Eco-autobiography as a “meshy” and fluid genre for representing life stories beyond the human

The under-studied genre of eco-autobiography offers a compelling space to explore entanglements between humans and environments in life narratives and in the context of the climate crisis. I argue a framework for eco-autobiography should include a stronger focus on the “enmeshment” between humans and environment to reflect this interconnectedness. Ecocritic Timothy Morton’s (2012) concept of the “mesh” challenges traditional, hierarchical models of existence, and coupled with notions of fluidity in Blue Humanities scholarship, is a ripe metaphor for such a genre that resists hierarchies where, as Morton points out, there is no absolute centre or edge and therefore no dominant or default identity in a life story. This life story then, can include environments, inanimate objects, weather systems, diverse species, and bodies of water. Using Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teaching of plants (2015) as a case study, in this article I explore how drawing on notions of enmeshment and fluidity in eco-autobiographical writing can illuminate the intersections between affect, environment and embodiment to represent life stories beyond the human.