Western American Literature

Wald, Vázquez, Ybarra, and Ray's Latinx Environmentalisms makes an important intervention into the field of environmental studies by "redress[ing] the vacuum of attention given to Latinx environmental thought" (3).¹ Environmental studies is notoriously whitewashed, as Laura Pulido and the editors point out in their foreword and introduction, respectively. Terms like "upcycling" and the valorization of composting are just two examples of the whitewashed and classed rhetoric of environmentalism. Brown and Black people—Latinx, African American, Indigenous, Asian American—have adopted these practices for generations, either as cultural tradition or survival tactic. All this is to say, it's about time for a collection like this.

As the first edited collection focused on the intersection of Latinx literary studies and environmental studies, the editors challenge both the whiteness of environmentalist thought and movements and also take seriously that many of the artists interviewed and whose work is examined do not identify themselves as environmentalists. After laying out two models by which ecocriticism has approached race, the editors forward "a recovery model, that neither adds more voices to the existing environmental table nor assigns all nonwhite environmental concerns to environmental justice" (10). The majority of the pieces, as they point out, fit well under a socio-formal framework (Paula M. L. Moya), depending heavily on close reading (12).

Split into three parts, focusing on place, justice, and the decolonial, the pieces in Latinx Environmentalisms cover a wide array of issues and genres. Though a literary studies project, the definition [End Page 193] of "literature" the volume presents is expansive, including films (McFarland, USA), social media campaigns (the National Park Foundation's American Latino Expedition), art (Ester Hernández's Sun Mad), science fiction, as well as novels and poetry. In addition to ecocritical methods (Ray, Ontiveros, Irizarry), the essays take various critical approaches, from disability studies (Minich) to cultural studies (Wald) to queer studies (Rodríguez), which makes it likely that one or more of the essays will fit well on an undergraduate or graduate syllabus. The collection, or excerpts from it, would sit nicely on syllabi for courses on Latinx literature, ecocriticism, environmental literature, environmental humanities, as well as urban studies, since several pieces dissect issues of space and place from many different angles (Perreira, Garcia Peacock, Vázquez).

Over the course of the introduction, Laura Pulido's foreword, fifteen chapters, and Stacy Alaimo's afterword, Latinx Environmentalisms poses several compelling questions, such as "What are the boundaries of environmentalism and environmental justice? How might we envision the full range of Latinx populations' environmental positions and roles? And finally, how do we conceptualize Latinx peoples, especially ethnic Mexicans, in terms of settler colonization?" (xi). The collection helps readers move beyond the binary of "victim or ecological innovator" seen in works in environmental studies that focus on reclaiming marginalized voices and recontextualizing environmentalist history (xiv). Minich's essay applying "cripped environmentalism" to McFarland, USA (38) and Vázquez's piece on the Young Lords and Ernesto Quiñonez's Bodega Dreams are good examples of the deconstruction of that binary. In addition, the collection offers several author interviews. While most focus on Mexican or Mexican American/Xicana perspectives (Ana Castillo, Cherríe Moraga, Helena María Viramontes), Shane Hall's interview with Guatemalan American author Héctor Tobar provides a glimpse into the diversity that awaits future studies. Overall, the collection is Chicanx focused, but there are strong contributions about Haitian and Nuyorican texts.

Since the volume boasts its use of a decolonial lens, the examination of US–Central American texts, especially their engagement with Indigeneity, would have been a welcome [End Page 194] contribution, as would additional essays on AfroLatinx environmental literature. In addition, the "decolonial" lens is less developed than "place" and "justice," and, as Pulido notes, often skims over the dual role of Mexican Americans as colonizers as...