Contesting the Climate Unthinkable (Paperback)

Azucena Castro

ISBN 10: 1683405579 / ISBN 13: 9781683405573

Published by University Press of Florida, Florida, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. Examining Latin American cultural works that rethink environmental change and natural catastrophesThis volume explores Latin American cultural works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that reflect environmental changes brought on by colonization, capitalism, and resource exploitation. Contributors examine films, novels, photographs, and videos from the Caribbean, the Southern Cone, the Andes, and the Amazon, showcasing how artists, writers, and activists depict the scale and impact of ecological crises.Drawing from environmental humanities, decolonial thought, and Indigenous scholarship, this book examines how relationships with the nonhuman reshape human understandings of ecological collapse and resilience. Contributors discuss movies on toxic waste in Chile and Bolivia, gothic elements in horror, art and mineral extraction in Venezuela, dystopian novels set in the Rio de la Plata, Mapuche poetry and dance in protest of terricidio, and utopias in Brazilian Afrofuturistic novels. They show how speculative fiction, testimonial narratives, experimental films, and site-specific installations address environmental disasters, climate breakdown, and extractivism, revealing the colonial histories and economic structures that underpin climate change.The chapters in this book examine artistic forms that amplify the voices of affected communities and envision more ethical futures rooted in regional cultures, geographies, and practices. Highlighting the significance of perspectives from the Global South, this volume broadens understandings of environmental justice and ways of rethinking planetary survival. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.Contributors: Paul Merchant Igor Barreto Ken Benson Victoria Saramago Jose Carlos Diaz Zanelli Andres Obando Jasmin Belmar Shagulian Patrick Brock Gianfranco Selgas Sebastian Wiedemann Roberto Roabilnho Azucena Castro Emily Baker Montserrat Madariaga-Caro Allison Mackey This volume explores Latin American cultural works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that reflect environmental changes, showcasing how artists, writers, and activists depict the scale and impact of ecological crises. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781683405573

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Contesting the Climate Unthinkable (Paperback)
• Publisher: University Press of Florida, Florida
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1683405579
• ISBN 13: 9781683405573
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Examining Latin American cultural works that rethink environmental change and natural catastrophes

This volume explores Latin American cultural works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that reflect environmental changes brought on by colonization, capitalism, and resource exploitation. Contributors examine films, novels, photographs, and videos from the Caribbean, the Southern Cone, the Andes, and the Amazon, showcasing how artists, writers, and activists depict the scale and impact of ecological crises.

Drawing from environmental humanities, decolonial thought, and Indigenous scholarship, this book examines how relationships with the nonhuman reshape human understandings of ecological collapse and resilience. Contributors discuss movies on toxic waste in Chile and Bolivia, gothic elements in horror, art and mineral extraction in Venezuela, dystopian novels set in the Río de la Plata, Mapuche poetry and dance in protest of terricidio, and utopias in Brazilian Afrofuturistic novels. They show how speculative fiction, testimonial narratives, experimental films, and site-specific installations address environmental disasters, climate breakdown, and extractivism, revealing the colonial histories and economic structures that underpin climate change.

The chapters in this book examine artistic forms that amplify the voices of affected communities and envision more ethical futures rooted in regional cultures, geographies, and practices. Highlighting the significance of perspectives from the Global South, this volume broadens understandings of environmental justice and ways of rethinking planetary survival.

Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Authors

Azucena Castro, assistant professor of Latin American cultural studies at Rice University, is the author of Posnaturalezas poéticas: Pensamiento ecológico y políticas de la extrañeza en la poesía latinoamericana contemporánea.

Gianfranco Selgas, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London, is the author of Regionalismo ensamblado: Cultura, ecología política y extractivismos en Latinoamérica (1930–1940).

Ken Benson, emeritus professor of Spanish at Stockholm University, is the author of La subversión silente. Carmen Laforet: poética y hermenéutica.