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thesis
posted on 2023-02-23, 05:49authored byKATHRIN BARTHA
My thesis attempts two things: firstly, it tests how useful the Anthropocene concept is for considering literature, by reading it as an umbrella term for different socio-eco-political issues in the specific context of Australia (in terms of broad themes including colonisation, farming, mining, bioethics, technology, and environmental justice) and by applying this to readings of selected contemporary Australian literary texts. Secondly, it challenges the Anthropocene’s decline-narrative (as in ‘humans have destroyed nature’) by proposing an alternative concept of ‘cosmological readings’ that foregrounds radical interconnectedness, wholeness, and reciprocity between humans and the environment. From a wider perspective, my project seeks to contribute to the new field of the Environmental Humanities in Australia and beyond by exploring the crucial role of literature in times of unprecedented ecological crisis.
History
Principal supervisor
Susan Rachelle Kossew
Additional supervisor 1
Frank Schulze-Engler
Year of Award
2020
Department, School or Centre
School of Language, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics
Additional Institution or Organisation
Goethe University Frankfurt
Course
Doctor of Philosophy (Joint award with Goethe University)