Ecologies of Labour
An Environmental Humanities Approach
abstract
How do concepts of labour and working class relate to ecology? How can the Environmental Humanities make sense of the ways in which people experience nature through their work? Based on an ecofeminist approach, this chapter invites us to unpack the notion of labour and to see the multiple forms – not only production, but also reproduction and care – through which labour shapes and is shaped by the biophysical environment. The chapter is divided into two parts: the first introduces materialist ecofeminism as a perspective that allows us to rethink labour in ecological terms; the second proposes a three-way approach to investigating the ecologies of labour. The concluding section highlights the connection between the ‘ecology of labour’ approach and environmental justice.