Ecocultural Conversations: Bridging the Human-Nature Divide through Connective Communication Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACTScholars have long argued that various modern, Western cultures have come to conceptualize “the environment” as a separate, ordered, and submissive entity. A problematic human–nature divide stems from this rational view, resulting in environmental degradation. Yet, humans and other-than-humans regularly interrupt these ordered, rational framings. Through a qualitative examination of a K–12 state forest conservation education program, I use a transhuman, materialist communication approach to illustrate how curriculum and the forest service problematically construct humanature relations. I then show how students, rangers, and other-than-humans disrupt and disorder these framings. Instead of using practices that worsen the problem, practitioners and researchers can create ecocultural conversations—connective communication practices that help bridge the human–nature divide. This article articulates how more sustainable environmental communication theories and practices can address dire social and environmental problems.