Title
Ecojustice Poetry in The BreakBeat Poets Anthologies
Author
Marta Werbanowska
Abstract
Ecological modes of thinking and an awareness of environmental (in)justice are becoming increasingly pronounced in the ethics and aesthetics of hip hop. One area in which the culture’s growing interest in ecology as practice and metaphor is particularly visible is hip hop poetry’s turn to ecojustice, or an intersectional concern with social and environmental justice, liberation, diversity, and sustainability. This article examines selected works from the first two volumes of anthologies published by Haymarket Books as part of their BreakBeat Poets series, focusing on three ecojustice-oriented poems that address animal rights, (un)natural disasters, and gentrification. Their authors–all Black women– draw from African American history and culture to illuminate the intertwined ideological, political, and economic dimensions of some of the most pressing humanitarian and environmental crises of today. Samantha Thornhill’s “Ode to a Killer Whale” takes the form of a poetic monologue by the fictional character of Kunta Kinte, revealing similarities between human and animal subjugation and inscribing animal liberation in the Black revolutionary tradition. Candace G. Wiley’s “Parcel Map for the County Assessor” re-members and re-creates a culture of place that permeated the speaker’s countryside childhood to present the larger-than-human cost of rural gentrification. Finally, Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie’s “Global Warming Blues” juxtaposes the personal and the elemental dimensions of climate change in a blues remix that advocates for ecojustice for the disenfranchised.
Keywords
EcopoeticsEcojusticeHip hop poetryAfrican American
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1655529
Appeared in
Title
Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment
Volume
13
Issue
1
ISSN
2171-9594
Issued
2022
From page
89
To page
105
Publisher
Universidad de Alcala
Date issued
2022
Access rights
Rights statement
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