The Human Alien. Otherness, Humanism, and The Future Of Ecocriticism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2010.1.1.320Keywords:
ecocritical theory, humanism, disability studies.Abstract
Keywords: ecocritical theory, humanism, disability studies.
In a time when the “palimpsest” of ecocriticism is being constantly enriched, and that a “third wave” (Slovic & Adamson, Opperman) is largely consolidating, it is more and more compelling to re-address the question about the human. Issues such as madness or disability, for example, both radically challenge and provoke the very idea of human, regardless of social contexts, of race, religion or ethnic group. Madness and disability create in fact a “wilderness zone,” inside the tamed area of normality, of humanity-as-normality, of human as a norm and a measure of itself. Placing the question of otherness within the taxonomy of the human subject, madness and disability introduce a radical fracture in this taxonomy, showing that “the other” is not only nature (as the other-than-human), but it can be the human itself. Trying to trace the theoretical and literary coordinates of this reflection, this short essay discusses the current trends of ecocriticism and its possible developments into an ecological form of humanism.
Palabras clave: teoría ecocrítica, humanism, estudios sobre discapacidad.
En una época en la que el “palimpsesto” de la ecocrítica se enriquece constantemente, y en la que una “tercera oleada” (Slovic & Adamson, Opperman) se está consolidando en gran medida, resulta más y más necesario volver a tratar la cuestión del ser humano. Temas como la locura o la incapacidad, por ejemplo, desafían y provocan radicalmente la idea misma del humano, sin tener en cuenta contextos sociales, raza, religión o grupo étnico. La locura y la incapacidad crean de hecho una “zona virgen”, dentro de la región de normalidad domesticada, de humanidad-como-normalidad, de lo humano como norma y medida de sí mismo. Planteando la cuestión de la alteridad dentro de la taxonomía del sujeto humano, la locura y la incapacidad introducen una fractura radical en esta taxonomía, mostrando que “el otro” no es sólo naturaleza (como el “no-humano”), sino que puede ser el humano mismo. Intentado trazar las coordinadas teoréticas y literarias de esta reflexión, este breve ensayo trata las tendencias actuales de la ecocrítica y su desarrollo en una forma ecológica de humanismo.
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