcoCast! Thank you so much to everyone who’s joined us on this ride and to our incredible guests for sharing their awesome work with us.
This month is a special episode just to celebrate: we have excerpts from a wonderful short story by Cynthia Zhang, “what the water gave.” After Cynthia introduces us to the story and her work, Lindsay does an excellent reading of the story (with a little character voicework help from Brandon).
For more on Cynthia: ...
2022-07-0748 minASLE EcoCast PodcastFarewelcomeThis month’s episode is something a little different and something a little bittersweet. Brandon says, “See you soon,” to Jemma, and welcomes Lindsay S.R. Jolivette to the podcast. Lindsay will be taking over for Jemma on EcoCast, and while we’re very sad to see Jemma go (she’ll still be around when she can!), we’re also very happy to have Lindsay on board. We spend some time talking about Lindsay’s background (she also introduces us to her new segment on folklore), hearing about Jemma’s plans, and discussing the current state of academia, all while Brandon tr...
2022-06-0148 minASLE EcoCast PodcastThe Aesthetics of Asceticism: Thoreau, Religion, and Social Justice with Alda Bathrop-LewisAfter a brief hiatus, we’re happy to be back with a new episode! This month’s guest is Alda Bathrop-Lewis, research fellow at Australian Catholic University's Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, and author of 2021 book Thoreau's Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism. We discuss what links aesthetics to asceticism, and challenge the popular image of Thoreau as a solo hero in the woods, instead recognizing his deep sense of community and inheritance. Due to the tricky nature of coordinating three distant time zones, Brandon was unable to join the conversation this month.
Fo...
2022-05-0137 minASLE EcoCast PodcastWeaving the World: Poetry and Conversation with Heather SwanIt’s been a while since we’ve had some poetry on EcoCast, so… enjoy some poetry on EcoCast! We’re joined by Heather Swan, poet and lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Heather shares some poems from her collection A Kinship with Ash, and we discuss her non-fiction books, Where Honeybees Thrive and the forthcoming Where the Grass Still Sings. We talk about the wonder and grief inspired by witnessing the natural world and the harms done to it by humans, and think about the power of writing and art as means to “knit yourself back into the world”, as one of He...
2022-02-0241 minASLE EcoCast PodcastOn the Shoulders of Giants: Important Voices of Environmental Humanities--Joni AdamsonWe are very thrilled to share this month’s episode with everyone. Our guest hopefully needs no introduction for many of you: we’re joined by Joni Adamson, Professor of English and Environmental Humanities, and Director of the Environmental Humanities Initiative, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University. Joni’s work in ecocriticism and the environmental humanities stretches back to the field’s early days. We discuss her history, some of her recent work, as well as what she has in the pipeline for the future.
Humanities for the Environment, North American Observatory information: https...
2022-01-0340 minASLE EcoCast PodcastIt’s the End of World as We Know It (and the Hero Survives): Robert Geal and the Psychoanalysis of Disaster CinemaIn what wraps up our short run of film-centered episodes, we’re joined by Robert Geal, lecturer at University of Wolverhampton, UK to discuss his recent book Ecological Film Theory and Psychoanalysis: Surviving the Environmental Apocalypse. We discuss the role that disaster cinema has on our psychological relationship to the environment, environmental disaster, and society’s (in)action towards climate change.
Robert’s Book: https://www.routledge.com/Ecological-Film-Theory-and-Psychoanalysis-Surviving-the-Environmental-Apocalypse/Geal/p/book/9780367373412
For more on Robert:
Twitter: @RobertGeal
https://wwwwolverhampton.academia.edu/RobertGeal
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your pro...
2021-12-0146 minASLE EcoCast PodcastNature Creeps Back: Creature Features and the Environment with Christy Tidwell & Bridgitte BarclayWhat’s scarier than climate change? Not much, but this month’s guests--Bridgitte Barclay, Associate Professor at Aurora University, and Christy Tidwell, Associate Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology--join us to talk about the sub-genre of horror films known as creature features, and how these films can change how we think about environmental concerns.
For more on Christy and Bridgitte:
Christy: https://christymtidwell.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @christymtidwell
Bridgitte:https://bridgitteabarclay.wixsite.com/bridgittebarclay
Twitter: @bridgebarclay
Special Issue of Science Fiction Film and Television:https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/issue/6509
Creatures in the...
2021-10-3142 minASLE EcoCast PodcastMapping Stories: Lowell Wyse and EcospatialityThis month we’re joined by Lowell Wyse, author of the recent book Ecospatiality: A Place-Based Approach to American Literature. This episode is all about exploring spatiality in literature, specifically how authors map their work and how readers experience those spaces when navigating through the texts.
William Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wilderness”: https://www.williamcronon.net/writing/Trouble_with_Wilderness_Main.html
For more on Lowell:
Twitter: @lowelldw
Ecospatiality: https://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/9781609387747/ecospatiality
Tacoma Tree Foundation: https://www.tacomatreefoundation.org/
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit you...
2021-10-0138 minASLE EcoCast PodcastPlants as Objects of Desire: A Conversation with Jared Margulies and Gina StammIn this month’s episode, we sit down with Jared Margulies and Gina Stamm to talk about their collaborative research into the wild and wonderful world of rare plant traders and collectors, and its intersection with psychoanalytic literary analysis and environmental humanities. Both Jared and Gina work at the University of Alabama: Jared is an Assistant Professor of Political Ecology, and Gina is an Assistant Professor of French.
Gina’s most recent publication can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/800870/summary
For more on Jared, find him on Twitter: @jaredmargulies or at his website: jaredmargulies.com.
If...
2021-09-0544 minASLE EcoCast Podcast“Is This the Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?”: Speculative Fiction in the Anthropocene with Marc DiPaoloThis month, we’re happy to share our conversation with Marc DiPaolo, Associate Professor of English at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, to discuss his most recent non-fiction book Fire and Snow: Climate Fiction from the Inklings to Game of Thrones. In this episode, we talk about the role that fantasy plays in environmental discourse--both within fantasy literature and in the surrounding fandom.
For more on Marc, including links to purchase his books:
https://drdipaolo.wixsite.com/marc
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP...
2021-08-0138 minASLE EcoCast PodcastASLE EcoCast Quick Fictions 2021It’s our birthday! In this episode, we reflect on the first year of EcoCast, and then hear 25 environmentally-themed Quick Fictions. You can find bios of all the contributors below, in alphabetical order by first name.
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Twitter: @ASLE_EcoCast
Jemma: @Geowrites
Brandon: @BeGalm
If you’re enjoying the show, please consider subscribing, sharing, and writing reviews on your favorite podcast platform(s)!
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
QUICK...
2021-07-011h 08ASLE EcoCast PodcastIce In Your Veins: Antarctica in the Anthropocene with Marissa GrunesIn this episode, we have a wonderful conversation with Marissa Grunes about the literal and literary awe and fascination humans have had for Antarctica. Marissa is an Environmental Fellow at Harvard University Center for the Environment, where she is at work on a narrative nonfiction book, Incognita: A Portrait of Antarctica. She studied Comparative Literature in German and Spanish at Yale, and earned her PhD in English Lit from Harvard, where she studied nineteenth century American literature and log cabins.
For more on Marissa:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gone_Incognita
Website: marissagrunes.com
If you...
2021-06-0257 minASLE EcoCast PodcastPlaying with Fire: Environmental Teaching with Dungeons and DragonsJoin us this month as adventure unfolds,
When dragons and dangers to climate are told.
How teaching can help us to bring changes soon,
Before it’s too late and the future is doomed.
Our guests are Heather Duncan and Eleanor Gold, who explain how Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs), including Dungeons and Dragons, can be used in classroom settings. These games can help students imagine and play through positive environmental futures in a space that highlights creativity, adaptation, and critical thinking.
You can submit an Eco Quick Fiction here by...
2021-05-0154 minASLE EcoCast PodcastThe Ego and the Eco: Alex Menrisky and the Identity Politics of EcologyYou can submit an Eco Quick Fiction here by May 15 2021: https://forms.gle/nG7WwTSzJHP86tZw7 (or find the link pinned on our twitter).
In this month’s episode, Jemma and Brandon sit down with Alex Menrisky, lecturer in English and Communication at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, to discuss his recent book Wild Abandon: American Literature and the Identity Politics of Ecology. What follows is a fascinating conversation on the historical ties of environmentalism to psychoanalysis and counterculture movements.
We apologize for the audio/technical issues in this month’s episode. We did our best to cl...
2021-04-0250 minASLE EcoCast PodcastPlastic, Plastic Everywhere: Poetry and Conversation with Craig Santos PerezThis episode, Jemma and Brandon are joined by Craig Santos Perez, poet and English professor at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa. They discuss Craig’s newest book, Habitat Threshold, and the ways his poetry addresses ecological concerns and their impacts on Pacific Island people and communities.
Habitat Threshold: https://www.omnidawn.com/product/habitat-threshold-craig-santos-perez/
For more on Craig and his work:
Website: http://craigsantosperez.com/
Twitter: @craigsperez
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Tw...
2021-03-0140 minASLE EcoCast PodcastClimate Changes Teaching: A Conversation with Sarah Jaquette Ray and Stephen SipersteinWith the start of a new semester for most of us, it felt like the perfect time to release a great conversation on climate change pedagogy (this episode’s Root Word!) with Sarah Jaquette Ray and Stephen Siperstein. Sarah is professor and head of the Environmental Studies BA program at Humboldt State University, and Stephen lives at the Environmental Immersion Program at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut where he teaches courses in environmental humanities and interdisciplinary environmental research methods, and directs the school’s Writing Center.
UC-CSU NXTerra: https://www.nxterra.orfaleacenter.ucsb.edu/
Find Sara...
2021-02-0254 minASLE EcoCast PodcastLiving to Tell a Tale: Stories of Risk and Adventure with Kristin J. JacobsonASLE EcoCast kicks off the new year with an episode talking with Kristin J. Jacobson, Professor of American Literature at Stockton University to discuss her recent book The American Adrenaline Narrative. Jemma gets the adventure rolling with the Root Words on, well, adventure, and what follows is a thrilling conversation on the connections between these narratives, environmental consciousness, and toxic masculinity.
You can follow Kristin on Twitter: @drkj
The American Adrenaline Narrative is available through the University of Georgia Press: https://ugapress.org/book/9780820357188/the-american-adrenaline-narrative/
If you have an idea for an episode, pl...
2021-01-0143 minASLE EcoCast PodcastThinking with Trees: Poetry and Conversation with Jason-Allen PaisantIn this month’s episode, Jemma and Brandon talk with Jason-Allen Paisant, poet and Director of the Institute for Colonial and Post-Colonial Studies at the University of Leeds, and use the connection between writing and trees to discuss his poetry that engages with environmental concerns, time, and black identity.
His first full length book of poems, Thinking with Trees, will be released June 2021.
Find Jason on Twitter: @jallenpaisant
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Or you can find...
2020-12-0252 minASLE EcoCast PodcastForest Rhythms: The Hip Hop Environmentalism of Thomas Rashad EasleyIn this month’s episode, Jemma and Brandon sit down with Thomas Rashad Easley, Hip Hop artist and Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion at the Yale School of the Environment. He uses what he calls “Hip Hop Forestry” as a means to creatively address issues of environmental justice and inclusion—both within and outside of academia.
For more about Thomas:
Website: rashadeasley.com
Twitter/Instagram: @RashadEas
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Or you can find u...
2020-11-0143 minASLE EcoCast PodcastAshes to Ashes: Poetry and Conversations with Cheryl J. FishThis month Jemma and Brandon sit down (virtually, of course) with scholar, fiction writer, and poet Cheryl J. Fish to discuss her most recent book of poetry, Crater & Tower. This collection explores questions of trauma, memory, and environmental justice by considering the 1980 Mt. St. Helen’s eruption in conjunction with September 11, 2001.
Cheryl’s Website: https://www.cheryljfish.com
Twitter: @CherylJoyFish
Crater & Tower is available through various booksellers online.
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA or rea...
2020-10-0148 minASLE EcoCast PodcastChanging the Anthropo-scene: Una Chaudhuri and Eco-TheatreThis month Jemma and Brandon have a wonderful conversation with Una Chaudhuri, Collegiate Professor and Professor of English, Drama, and Environmental Studies at New York University, and the Director of NYU’s XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement. They discuss Una’s work in the early development of eco-theatre as a field of study, the ways that theatre is uniquely suited to engage with environmental concerns, and her ongoing Dear Climate project.
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
You can also find us on...
2020-09-0145 minASLE EcoCast PodcastJustice Matters: Bénédicte Boisseron, Animal Studies, and Racial JusticeIn this episode, Jemma and Brandon have a conversation with Bénédicte Boisseron, Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at University of Michigan, and author of Afro-Dog: Blackness and the Animal Question. Building off the Root Word “matter,” they discuss Bénédicte’s scholarship—situated at the intersection of animal studies and racial justice—and the implications for our present moment.
Afro-Dog available here: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/afro-dog/9780231186650
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Twitter: @ASLE...
2020-08-0139 minASLE EcoCast PodcastForming Roots, Sowing Seeds: An Introduction to the PodcastIn the pilot episode, co-hosts Jemma and Brandon introduce themselves, the podcast, and have a discussion about what's happening in the world during Summer 2020 and how this podcast hopes to serve as a medium for all voices to be heard and shared.
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
Find us on Twitter: @ASLE_EcoCast.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
2020-07-091h 07ASLE EcoCast PodcastASLE EcoCast: Interview with Scott SlovicScott Slovic, editor of ASLE's journal Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment (ISLE) for the past 25 years, joins Jemma and Brandon to discuss his career, environmental studies past and future, and his upcoming retirement from the position. Recorded June 24, 2020.
If you have an idea for an episode, please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/Y1S1eP9yXxcNkgWHA
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
2020-06-301h 07