36.1238, Reviews: Econarrative: Madlener (2025)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1238. Tue Apr 15 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.1238, Reviews: Econarrative: Madlener (2025)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Joel Jenkins, Daniel Swanson, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Joel Jenkins <joel at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 14-Apr-2025
From: Rebecca Madlener [vicky.madlener at gmail.com]
Subject: Anthropological Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, General Linguistics, Sociolinguistics: Madlener (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-2359

Title: Econarrative
Subtitle: Ethics, Ecology, and the Search for New Narratives to Live
By
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
           http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/
Book URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/econarrative-9781350263116/

Author(s): Arran Stibbe

Reviewer: Rebecca Madlener

SUMMARY
In “Econarratives”, Arran Stibbe shows the many ways in which
econarratives, narratives involving humans, other species and the
physical environment, can be analysed using linguistic, rhetorical and
narratological methods. The book focuses on how these narratives can
influence how people think, talk and act by either reinforcing or
resisting pre-existing narratives about how people interact with the
ecosystem. The book aims to highlight the importance of finding new
stories to live by that are in line with the author’s views on how
people should be interacting with the environment.
The book is divided into ten chapters: an introduction (Chapter 1),
eight chapters illustrating different analytic approaches to various
text types (Chapters 2-9), and a conclusion (Chapter 10).
Additionally, the book contains a glossary of key terminology as well
as an index and an appendix containing a Cherokee creation myth
(Appendix A) and a list of credits and permissions for material that
was reproduced in the book (Appendix B). Each chapter starts with a
brief definition of key terminology, goes through case studies and
ends with a brief conclusion that explains how the chosen case studies
fit with the book's overall aim.
The first chapter begins with a discussion of the importance of
narratives, followed by definitions of key terminology that is used
throughout the book (e.g. narrative structure, narrative text,
metanarrative). All definitions are compared and contrasted with the
terms’ usage in previous studies. The author then moves on to defining
his personal ecosophy, the values based on which he judges narratives
as beneficial, destructive, or ambivalent. The chapter ends with an
overview of the book’s aims and content.
Chapter 2’s topic is “Beginning”. It looks at the use of activation, a
process of showing characters as actively doing something, in creation
narratives. The linguistic devices that give activation to non-human
characters are investigated in narratives from different cultural
backgrounds. The analysis focuses on what this tells us about
human–non-human relationships.
Chapter 3’s topic is “Identifying”, and it looks at ecocultural
identity. It begins with a definition of the term and then
investigates how one activist creates and expresses her ecocultural
identity in multiple interviews. The analysis takes the different
linguistic structures she uses into account and puts particular
emphasis on the use of parallel constructions to present humans and
plants as equal.
Chapter 4 moves on to the topic of “Emplacing” by investigating
timelessness and placefulness in English-language haiku. It discusses
what haikus are and how they fit into the context of (eco-) narratives
despite their focus on single events. The analysis considers how time,
or timelessness, is expressed in haikus, either through the use of
tense or other linguistic means, as well as the methods used to create
a sense of place.
Chapter 5 focuses on the topic of “Enchanting” and analyses the
language of enchantment in nature writing. The chapter first defines
the key concepts, disenchantment and enchantment, and how they can be
expressed linguistically. The case study consists of a detailed
analysis of the narratological and linguistic techniques that one
nature writer uses in his non-fiction book to evoke enchantment with
the natural world.
Chapter 6 deals with the topic of “Leading”. This chapter looks at
ethics in leadership communication and the importance of narratives
for challenging and changing existing ethical norms. It first defines
the concept of ethical leadership and explains how the concept of
ecosophy (which was explained in more detail in Chapter 1) fits into
this discussion. It then looks at the language commonly used in
different ethical frameworks by discussing lexical items that trigger
certain frames that can be linked to these ethical frameworks. The
case studies for this chapter are from India and Hawai’i and represent
good examples of ethical leadership.
Chapter 7 moves on to the topic of “Feeling” by investigating the use
of emotional narratives in climate change documentaries. The analysis
looks at different modes of presentation (paradigmatic, narrative),
different types of narratives and narrative structure. The focus is on
the techniques that are used in these documentaries to stimulate the
viewers’ emotions in order to try and call them to take action against
climate change.
Chapter 8 looks at the topic of “Persuading” through an investigation
of different types of food advertising. The chapter begins by looking
at classic- and identity-type ads and takes into consideration what is
said in the ads, as well as the visuals and audios used. All ads
chosen for this case study advertise meat or dairy products. The
analysis then moves on to counter-type advertising and discusses
examples of ads that are designed to discourage people from purchasing
meat products.
Chapter 9’s topic is “Ending”. This chapter explores the use of
metaphors in apocalyptic writing. The chapter discusses written and
audio-visual material that describes the end of the world and the
metaphors used in it. The focus is on narratives that are frequently
drawn on in environmental communication.
The final chapter brings together many of the previously discussed
ideas and methods and applies them to a new case study by looking at
people’s conception of wolves. The chapter discusses different
material related to this topic and makes use of many of the types of
analyses that are explained and illustrated throughout the book (e.g.
activation of characters, use of metaphors, language of enchantment).
The chapter ends with multiple calls to action: for academics to
employ inter- and transdisciplinary approaches when studying
econarratives, for people to take action outside academia, and for all
of us to search for new econarratives to live by.
EVALUATION
Overall, “Econarratives” is a very readable and easy to follow
introduction to the topic. All linguistic terminology and concepts are
explained and illustrated with examples, allowing linguists, academics
from other fields and non-academics to follow the book’s arguments.
Terminology that has previously been used by other authors with
different definitions is discussed in the context of those previous
usages to ensure the readers are aware of how the present author is
using the terms. All analyses undertaken throughout the book are well
illustrated and explained, using plenty of examples.
The book is very well structured. The introduction (Chapter 1)
provides all the background knowledge necessary to be able to follow
the remaining chapters of the book and clearly outlines the author’s
approach and aim. Chapters 2-9 discuss different aspects of
econarratives and could be read individually if the reader is only
interested in one specific topic. Each chapter contains case studies,
investigating different text types that are taken from different
speech communities and different languages all around the world. This
shows that the book’s relevance is not limited to the anglophone
world, but that econarratives exist and can be analysed in languages
worldwide.
The chapter’s are arranged in a logical sequence starting with
“Beginning” (Chapter 2), the discussion of creation narratives, moving
through other topics such as “Emplacing” (Chapter 4) and “Leading”
(Chapter 6), before finishing off with “Ending” (Chapter 9), the
discussion of writing about the end of the world. This gives the book
its own narrative arc. The conclusion (Chapter 10) brings together
many of the types of analyses undertaken in the previous chapters to
illustrate the wide range of possibilities that econarratives present
for linguistic research. The author’s ecosophy is referred to
regularly throughout the book and many of the texts used in the case
studies are evaluated in line with it. The author’s call for action
thus forms a red thread throughout the book.
The range of analyses undertaken and text types discussed in
“Econarratives” clearly show the potential for future research. As the
author himself states in the conclusion, while the topic was
approached through an ecolinguistic lens, linguistics alone cannot
fully investigate all that econarratives have to offer. Instead, he
calls for a transdisciplinary approach that combines linguistics with
other humanities and science disciplines. I can only agree with that.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Rebecca Madlener is a second year PhD student in Gaelic and Celtic
Studies at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig / the University of the Highlands and
Islands. She holds a BSc in General Linguistics from Salzburg
University, as well as an MA in General Linguistics from Uppsala
University. Her PhD project investigates the Scottish Gaelic landscape
vocabulary, synchronically and diachronically.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List to support the student editors:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

Elsevier Ltd http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-1238
----------------------------------------------------------