Introduction

This chapter introduces two intersecting concerns that underpin the essays in this book. The first is the issue of environmental degradation and climate change, arguably the most important complex of problems faced by our planet in the Anthropocene. The second is the reemergence of feminist consciousness and activism in the #metoo era. These twin concerns come together in the chapter’s engagement with human-animal relationships, in particular, the relationship between humans and sharks. The chapter draws on scholarship in ecofeminism and ecolinguistics, and, informed by critical feminist materialism and posthumanism, it develops a theoretical framework for illuminating the relationship between humans and the more-than-human world.