Sentimental Ecology and Ecofeminist Literature

Abstract

This chapter discusses the importance of sentimental ecology—the use of rhetoric that emphasizes home, hearth, and emotional connections—in modern environmental writing. Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s memoir, Thin Places, grounds the analysis and provides examples of emotional connections to the natural environment that have been damaged by human activity, including climate change and postcolonial occupation. Because ní Dochartaigh grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, her ecological vision is informed by trauma, and the natural world serves as a place of refuge as well as paradoxically being a reminder of trauma. The natural landscape most often operates as a liminal space, the eponymous thin place where she can begin to craft a secure domestic space.