Toward the Eco-Narrative: Rethinking the Role of Conflict in Storytelling

Corinne Donly

doi:10.3390/h6020017

Abstract

Offered as a response to the increasingly popular call within the eco-humanities for stories that will help humankind adapt to catastrophic planetary conditions, this article proposes “the eco-narrative”—an approach to storytelling that strives to compose with, not for, its nonhuman characters. An extension of eco-critical projects that analyze stories for their depictions of nonhumanity, the theoretical research herein brings ecological analysis of narrative to the level of structure. In particular, it problematizes the dominant plot model of conflict/climax/resolution, suggesting that stories motivated by conflict reinforce dualistic and anthropocentric habits for approaching the animal other. Evaluating two narratives concerning the human practice of killing animals—the Pew Commission’s report on Industrial Farm Animal Production and Annette Watson and Orville H. Huntington’s “They’re here—I can feel them”—the article observes how the former’s efforts at animal rights advocacy are undermined by its very storytelling framework. Celebrating the latter story’s more playful approach to narrative instead, the article ultimately suggests that a theory of “infinite play,” as developed by James P. Carse, can be used to re-envision the dominant plot model. A template for cooperation in the absence of known outcome, infinite play thus becomes the basis for the eco-narrative—a storytelling framework flexible enough to cocreate with nonhumanity, even during an environmental moment characterized by crisis.

Highlights

Appeals to the “universal” of storytelling split in two directions
A template for cooperation in the absence of known outcome, infinite play becomes the basis for the eco-narrative—a storytelling framework flexible enough to cocreate with nonhumanity, even during an environmental moment characterized by crisis
Brian Boyd, in particular, has suggested that the survival of the human species has depended upon strong group cohesion, and as such, stories have served the evolutionary function of teaching groups the norms that will ensure cooperation (Paley 2004)

Summary

Introduction

Appeals to the “universal” of storytelling split in two directions. Some focus on story as it arises developmentally across the human species (Boyd 2009; Paley 2004). Considering that evolution occurs in response to shifting environments and that it often depends more on cooperation than on competition (Boyd 2009), it seems prudent to embrace Morton’s advice and learn to create with, rather than against, our environments and our nonhuman compatriots (Morton 2013) This means seeking out those stories that promote a cross-species mutualism, even on the structural level—that is, no longer identifying a story as successful merely because it accompanies a single (human) protagonist as he engages in a conflict. Returning to that which evolutionary theorists and developmental psychologists have commonly identified as the basis for story, I root these directives in play theory—that is, I identify those values of play that might transpose themselves into storytelling practices In this way, play becomes the guiding principle of the eco-narrative that I propose within the third and final shift. Huntington’s “They’re here—I can feel them: the epistemic spaces of Indigenous and Western Knowledges” as a model text (Huntington and Watson 2008), I explore a narrative that more successfully includes the animal other—exhibiting values of play both within its narrative practices and within its depiction of human/animal interactions

The Animal as Antagonist

Rethinking Narrative by Returning to Play

The Eco-Narrative in Practice