Practising Deconstruction in the Age of Ecological Emergency

Abstract

What, I hear you ask? How can you put the word ‘practice’ next to the most cerebral, recherché word in philosophy and cultural theory? And how, for goodness’ sake, can I expect you to take it seriously in a volume about teaching ecological criticism, for heaven’s sake? By the time you finish reading this essay, however, you may well agree with its author that you can indeed make deconstruction a matter of experience, hands-on, even ‘raw’ and ‘naked’ — now the deconstructors are lining up to take potshots! Not only that: you may well also agree with me that this kind of deconstruction — deconstruction with a pulsing, living heart — is just the ticket for ecological humanism.