Decolonizing Ecomedia

Ecocritical work on media has developed from a genre criticism of nature-themed films to address cinema, TV, and media arts more broadly as articulations of the human-natural relation and its mediation through technologies. Embracing the environmental impacts of product life cycles, from materials extraction and industrial production to energy use and recycling, these advances in ecocriticism have begun to address the differential experiences of affected populations. This essay looks at the “environmentalism of the poor” with specific reference to indigenous peoples affected by the digital media industries. It seeks to address a lacuna in mainstream Green politics, drawing on colonial, postcolonial, and decolonial analyses and indigenous methodologies, in order to propose a de-Westernizing move in ecopolitics.