One Rhizome, Two Unstoppable Blossoms: Environmental Communication and Ecological Rhetoric
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2008 One rhizome, two unstoppable blossoms: environmental communication and ecological rhetoric Kevin James Ells Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Ells, Kevin James, "One rhizome, two unstoppable blossoms: environmental communication and ecological rhetoric" (2008). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3727. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3727 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. ONE RHIZOME, TWO UNSTOPPABLE BLOSSOMS: ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION AND ECOLOGICAL RHETORIC A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in The Department of Communication Studies by Kevin Ells Bachelor of Commerce, Dalhousie University, 1984 Master in Environmental Studies, York University, 1995 May, 2008 The prospect of tackling a subject that is “far too vast” to be assessed by any present or future assemblage is apt to daunt even the most audacious individual. If it is too vast to be handled by any single scholar, however, it is, by the same token, also too vast to be avoided by any single scholar. ---Elizabeth Eisenstein (1979, 42) ii For Ginger, with love iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my parents, James and Janet Ells, and my sister Karen. Mom taught me to read when I was a toddler and oversaw a happy home; Dad supported our family through long eastern Canadian winters not only 9 to 5 but in volunteering with any extra- curricular activity we took up; and Karen, working steadily all the way through graduate school without ever forgetting how to balance work and fun, more perhaps than she realizes even today, was the smart one. No one ever doubted I could write, nor that I would excel once I settled down and found something I could do competently. The “LSU Mafia,” Shaun Treat, Jon Croghan, and Dan Grano, invited me to participate on a conference panel on my second day of class, praised my learning curve in flag football, and made me feel at home Monday through Friday in Baton Rouge, 115 miles away from my family in Alexandria. Gretchen, Roger, Jess, Tammy, David, and Linda all reassured me in various ways despite their advanced youth and in many ways superior abilities that I had not only been smart to take a 70% salary cut in early middle age to return to school, but had done so in the exact right year. Throughout I knew by phone or email that my American and Canadian roots were rooting for me: the Hennigars, Tregunnos, Moores, and Ponikvars of Nova Scotia, the Edwardses of Shreveport, the Kartusches of Ontario, the Joneses of Missouri, the Lytles of Louisiana, and the Ellses of Halifax. Together with recent discoveries as a scholar have been many as uncle (to my sister’s children, Matthew and Kate), and Bumpa (to my stepchildren’s children: Lisa’s Sophia and Zach’s Aiden and Bella). My PhD examination committee, Joshua Gunn, Laura Sells, Miles Richardson, and Andrew King, did not so much set the bar high for me (though they did) as light a iv beacon on the hill for me to blaze a trail toward. They made the personal confluence of intimidating erudition, clear writing, engaged teaching, verbal facility, and personal civility seem normal, even average, for those aspiring to get into my new line of work. Their example remains among the most precious of the many gifts my life has brought my way. (Laura shepherded me through my first attempt at rhetorical criticism which later became chapter 2, Miles devoted a whole course to an anthropological reading of the Interstate, whence the case study of chapter 3, and Renee Edwards guided me through the statistical thickets between my modest quantitative talent and chapter 5.) I deeply appreciate the encouragement of Michael Bowman, editor of my first peer-reviewed journal article, and the invitation to be a co-author with Jim Honeycutt and Loretta Pecchioni, dissertation committee members alongside Stephanie Houston Grey, who have all three edited and encouraged me in equally productive measure. Finally, my deep thanks to my advisor Andrew King, who has seen more of my mediocre writing than the others put together, but always knew what exact words, in person in his office, or by phone or e-mail, to help me press on regardless. He exemplifies what I and my rhetoric classmates aspire to as writers and teachers. When I grow up, I want to be just like him. More precious still, however, dearer than the tree that gave its life for the foolscap and reams of paper on which this project got charted out and ultimately photocopied, is the support, tenacity, friendship, and love of my wife, Ginger Jones, who always knew how to break my writer’s block, and who spent too much time alone and too little disposable income during my several years completing this program. Thank you, Ginger. You are the best and brightest person I know. This is for you, and for us. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Epigraph ............................................................................................................................ ii Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Abstract........................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. One Root; Two Trees: Environmental Communication and Ecological Rhetoric.............................................................................1 Definitions and Distinctions ....................................................................................2 Literature Review.....................................................................................................5 Justification and Rationale.....................................................................................11 Methodology..........................................................................................................13 Structure and Preview............................................................................................15 Conclusion .............................................................................................................19 Notes ......................................................................................................................21 Chapter 2. Where’s Your Daddy? Ecological Rhetoric through Rhetorical Criticism..................................................................22 Garrett Hardin and the “Population Problem”.......................................................26 “The Tragedy of the Commons”............................................................................30 Hardin the Storyteller.............................................................................................32 Hardin’s Thought Experiment ...............................................................................36 Where’s Your Daddy? ...........................................................................................42 Conclusion .............................................................................................................46 Notes ......................................................................................................................49 Chapter 3. “Innis, Illich. Interstate”: Ecological Rhetoric through Media Ecology ...........................................................................51 Channels, Records, Environments .........................................................................52 Media History ..................................................................................................54 Media Theories ................................................................................................58 Media Ecology.......................................................................................................60 Harold Innis ...........................................................................................................64 The Flip Side..........................................................................................................67 “Innis, Illich, Interstate”.........................................................................................71 Innis..................................................................................................................72 Illich .................................................................................................................77 Interstate...........................................................................................................79 Inferences.........................................................................................................84 Conclusions............................................................................................................85 Notes ......................................................................................................................90