Eco-queer movement(s): Challenging heteronormative space through (re)imagining nature and food

Joshua Sbicca

European Journal of Ecopsychology 3: 33–52 (2012)

Abstract

In an era of ecological degradation and sexual inequality it has become increasingly clear that these problems are complex. The complexity arises from the intersecting contributions of our institutions, cultures, collective imaginations, personal cognitive processes and ecological systems. At the same time, there is growing recognition among activists and scholars fighting for sustainable and socially just alternatives that nuanced analyses of society and nature’s

interrelatedness is needed. Building off of queer ecology, this article furthers understanding of the blurred relations between ecology and human sexuality, with specific attention to the emerging eco-queer movement. This article contends that the eco-queer movement entails a loose knit, often decentralized set of political and social activists identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (lgbtq) or an ally of these groups, that challenge binary notions of ecology and sexuality, while simultaneously transforming material and symbolic space(s) into more just, autonomous, and sustainable forms. After conceptually and historically situating this social movement, an exploration of lgbtq food and agriculture based struggles is provided. Given the centrality of food to social and biological (re)production, struggles over/based on food provide a unique window into the theory and praxis driving eco-queer movements.

Keywords:

Queer ecology, space, normativity, food, sexuality, social movements

To read full article go to: http://jsbicca.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/eco-queer-movements.pdf