Stone Voices: Geomaterialism in the Ecohumanities

Recent scholarship in the 'geohumanities' or 'geomaterialist ecocriticism' reveals that stones and geological formations are not inert but instead act as receptive and emotive measures of human entanglements with more-than-human entities. This perspective challenges traditional views of stone as 'senseless things,' highlighting its physical dynamism and emotional potency. The research employs a narrative approach, analyzing how humans respond to stone through 'stories of stone'—ranging from Neolithic cave paintings to modern anthropic signatures—and explores the ecological paradoxes of the present era. Key works by Jeffrey Cohen and Serenella Iovino juxtapose cultural heritage, such as Piedmont's wines, with industrial 'slow violence,' like asbestos exposure, illustrating human interactions with nonhuman landscapes. This approach aligns with strategic anthropomorphism, seeking to entangle human experience with geological formations.

Steve Mentz. (2018). Stone Voices: Geomaterialism in the Ecohumanities. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, 6(1), 118. https://doi.org/10.5250/resilience.6.1.0118