ABSTRACT
This paper begins with Slack and Whitt's (‘Ethics and cultural studies’ in Cultural Studies, eds L. Grossberg et al., Routledge, New York, 1992) crucial imperative to cultural studies: that we need to (re)develop its normative commitment, and that ecological relations are the site from which to do so. Although their argument eventually relies on a problematic understanding of nature as an integrative totality ‘beyond’ culture, this paper maintains that it is nevertheless important to follow their lead and consider ecological relations in their articulation with, and implication in, other relations of power in late capitalism. ‘Queer’ ecocultural studies, given its considerable skepticism with ‘normative’ natures as well as its emphasis on sex/nature articulations, would have us focus precisely on challenging the intersections of power, beginning with heteronormativity, and ecological relations. For an example of queer ecocultural studies, the paper then reads Jane Rule's novel The Young in One Another's Arms (Pandora Press, London, 1977), a sophisticated example of ‘queer nature writing’ with its focus on the intertwined becomings of a queer family and a wounded landscape. Following from Rule's narrative, the paper argues that a critical practice of queer ecocultural studies demands that we read ‘for’ nature, for the implication of culture in ecosystemic relations, and that we also insist on understanding these more-than-human implications as part of, and not beyond, complex articulations of power.
