From Crisis to Empowerment: Appraisal Patterns in Watt-Cloutier’s Ecobiography <i>The Right To Be Cold</i>

Abstract This article applies the appraisal framework (Martin &amp; White, 2005; White, 2011) to Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s The Right to Be Cold (2018), analyzing how evaluative language shapes the ecological crisis discourse with a particular focus on Chapter Six, The Voices of the Hunters . The appraisal framework’s subsystems – Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation – reveal how Watt-Cloutier constructs meanings that interweave negative and positive appraisals. The framing of climate change as threatening, unstable, and destructive contrasts with positive a rmations of cultural heritage, Inuit expertise, and resilience. The analysis demonstrates how evaluative resources, including assessments of human capability, recognition of knowledge, and measurement of intensity, convert adversity into narratives of empowerment. By privileging the Positive Discourse Analysis approach, this study highlights how Watt-Cloutier mobilizes solidarity and ethical commitment to align readers emotionally and ethically with Inuit communities. Ultimately, the article demonstrates how the appraisal framework illuminates the evaluative strategies of ecobiography and environment-centered discourse, which can reframe ecological crises into a call for collective, life-sustaining action.