In the Nature of Things: Language, Politics, and the Environment

Informed by recent developments in literary criticism and social theory, In the Nature of Things addresses the presumption that nature exists independent of culture and, in particular, of language. The theoretical approaches of the contributors represent both modernist and postmodernist positions, including feminist theory, critical theory, Marxism, science fiction, theology, and botany. They demonstrate how the concept of nature is invoked and constituted in a wide range of cultural projects—from the Bible to science fiction movies, from hunting to green consumerism. Ultimately, it weeks to link the work of theorists concerned with nature and the environment to nontheorists who share similar concerns.

Contributors include R. McGreggor Cawley, Romand Coles, William E. Connolly, Jan E. Dizard, Valerie Hartouni, Cheri Lucas Jennings, Bruce H. Jennings, Timothy W. Luke, Shane Phelan, John Rodman, Michael J. Shapiro, and Wade Sikorski.

Jane Bennett is associate professor of politics at Goucher College. Her works include Unthinking Faith and Enlightenment and articles that explore the relationship between literary and theoretical portrayals of contemporary political issues.

William Chaloupka teaches American politics and political theory at the University of Montana. He is the author of Knowing Nukes: The Politics and Culture of the Atom (Minnesota, 1992).