Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

A number of thinkers are becoming increasingly persuaded that our anthropocentric view of nature is inadequate, that we need a "new morality" with regard to the environment. In this essay, I argue that an alternative to anthropocentricism is available to us now-and has been since at least 1836. I look at three "checkpoints" in the evolution of environmental theory as proof of this: 1) the publication of Emerson's book Nature, 2) Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, and 3) the contemporary writing of Gretel Ehrlich, Gary Snyder, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, and A. R. Ammons. In short, I show that all these writers describe an aesthetic basis with which we may view nature that leads to a system of ethical values. What they advocate is a "moral framework" which I call noticing. My primary thesis is that we don't need a "new morality": we need only turn to the existing one these writers describe-and acknowledge it. / Graduation date: 1992

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is an examination of transformative effects of literature on environmental identity. The work begins by examining and expanding the Deep Ecology concept of identification-with-nature. The potential problems with identification through direct encounters are used to argue for the relevance of the possibility of identification-through-literature. Identification-through-literature is then argued for using the hermeneutic and narrative theories of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur, as well as various examples of nature writing and fiction.

Lam Yee Man. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-103). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter one: --- The anthropocentrism/ androcentrism debate --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter two: --- Self/ nature relationships: Self Realization and the relational self --- p.37 / Chapter Chapter three: --- the self/ nature relation in Wang's object- oriented poems --- p.53 / Conclusion --- p.82 / Endnotes --- p.86 / Bibliography --- p.95

This project focuses on the natural elements earth and water as presented in the works of African American author Toni Morrison. The primary texts analyzed are Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. In the first two novels, Morrison alludes to the abuse of black bodies by drawing parallels between the destruction of trees and the negative effects of urbanization. I argue that environmental destruction and urbanization parallels the disenfranchisement and killing of black bodies. Water in Beloved connotes bondage because of its historical link to the Triangular Trade. However, considering Morrison's frequent mention of water and the fugitives' constant need to drink, I argue that ingesting water symbolizes a need for psychological freedom. All of the novels that I have analyzed emphasize the complex connections between African Americans and nature. / by Pauline P. Anderson. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-220). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This thesis explores the thematic desire to establish an ecological human bond with nature in four contemporary novels: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, An Imaginary Life by David Malouf, and The Expedition to The Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenström. These authors share a concern with the influence that language has on human perception, and one of the most significant ways they attempt to connect with the natural world is through somehow escaping, or transcending, what they perceive to be the divisive tendencies of language. They all suggest that human perception is not steered entirely by a disembodied mind, which constructs reality through linguistic and cultural lenses, but is equally influenced by physical circumstances and embodied experiences. They explore the potential of corporeal reciprocity and empathy as that which enables understanding across cultural barriers, and a sense of ecologically intertwined kinship with nature. They all struggle to reconcile their awareness of the potential danger of relating to nature exclusively through language, with a desire to speak for the natural world in literature. I have examined whether they succeed in doing so, or whether they contradict their thematic suspicion of language with their literary medium. I have prioritised a close ecocritical reading of the novels and loosely situated the authors’ approach to nature and language within the broad theoretical frameworks of radical ecology, structuralism and poststructuralism. I suggest that these novels are best analysed in the context of an ecocritical mediation between poststructuralist conceptions of nature as inaccessible cultural construct, and the naïve conception of unmediated, pre-reflective interaction with the natural world. I draw especially on the phenomenological theories of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, whose insistence that perception is always both embodied and culturally mediated truly renders culture and nature irreducible, intertwined categories. By challenging historical dualisms like mind/body and culture/nature, the selected novels suggest a more fluid and discursive understanding of the perceived conflict between language and nature, whilst problematizing the perception of language as merely a cultural artefact. Moreover, they are examples of the kind of literature that has the potential to positively influence our human conception of nature, and adapt us better to our ecological context on a planet struggling for survival.