Ecosomatic Paradigm through Disability Studies in John Muir’s My First Summer in the Sierra
Gage Greenspan
Publication: Volume 2 Issue 4
Abstract
This essay argues that John Muir’s My First Summer in the Sierra provides a literary basis for Matthew J. C. Cella’s “ecosomatic paradigm,” while simultaneously complicating this paradigm, especially for its exclusion of mental disabilities. A critique of the ecosomatic paradigm is undertaken in order to expose its potential applicability to a wider range of disabled persons. The clearest instances of this critique appear in Muir’s passages
depicting a “mad” shepherd, as well as a tree that has been damaged by a storm, which Muir likens to a man with a broken back. An analysis of instances in Muir’s text ultimately is shown to be in sync with Cella’s broader goal of opening up the scope of ecocriticism to incorporate elements of disability studies. This allows y First Summer in the Sierra to not only be read as a strong force in ecocriticism, but also as an early conception of disability discourse.
Keywords: Ecocriticism, Disability Studies, Ecosomatic Paradigm, John Muir, Matthew J. C. Cella.
Gage Greenspan (gagegspan@gmail.com) recently received his MA in English from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, USA. At Cal Poly SLO, he was an instructor of a freshman writing and rhetoric course, a tutor at the university’s Writing Center, an editor for Fresh Voices (a pedagogical, annual publication consisting of Cal Poly student essays), and Co-Managing Editor for Cal Poly’s Sprinkle (an international journal of undergraduate research in feminist and queer studies). For his prospective PhD, he intends to study the intersections of Marxism, Gender Studies, and Modern and Contemporary Theatre/Performance