The discourse of “environmentalist hysteria”

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Abstract
Environmentalism challenges not only social and political but also psychological orthodoxies by offering new opportunities for interpreting the relation of self to society and to the earth. The ego originates in discourse as an object of contemplation, only later to become a “subject position,” a category within which the self can discover a new “I am” in a broader social world. Taking as a starting point the accusation that environmentalists like Rachel Carson, Paul Ehrlich, and Lois Gibbs are trying to “stir up environmentalist hysteria” and are themselves “hysterical,” this paper explores some of the shared features of the discourses of hysteria and critical ecology, with the aim of mapping current and future directions for environmentalist thought and action.

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