Queer Ecologies

The ocean is a queer environment. The first section of the Liquid Life podcast looks at Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Hungry Tide and how he engages with gender politics in West Bengal, touching upon Timothy Morton's notion of ‘liquid life’. The second section engages with queer oceanic settings in an interview
with Frankie Hallam, who is a PhD candidate working on queer ocean ecologies and decolonial literature at the University of Surrey. The final section explores in depth the history of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands and its transnational effects on same-sex marriage, touching upon Morton's theory of the hyperobject.

References:

Morton, Timothy. (2013) Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World. University of Minnesota Press. 

Morton, Timothy. (2007) Ecology Without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics. Harvard University Press. 

Morton, Timothy. (2010) The Ecological Thought. Harvard University Press. 

Ghosh, Amitav. (2004) The Hungry Tide. HarperCollins, London. 

Sen, A. (2001) The Many Faces of Gender Inequality. The New Republic. Lamont University. 

Chowdhury, Suswagata (2018) Women In Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide: Their Struggle Against Norms And Desperate Attempt To Transgress Gender Roles. Research Paper. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science Volume 6, Issue 4. Department of English Literature, Rabindra Bharati University, West Bengal, India. [Accessed (26/12/22) - https://www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol6-issue4/J06045458.pdf] 

Keegan, Nicole. (2020) Men and Matelotage: Sexuality and Same-Sex Relationships within Homosocial Structures in the Golden Age of Piracy, within Homosocial Structures in the Golden Age of Piracy, 1640-1720. Loyola Marymount University. 

Platero, Lucas. (2017) Issue 14.2 Thinking Queer Activism Transnationally, Naming as the Locus of Trans*National Struggle. Published by the Barnard Center for Research on Women [Accessed (04/01/23) - https://sfonline.barnard.edu/thinking-queer-activism-transnationally/]  (1978) 

The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA). Australian Queer Archives Inc [Accessed (30/12/22) - https://queerarchives.org.au/about-us/] 

Low, Tobin & Tu, Kathy, Hosts. (2020) Make Australia gay again. [Audio podcast episode] Nancy Podcast. Bloom, Jeremy & Gibbons, Zakiya, Producers. WNYC Studios [Accessed (07/12/22) - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/nancy/episodes/nancy-podcast-make-australia-gay- again] 

Anderson, Alice (2022) The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. [Audio podcast episode] Queer as Fact. [Accessed (01/12/22) - https://www.queerasfact.com/] 

Reading recommendations: 

Indiana, Rita (2018) Tentacle. And Other Stories 

Gumbs, Alexis Pauline (2018) M Archive, After the End of the World. Duke University Press 

Okorafor, Nnedi (2014) Lagoon. Hodder & Stoughton.

Special thanks to Frankie Hallam!

Is art significant within the study of ecocriticism? The short answer is, yes. Today on ‘Eye-Spy Cli-Fi’ we speak to climate fiction author, Alex DiFrancesco about the utilisation of art in their post-apocalyptic novel All City (2019). We will be identifying key terms used within ecocriticism and how they are portrayed within DiFrancesco’s novel. Examining the role of art, we analyse and discuss DiFrancesco’s novel, expanding on the author’s first hand experience with climate change, socio-political issues and the importance of community. If you want to see how visual art protests to save our ecosystem, then I suggest you stick around. 

References: 

BrookdaleTV. (2019) Visiting Writers Series Night October 8 2019 Alex DiFrancesco. 17 November. Youtube [online video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZP57s9GFJ4 (Accessed: 10/12/2022) 

Buckley, C., Santora, M. (2013) ‘Night Falls, and 5Pointz, a Graffiti Mecca, is Whited Out in Queens’, The New York Times, 19 November [online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/nyregion/5pointz-a-graffiti-mecca-in-queens-is-wiped-clean -overnight.html (Accessed: 16/12/2022) 

Cameron, S., Coaffee, J. (2005) ‘Art, Gentrification and Regeneration - From Artist to Pioneer to Public Arts’, European Journal of Housing Policy, 5(1), pp. 39-58. Claudio, M., Zottola, A. (2022) ‘The Anthropocene: genesis of a term and popularization in the press’, Text & Talk, 42(4). 

DiFrancesco, A. (2019) All City: A Novel. New York: Seven Stories Press. 

Glass, R. (1964) London: Aspects of Change. [online]. London: University College. Available at: https://hakka3.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/glass-aspects-of-change.pdf (Accessed: 03/01/2023) 

Independent Music Licensing Collective. (2023) ‘Full Filled’, Ketsa - 2023. [online]. Available at: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/independent-music-licensing-collective-imlc/ketsa-2023-1/full -filled/ (Accessed: 09/01/2023) 

Masad, I. (2019) ‘Art Is Everything: Talking With Alex DiFrancesco’, The Rumpus, [online]. Available at: https://therumpus.net/2019/09/25/the-rumpus-interview-with-alex-difrancesco/ (Accessed: 03/12/2022) 

Patrizio, A. (2021) ‘Extreme Attention: The Ecological Eye in Art History’ in Krusserow, L. (ed.) Picture Ecology: Art and Ecocriticism in Planetary Perspective, pp 24-40. 

Schopenhaur, A. (1891) The Art of Literature. 

Further Reading: 

Deutsche, R., Ryan, G, R. (1984) ‘The Fine Art of Gentrification’, October, 31 [online]. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/778358?seq=21 

DiFrancesco, A. (2019) ‘On “Art Heroes” and Letting Your Idols Be Human’, Longreads, 15 May [online]. Available at: https://longreads.com/2019/05/15/on-art-heroes-and-letting-your-idols-be-human/ 

Fink, S. (2013) Five Days at Memorial. London: Atlantic Books. Maggs, D., Robinson, J. (2016) ‘Recalibrating the Anthropocene: Sustainability in an Imaginary World’, Environmental Philosophy, 13(2). 

Miles, M. (2010) ‘Representing Nature: art and climate change’, Cultural Geographies, 17(1). 

Schacter, R. (2019) ‘10 From pollution to purity: The transformation of graffiti and street art in London (2005-17), London’s Urban Landscape: Another Way of Telling.

Does queerness subvert the traditions of the male and female gaze? Join me in today’s episode of the Queer Ecologies podcast where I, Jolena Scholz, will be joined by gender studies expert Nicola Garoutte as we explore the nuances of ‘gaze theory’ and the queer environment. Together, Nicola and I delve into contemporary views on what defines ‘the gaze’ and how it can be gendered and represented in modern media, before exploring how, by nature, queerness subverts the gaze by creating an environment of androgyny and self-expression away from heteronormative expectations. We conclude the episode by discussing queer environments, paying special attention to how queer spaces are binary breaking, as represented in various examples of queer literature.

References:

Garrard, G. (2014) The Oxford handbook of ecocriticism. New
York: Oxford University Press.

Ji, D. & Heinrich, A. L. (2021) The membranes. New York:
Columbia University Press.

Macdonald, H. (2015) H is for hawk. London: Vintage Books.
Moss, M. (2019) ‘Thoughts on a Queer Gaze’, 3:AM Magazine.
[Online], 1-2.

Mulvey, L. (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, Screen
London, [Online] 16 (3), 6–18. Available at:
https://academic.oup.com/screen/article-abstract/16/3/6/16032
96 (Accessed: 19/12/2022)

What do you think of when you hear the term ‘queer space’? Perhaps you think of a bar
decorated from top to bottom in rainbows and glitter, or a closet waiting for someone to come
out. Maybe you have absolutely no idea – that’s okay! In today’s podcast, I’ll be deep-diving into
the world of queer space, looking specifically at the reason why queer spaces are being placed
under the attack of right-wing politics and neoliberalism. My friend, Luigi, also joins me to talk
about being bisexual in Italy and Germany. We discuss how different cultures can totally alter the
queer experience within family life and wider society.

The episode as well as the show notes were written, produced and recorded by Nadia Fernandes.

References:

Bonnevier, K. (2007) Behind Straight Curtains: Towards a Queer Feminist Theory of
Architecture. Sweden: Axl Books.

Brady, K. (2022) Germany appoints first LGBTQ+ rights commissioner. Available at:
https://www.dw.com/en/lgbtq-rights-germany-appoints-first-commissioner-for-queer-affairs/a-60
351173 Accessed: 09/01/2023

Branton, S. E. & Compton, C. A. (2021) There’s No Such Thing as a Gay Bar: Co-Sexuality and
the Neoliberal Branding of Queer Spaces. Management communication quarterly. 35 (1), 69–95.

Fuss, D. (1991) Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories. London: Taylor & Francis Group

Greenhalgh, H. (2019) Expert Views: Rising populism seen threatening LGBT+ rights in Europe.
Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-lgbt-rights-idUSKBN1X3230
Accessed: 09/01/2023

Harlan, C. and Pitrelli, S. (2022) Giorgia Meloni’s interview with The Washington Post.
Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/13/giorgia-meloni-italy-interview/
Accessed: 09/01/2023

Henry Urbach (1996) Closets, Clothes, Disclosure. Assemblage. (30), 63–73.

Sedgwick, E. K. (2008) Epistemology of the closet. Updated [ed.]. Berkeley, Calif.: University of
California Press.

Seidman, S., Meeks, C. and Traschen, F. (2016) ‘Beyond the Closet? The Changing Social
Meaning of Homosexuality in the United States’, Sexualities, 2(1), pp. 9-34.

Silver, L. (2022) Populists in Europe – especially those on the right – have increased their vote
shares in recent elections. Available at:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/06/populists-in-europe-especially-those-on-the-r
ight-have-increased-their-vote-shares-in-recent-elections/
Accessed: 09/01/2023

Sondel-Cedermas, J. (2022) ‘Giorgia Meloni’s new Europe: Europe of sovereign nations in the
Brothers of Italy party manifestos’, in Berti, F. and Sondel-Cedermas, J. (ed.) The Right-Wing
Critique of Europe: Nationalist, Sovereignist and Right-Wing Populist Attitudes to the EU.
Routledge, pp. 60-75.

The Barbican Centre (2021) Your Place or Mine?: Queering Domestic Spaces. Available at:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/your-place-or-mine-queering-domestic-spaces
Accessed: 09/01/2023