The modern construction of ‘the Wild’ is firmly imprinted in the transcultural fabric of humanity, from Egyptian menageries to National Parks and from the writings of Robert Frost to the wares of REI. This construction is deeply rooted in our cultural and biological existence as the descendants of hunter-gatherers, for whom the Wild was a giver and taker of life—a space to be feared, revered, before ultimately tamed, controlled, and reconstructed in our image. Today, the Wild of our ancestors exists only in memory; an unreliable recollection of the natural world that has been reimagined, politicized, exploited, and commodified. The feeling of this existential co-dependence is now mediated through images in Instagram posts as opposed to images on cave walls. This collection will feature transdisciplinary work that focuses on the interplay of political economy and the environmental humanities in the ‘post-capital Wild,’ spanning the fields of media studies, history, and environmental communication.
The public’s contemporary environmental consciousness is increasingly shaped by mediated renderings of the wilderness. This articulation of ecological space and geography through popular culture, news media, and green persuasion increasingly situates nature as socially constructed phenomena. The Wild: Image, Industry, and Technology aims to contextualize this mediation of environmental phenomena, while establishing popular, social, specialist, and strategic media not only as a reflection of ecological perceptions and values, but also as a driver of ecological rift.
We invite submissions for a co-edited collection—currently under contract with Lexington Books for a 2024 release—that ask and address questions such as:
What role has the entertainment and edu-tainment industry played historically and contemporarily in rendering public understandings of nature?
How is environmental communication impacted by the combination of nature with technology?
How does spatial media such as satellite and aerial videography reconfigure existing knowledge of ecology?
How is nature co-opted for the interests of profit, power, and political ideologies?
What is the impact of rhetorically-defined wild spaces through constitutive naming, media promotion, and advertising?
How does the emphasis of nature as a “lifestyle” align with material realities?
How does the news media navigate prominent environmental stories, including climate change, and what are the long-term consequences of this attention?
What is the role of social media in popularizing nature with new audiences, including visual-intensive channels such as Instagram and YouTube?
For consideration, please submit a 500-word abstract for your proposed chapter as well as a biography to [log in to unmask] The deadline for submissions is Monday, August 14, 2023. If selected, a complete 5,000-8,000 word draft of the chapter will be due in early January 2024.
Potential contributors are welcome to contact either of the editors for more information or questions:
Dr. Derek Moscato, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, Western Washington University, [log in to unmask]
Dr. Phillip D. Duncan, Assistant Professor, Division of Humanities, Eureka College, [log in to unmask]
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