What Is Sustainability Studies?

The article discusses the field of sustainability studies, with a particular focus on its relationship to literature and the humanities. Details related to a 2004 meeting of several ecocritics, including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and Bill Vitek, are presented. The author is critical of the group's...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:American Literary History Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 1 - 16
Autor principal: Wood, Gillen D'Arcy
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Spring2012
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The article discusses the field of sustainability studies, with a particular focus on its relationship to literature and the humanities. Details related to a 2004 meeting of several ecocritics, including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, and Bill Vitek, are presented. The author is critical of the group's denunciation of science and emphasis on the limits of human knowledge. It is suggested that the scientific study of biocomplexity and the social, historical, and scientific study of the interdependence of human and natural systems are essential to changing human behavior and educating future generations about sustainability. According to the author, humanist and literary modes of thought will play an important role in the investigation of ideological constructions of nature.