The paper explores the human-environment relationship in Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. It argues that every impact on humans by the environment or by human-made objects is initially triggered by human actions. The paper questions humans' and objects' agency. Furthermore, the essay argues that the environment either helps or impedes the novel's characters, which according to the book, can be solved by collaboration.

No description available.

Ce mémoire analyse les stratégies employées par Verónica Gerber Bicecci dans son livre La Compañía (La Compagnie, 2019) afin de susciter une réflexion sur l’extractivisme minier au Mexique. La Compañía alerte le lecteur sur les conséquences négatives de considérer la nature, et tout ce qui s’y rapporte, comme passif ou inerte. Cette vision réductrice justifie la surexploitation des biens naturels, qui épuise les écosystèmes dont l’humain dépend en tant qu’espèce, tout en ignorant l’agentivité non humaine, ce qui s’avère problématique lorsqu’il s’agit d’extraire et de manipuler des substances toxiques telles que le mercure. La Compañía, une réécriture de la nouvelle d’Amparo Dávila « El huésped » (1959), réunit des archives textuelles et visuelles pour raconter l’histoire de Nuevo Mercurio (Zacatecas), une ville minière abandonnée. Le livre dépeint une compagnie minière comme un monstre afin de rendre visible le danger qu’elle représente pour les personnes et l’environnement, et présente les réponses inquiétantes de ses victimes, les femmes et la nature, à la violence extractiviste. Entendue en son sens le plus large, la matière passe de la catégorie d’objet à celle de sujet et devient un acteur, faisant apparaître la possibilité de conceptualiser des formes non humaines de résistance à l’extractivisme minier. Une lecture écogothique de La Compañía montre que ces réponses, qui n’ont pas été abordées dans les récits miniers de type réaliste social, exposent les fondements idéologiques du capitalisme extractif. / This research analyses the strategies employed by Verónica Gerber Bicecci in her book La Compañía (The Company, 2019) to raise questions about extractivism in Mexico. La Compañía alerts readers to the negative consequences of viewing nature, and everything related to it, as passive or inert. This reductive vision justifies the overexploitation of natural resources, thereby depleting the ecosystems on which the humans depend as a species, while ignoring non-human agency, which proves problematic when it comes to the extraction and handling of toxic substances such as mercury. La Compañía, a rewriting of Amparo Dávila’s short story “El huésped” (1959), brings together textual and visual archives to tell the story of Nuevo Mercurio (Zacatecas), an abandoned mining town. The book depicts a mining company as a monster to make visible the danger it poses to people and the environment, and presents the disturbing responses of its victims, women and nature, to extractivist violence. The author conceptualizes non-human forms of resistance to extractivism through the agency of matter in its broadest sense, which no longer belongs to the category of object, but instead becomes a subject. An ecogothic reading of La Compañía shows that these responses, which have not been addressed in social realist mining narratives, expose the ideological foundations of extractive capitalism. / Esta investigación analiza las estrategias empleadas por Verónica Gerber Bicecci en su libro La Compañía (2019) para suscitar una reflexión sobre el extractivismo minero en México. La Compañía alerta al lector sobre las consecuencias negativas de considerar la naturaleza, y todo lo relacionado con ella, como pasivo o inerte. Esta visión reductora justifica la sobreexplotación de los bienes naturales, que agota los ecosistemas de los que dependen los humanos como especie, al tiempo que ignora la agencia no-humana, lo cual resulta problemático cuando se trata de extraer y manipular sustancias tóxicas como el mercurio. La Compañía, una reescritura del cuento “El huésped” (1959) de Amparo Dávila, reúne archivos textuales y visuales para contar la historia de Nuevo Mercurio (Zacatecas), un pueblo minero abandonado. El libro retrata una empresa minera como un monstruo para hacer visible el peligro que supone para las personas y el medioambiente, y presenta las respuestas inquietantes de sus víctimas, las mujeres y la naturaleza, a la violencia extractivista. Entendida en su sentido más amplio, la materia pasa de la categoría de objeto a la de sujeto y se convierte en actor, lo que posibilita conceptualizar formas no humanas de resistencia al extractivismo minero. Una lectura ecogótica de La Compañía muestra que estas respuestas, que no se han abordado en las narrativas mineras de tipo realista social, exponen los fundamentos ideológicos del capitalismo extractivo.

Urbanization has destroyed and fragmented previously large areas of natural habitat. Small remnants that still exist in numerous cities will be unable to sustain many viable wild plant populations if they do not expand into the surrounding urban matrix. Residential gardens surrounding such remnants, and which form a significant component of urban green space in many cities, could play a role in redressing this problem. Riccarton Bush, a 7.8 hectare forest remnant, and its surrounding suburban residential area, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a good example. Over 125 years the reported number of native vascular plants in the bush has declined by a third. My study was an attempt to understand: 1) the ecological, social and cultural factors influencing the dispersal and regeneration of 12 native bird-dispersed woody species from Riccarton Bush, into surrounding residential properties; and 2) the potential role residential properties could play in the future of the bush. To examine these diverse factors I adopted an interdisciplinary research approach combining methodologies, concepts and theories from ecology and the social sciences. In a broader context my work was an attempt to demonstrate how urban ecology can further develop and strengthen by adopting and integrating new methodologies, theories and concepts. The ecological component involved recording individuals of the study species found on 90 randomly selected properties within a 1.4 km radius of the bush. Soil samples were also collected from 31 of those properties and placed in a glasshouse and the study species that germinated were recorded. Results showed some species, particularly kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), the most abundant species in the bush, are being dispersed and establishing on properties predominantly within 250 m of the forest margin. These juveniles are not reaching maturity as most gardeners tend to remove all non-planted woody species. Qualitative interviews with 16 residents and a quantitative survey of the residents of 85 of the properties provided insights into the social context which these natural processes were operating. Using notions of place and performance I argue that gardens are continuously created and recreated by humans and non-humans. Residents attempt to create and maintain a garden that fulfils their individual and familial needs and desires (e.g., aesthetics, leisure and privacy), and public responsibilities such as ensuring they have a ‘neat’ and ‘tidy’ garden. This involves selecting plants for colour, shape and the care they require, and encouraging certain performances (e.g., flowering) while controlling other undesirable plants and performances (e.g. growth, spread and shading). While people make connections between native plants, belonging and identity; the ‘scientific’ demarcation between native and exotic species often becomes obscured as the garden is co-created by people and plants. Some plants become more significant than others but usually this is attributable to their performances rather than whether they are native or exotic. Residential gardens have the potential to play a major role in the conservation of species restricted to urban remnants. My research suggests that although the potential exists for woody species restricted to Riccarton Bush to naturally regenerate in nearby gardens, this will not happen without human intervention. Plants will need to be eco-sourced and propagated to avoid detrimental impacts on the genetic health of remnant populations, and then actively planted in gardens. The success of such planting initiatives will be increased by providing residents with information about the plants that are suitable for their performative needs and desires (e.g., the size, colour, and maintenance requirements of plants) and, most importantly, control over the location of plantings. In concluding, I argue that by adopting new concepts, theories and methodologies, the productivity, creativity and relevance of urban ecology can be significantly enhanced.

This thesis investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. Two strands of Lukan scholarship have contributed to an enduring tendency to underestimate the centrality of eschatology to Luke/Acts. Hans Conzelmann's thesis, that Luke focused on history rather than eschatology as a response to the parousia's delay, has dominated Lukan scholarship since the mid-twentieth century, with concomitant assumptions about Luke's politics and understanding of suffering. Recent Lukan scholarship has centred instead on genre and rhetoric, examining Luke/Acts predominantly in relation to ancient texts deemed the same genre while overlooking themes (including those of an eschatological character) that these texts do not share. This thesis offers a fresh approach. It illuminates the inherent connections between Luke's understanding of history and its end, and demonstrates significant ways in which Luke's eschatological consciousness shapes key themes of his account. By extending comparisons to a wider range of texts, this study overcomes two clear methodological shortfalls in current research: limiting comparisons of key themes to texts of similar genre, and separating non-Jewish from Jewish texts. Having established the need for a new examination of Luke's eschatology in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 I set out the study's method of comparing diverse texts on themes that cut across genres. Chapters 3 to 6 then consider each key text and Luke/Acts in relation to a different aspect of their writers' conceptions of history: the direction and shape of history; determinism and divine guidance; human culpability and freedom; and the present and the end of history. The analysis shows that in every aspect of history examined, Luke/Acts shares significant features of the texts with which, because they do not share its genre, it is not normally compared. Setting Luke/Acts in conversation with a broader range of texts highlights Luke's periodised, teleological view of history and provides a nuanced picture of Luke's understanding of divine and human agency, all of which is affected in fundamental ways by his portrayal of the present time already within the final period of history. As a result, this study not only clarifies Lukan eschatology, but reaffirms the importance of eschatology for Lukan politics and theodicy.