Places, literatures, ecosystems: an overview of transnational and postcolonial perspectives on ecocriticism

Abstract

This article offers an (inevitably partial) survey of the debate concerning the relationship between ecocriticism and transnational and postcolonial perspectives, which has been articulated mainly (but not exclusively) in the Anglophone context. This contribution aims at offering the Italian context a mapping of the main theoretical nodes around which this debate has been formulated, in order to identify points of reference within a reflection that continues to evolve. Beginning with an overview of the main ecocritical approaches in relation to the notion of place, the Transnational Turn in ecocriticism is examined, also highlighting its problematic aspects. The article then addresses the need to combine the transnational approach with the postcolonial approach, and the dialogue between postcolonialism and ecocriticism.