Carrying On and Going Beyond: Some Conditions of Queer/Nature

Abstract

A brand of 'queer' which addresses concerns within the broad parameters circumscribing a site called 'nature' may be as diverse, open-ended, and perhaps contentious as any examination of either of those two terms. Difficult though it may be, trying to map out a space for Queer/Nature within a politics of the environment demands the charring of courses through a discursive terrain of perils and possibilities. As insisted by the writers and artists in this issue of UnderCurrents, a politics of nature can no longer be an articulation of white, male, heterosexual prescriptive or descriptive privilege. Here, what is most evident is the disruptive power of any examination of the normative categories of nature and the natural from the perspective of queer identity. The breadth of perspectives demonstrated by the works included suggests the necessity for an ongoing project of investigation which takes apart both the categories of queer and nature, and then defines and recombines them in innovative, constructive ways. By no means is this an attempt to represent all the various ways in which this dialogue may occur and significant topics are absent, perhaps most importantly, the nexus of race, political economy or transgenderism and Queer/Nature. Despite these gaps, we hope to open up a discussion between queer and environmental politics, as well as initiate a consideration of the broader question of how, and by whom, nature is spoken of.