EHN Most-Read Posts of 2021

As we embark on this new year, we would like to express our gratitude for your continuous support of EHN. In 2022, we look forward to further showcasing the environmental-related work and expertise of graduate students and early career scholars who identify as women, trans and/or non binary people.

Today, as we did last year, we would like to highlight the most read posts in the past year.

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1. “Dirty Knowings: What Afro-Texan Women Tell Us About Archiving” by Endia Hayes (February 12, 2021)

In this piece, Endia Hayes explored the idea of land as an ever-evolving archive to better understand the histories of formerly enslaved women, specifically Afro-Texan women. As she explained here, “[…] there is a different, much dirtier text, being written upon by those women who would never be given access to paper and pen. They would write their legacies in the ground.” A must-read.

2. “Thoughts on Queen Sugar” by Allison Puglisi (January 14, 2021)

In this piece, Allison Puglisi shared her thoughts about how the second season of Queen Sugar, the TV series based on Natalie Baszile’s 2014 novel of the same name, highlights a new narrative of Black experience in the U.S. South. Much food for thought.

3. “Naming ‘Paradise’: The Adamic Imagination, Colonial Toponyms, and Remembering the Indigenous Caribbean” by Renée Landell (April 15, 2021)

This past year saw a growing understanding on the importance of place and geographic names in the context of (de)colonialism. In her piece for EHN, Renée Landell added to this conversation by reflecting on the connection between re-naming, nature/religion, and colonialism in the Indigenous Caribbean. Poignant and powerful.

4. “‘Grieving Well’: On Mourning, Extinction, and White Privilege” by Shelby Brewster (March 19, 2021)

“The ‘white tears’ of environmental grief mask the structural causes of environmental violence, making the grieving itself appear to be ‘a form of action,’” wrote Shelby Brewster in this fascinating and important piece on the complicated politics of extinction in spaces of environmental activism.

5. “Delivering the Polar Product” by Hanne Nielsen (February 4, 2021)

“It may not be as Instagram-worthy as a porthole onto a frozen vista, but it’s a reminder that the little slice of Antarctica lodged deep within all of us can also manifest back home.” In this piece, Hanne Nielsen shared her take on Antarctic tourism and the “polar product” as a marketing tool. Very telling.

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We would also like to highlight one of our other most-read posts: a reading list on Black Histories of Place as part of our Tools for Change series, edited by Nicole Welk-Joerger. As series editor, Nicole helped offer some starting points to help center conversations on, and gain a deeper understanding of, race, racism, and racial justice in various environmentally-focused topics. She will now move on from this position.

Nicole will begin her new position as Deputy Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies at UW-Milwaukee, and she has decided to step down as series editor with this transition. Luckily for us, though, she will continue to help out where necessary with all things EHN. Thanks for all the work you put into the series, Nicole!

Starting this January, Ramya Swayamprakash will serve as the new Tools for Change editor, and build out the series that aims to earmark resources on environmental-related topics from scholars and thinkers of color who identify as women, trans and non binary people. We’re so excited to have her on board. Welcome to the team, Ramya!

As always, if you have ideas, proposals, or questions, please reach out to us at: contact@envhistnow.com


*Cover image: Illustration by Nicolás Aznárez.

[Cover image description: an illustrated graphic depicting rows of faceless people with interlocking arms.]