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Plants, Places, and Power
Toward Social and Ecological Justice in German Literature and Film
by Maria Stehle
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Book Presentation:
Examines portrayals of plants and landscapes in recent German novels and films, addressing the contemporary forms of racism, nationalism, and social and ecological injustice that they expose.
Plants, Places, and Power is a study of plants and landscapes in and beyond contemporary German-language literature and film. Stories and images of plants and landscapes in cultural productions are key sites for exposing the violent legacies of German colonialism and Nazism and for addressing contemporary forms of racism, nationalism, social and ecological injustice, and gender inequity. The novels and films discussed in this book address these key political issues in contemporary Europe and propose alternative ways for people to live together on this planet by formulating more inclusive and sustainable concepts of belonging.
The book has two main objectives: to offer new approaches to contemporary literature and film from an intersectional, ecological perspective, and to form a canon. All of the works focused on, from Mo Asumang's documentary film Roots Germania (2007) through Faraz Shariat's Futur Drei (2020) and from Yōko Tawada's novel Das nackte Auge (2004) to Saša Stanišić's Herkunft (2019), are by female artists, artists of color, artists who have experienced forced displacement, and/or queer artists. In five chapters, Maria Stehle reads artworks in reference to ecological systems, develops forms of eco- and social criticism based on art, and intertwines ecological and critical thinking with questions of form, affect, and aesthetics.
About the Author:
MARIA STEHLE is Professor of German and Cinema Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Press Reviews:
Stehle's new monograph is both remarkably bold and impressively humble. Bold is the scope of her project, the range of methodologies, and the diversity of the texts she examines. Humble are the arguments she makes in favor of kinship beyond species boundaries, interconnectedness, and ethical communities of care. ― THE GERMAN QUARTERLY
With its ability to revise approaches to contemporary German culture, literature, and film, and its theoretical implications for German Studies, feminist theory, and environmental humanities, the book deserves a broad audience of a wide range of readers, including but not limited to scholars of ecocriticism in German Studies. ― GEGENWARTSLITERATUR
By bringing together aesthetics with social justice and environmental concerns with place-making, Plants, Places, and Power thus takes on a challenging intersection of discourses, materials, and histories that are bound to inspire further discussion in research and teaching. ― GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW
Stehle's book is carefully researched and successfully presented, with a number of black and white photos for illustrating movie scenes. ― MONATSHEFTE
See the publisher website: Camden House
> From the same author:
Precarious Intimacies (2020)
The Politics of Touch in Contemporary Western European Cinema
by Maria Stehle and Beverly Weber
> On a related topic:
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Cinematically Transmitted Disease (2024)
Eugenics and Film in Weimar and Nazi Germany
Experiencing National Culture Abroad (2024)
The Study of Turkish Film Festivals in Germany
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