Beowulf in Teejop
The way early American scholars studied Beowulf reveals their investments in white Anglo-Saxonism and stolen land. Maxwell Gray considers the consequences of white settler scholarship on Native American lands.
Category: Essays
How Being “an Environmentalist” Became an Identity
In the 1960s, environmentalists often pitted the “natural self” against “artificial” social identities like race, class, and gender. Alexander Menrisky argues that this vocabulary still obscures issues of environmental justice in the U.S. today.
This Land Is “Our Land”: Nationalism & Exclusion in Outdoor Recreation
Environmental nationalism has shaped US public lands and outdoor recreation. Jesse Ritner outlines its roots and imagines a way forward.
An Ecological Case for Cuteness
Many environmentalists are suspicious of cute mascots. Evelyn Ramiel invites us to open our hearts to cute characters that create ecologies of care.
Poet’s Body as Archive Amidst a Rising Ocean
Western media often portrays Pacific Islanders as helpless victims of “sinking islands.” Kuhelika Ghosh shows how Marshallese poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner brings performance poetry to climate activism and resistance.
When Sacred Cows Become Tools of the State
In the midst of India’s beef ban, beef detection kits are supposed to help stop violence against Muslim and Dalit people accused of eating the meat. But do they? Clara Miller and A. Parikh argue that increased surveillance hurts both people and cows.
Farmers Living and Dying by Cotton Seeds in India
Genetically modified cotton seeds are not an easy fix for the struggles of agrarian life. Can cooperative economies help?
How Wendy Red Star Decolonizes the Museum with Humor and Play
“When talking about Indigenous history you can just devastate yourself,” says Apsáalooke artist Wendy Red Star. “And so, humor has been a way for me to cope with that.” Drawing from an original interview with the artist, Nicole Seymour and Salma Monani examine how Red Star uses humor, play, and collaboration to subvert museum stereotypes of Indigenous peoples and reanimate Indigenous pasts—and futures—through art.
Colonial Theft and Indigenous Resistance in the Kleptocene
The term Anthropocene does not address centuries of violent colonial theft. Kyle Keeler proposes a new title: the Kleptocene.
Scarcity and the Suburban Back Yard
What has hoarding during the coronavirus pandemic revealed about the slow violence of plantation histories in suburban back yards? Andrea Knutson traces the logic of scarcity from 17th century Barbados to the local Whole Foods.
