Econarrative

This chapter introduces the history of and recent developments in the theoretical framework of econarrative and describes how it can be used within ecolinguistics. Econarrative is defined as narrative that involves humans, other species and the physical environment interacting in ways which can be considered beneficial for the flourishing of life. The chapter then presents a theoretical framework based on a combination of the sociolinguist William Labov’s linguistic theory with the literary theorist Tzvetan Todorov’s structuralist approach. This is followed by exploring the stages of econarrative and how econarrative expresses emotion through the analysis of a collection of global ecopoetry, the Ecopoetikon. The conclusion describes a model of econarrative consisting of several elements: 1) Abstract, 2) Orientation, 3) Equilibrium, 4) Degeneration, 5) Recognition, 6) Call to Action, 7) Improvement, 8) Restoration, 9) Coda. Not all econarratives exhibit all these elements, and often econarratives stop at the call to action stage, leaving the reader to take action in the real world to improve the situation and restore equilibrium. The chapter concludes by stating that the ecopoems analyzed can be promoted as inspiring texts in their own right, while the linguistic techniques described in the chapter can potentially inform future writing.