Scholars of ecocriticism have long tried to articulate emotional
relationships to environments. Only recently, however, have they
begun to draw on the complex interdisciplinary body of research
known as affect theory. Affective Ecocriticism takes as its premise
that ecocritical scholarship has much to gain from the rich work on
affect and emotion happening within social and cultural theory,
geography, psychology, philosophy, queer theory, feminist theory,
narratology, and neuroscience, among others. This vibrant and
important volume imagines a more affective—and consequently more
effective—ecocriticism, as well as a more environmentally attuned
affect studies. These interdisciplinary essays model a range of
approaches to emotion and affect in considering a variety of
primary texts, including short story collections, films, poetry,
curricular programs, and contentious geopolitical locales such as
Canada's Tar Sands. Several chapters deal skeptically with familiar
environmentalist affects like love, hope, resilience, and optimism;
others consider what are often understood as negative emotions,
such as anxiety, disappointment, and homesickness—all with an eye
toward reinvigorating or reconsidering their utility for the
environmental humanities and environmentalism. Affective
Ecocriticism offers an accessible approach to this theoretical
intersection that will speak to readers across multiple
disciplinary and geographic locations.