QUEER ECOLOGIES

Queer ecology is a theoretical framework that applies queer theory to environmental issues and the construct of 'nature'. It encompasses a broad constellation of ideas, from looking beyond binaries to expanding the notion of queer kinship into the more-than-human world. Queer ecology looks to rethink, or queer, the meaning of human, and in doing so queers the entangled relationships between humans, other animals, and other non-human nature. This queering of ecology can be expanded beyond our relationships with more-than-human nature to encompass the critical questioning and rejection of aspects viewed as 'natural' to the human, such as our values, desires, and socioeconomic systems. Another key element of queer ecology is in its ties to queer utopianism and futurity; through collective imagination, it invites us to envision and work towards a queer horizon in which human-centric hierarchies are replaced by a realization of multispecies interconnectivity, intimacy, and relationality. Queerness, with its predisposition to critical question and unlearn unwanted social norms, is mirrored in the desire of Otherwise to resist the status quo and seek equitable (multispecies) futures. This year, Otherwise wants to dig deeper into our queer roots by exploring the world of queer ecology through lectures, discussions, film screenings, storytelling, theater, and other transformative methodologies. 

Topics include mutability and mutualism; beyond the binaries; multispecies community care and alternative living structures; desirable futures and queer utopianism; multi-species justice; and decentralizing the human.