REVENANT ECOLOGIES

Engaging a broad spectrum of ecological thought to articulate the ethical scale of global extinction As global rates of plant and animal extinctions mount anxieties about the future of the earth s ecosystems are fueling ever more ambitious efforts at conservation which draw on Western scientific principles to manage species and biodiversity In Revenant Ecologies Audra Mitchell argues that these responses not only ignore but also magnify powerful forms of structural violence like colonialism racism genocide extractivism ableism and heteronormativity ultimately contributing to the destruction of unique life forms and ecosystems Critiquing the Western discourse of global extinction and biodiversity through the lens of diverse Indigenous philosophies and other marginalized knowledge systems Revenant Ecologies promotes new ways of articulating the ethical enormity of global extinction Mitchell offers an ambitious framework bio plurality that focuses on nurturing unique irreplaceable worlds relations and ecosystems aiming to transform global ecological political relations including through processes of land return and critically confronting discourses on human extinction Highlighting the deep violence that underpins ideas of extinction conservation