Books by Matthew S Henry
University of Nebraska Press, 2022
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Peer-Reviewed Publications by Matthew S Henry
Contemporary Social Science, 2024
Wyoming is the epicentre of the coal transition in the United States. The coal industry is critic... more Wyoming is the epicentre of the coal transition in the United States. The coal industry is critical to the state’s economy, both in terms of jobs and a state revenue model dependent on federal coal leasing payments, mineral royalties, and mining severance taxes. However, due to economic, regulatory, and political pressures, the U.S. is currently on track to retire half of its coal-fired electricity generation capacity by 2026. Accordingly, Wyoming faces an uncertain future. Despite the difficult path ahead, many Wyoming policymakers, industry officials, and residents express hostility toward the idea of transition. This often manifests in opposition to renewable energy through policies that double down on investments in fossil fuel energy, despite the increased availability of federal resources and programmes to ease the burden of change. I refer to this phenomenon as transition obstructionism. While transition obstructionism is detrimental to residents across the state, harm is also distributed downstream in the fossil fuel lifecycle, particularly in historically marginalised communities. This article reviews recent efforts by state lawmakers and institutions to actively disincentivize transition and prolong the fossil fuel economy in Wyoming. It then considers how transition obstructionism contributes to ‘embodied energy injustices’ both within and beyond Wyoming.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Energy Research & Social Science , 2020
By Matthew S. Henry, Morgan Bazilian, and Chris Markuson
The energy landscape is changing dramat... more By Matthew S. Henry, Morgan Bazilian, and Chris Markuson
The energy landscape is changing dramatically. Communities are being impacted in different ways. Positive impacts include reductions in air pollution and new tax revenues from renewables. Negative impacts include lost jobs and foregone tax revenues after closure of large fossil fuels generation facilities and coal mines. The contours of this transition have been further altered by recent events such as the global oil market crash and the COVID-19 pandemic. While economic and social issues can be addressed through thoughtful policy design, the pace of change, and the extent to which communities have a say in what comes next, matter. Though the technical issues of transitions are well-researched, the socio-economic aspects of the energy transition remain both emergent and essential to an equitable transition to a low-carbon energy system. This article provides an overview of the history and current status of just transitions.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Environmental Humanities, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment , 2018
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature 46.3, Jul 2015
As a comment on India post-Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie’s 1995 novel The Moor’s Last Sigh ... more As a comment on India post-Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie’s 1995 novel The Moor’s Last Sigh offers a broad-based critique of modern India within the context of economic policy shifts in India following independence from British rule in 1947. The gradual implementation of neoliberal economic policies in the 1980s and 1990s accompanied India’s emergence as a major player in the global capitalist economy but also led to drastic increases in income inequality, unemployment, and the proliferation of a vast informal sector of exploitable human capital. Rushdie's novel identifies India's entrepreneurial and capitalist classes, specifically in Mumbai/Bombay, as complicit in the exacerbation of class disparity which has led, in many cases, to increased Hindu-Muslim cultural tensions and the growing ubiquity of government corruption and organized crime. The novel offers additional insight into the exploitative logic of Hindu nationalist politics through its parodic depiction of the Shiv Sena party, which owes much of its political clout to the maintenance of a patriarchal, mafia-esque relationship with urban slum-dwellers. The Moor's Last Sigh delineates new and complex forms of oppression and exploitation in postcolonial India that often occur simultaneously along class and cultural lines.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Public-Facing Scholarship by Matthew S Henry
The Conversation, 2020
23 September 2020
by Brad Handler, Matt Henry, and Morgan Bazilian
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Edge Effects: A Digital Magazine, Feb 21, 2019
In this essay I trace the historical roots of the Green New Deal and, with a focus on Kim Stanley... more In this essay I trace the historical roots of the Green New Deal and, with a focus on Kim Stanley Robinson's novel New York 2140, discuss how climate fiction can help us envision climate action that places the concerns of frontline/fenceline communities at the forefront.
Originally published in Edge Effects: A Digital Magazine: http://edgeeffects.net/green-new-deal-climate-fiction/
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Oxford University Press Blog, 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters by Matthew S Henry
Energized: Keywords for a New Politics of Energy and the Environment
Keyword chapter on 'transitions'.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Approaches to Teaching the Works of Karen Tei Yamashita (Modern Language Association, forthcoming 2018), 2019
In this essay, we outline an approach to teaching Karen Tei Yamashita's novel Tropic of Orange as... more In this essay, we outline an approach to teaching Karen Tei Yamashita's novel Tropic of Orange as a form of climate fiction, or "cli-fi," by focusing on its themes of climate-change induced migration from Mexico and Latin America into the United States. We describe our own approaches to teaching the novel in both US multi-ethnic literature classes and environmental humanities classes. The essay is part of a collection that focuses on teaching Yamashita's works in a variety of settings.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Invited Talks by Matthew S Henry
In this talk, I discuss what I call “extractive fictions,” or cultural productions that map the u... more In this talk, I discuss what I call “extractive fictions,” or cultural productions that map the uneven impacts of fossil fuel extraction on poor, ethnic minority, and indigenous communities. As a case study, it focuses on fiction, poetry, and public art exhibits that respond to socio-ecological crises associated with coal and gas development in impoverished rural communities in northern Appalachia, with an emphasis on the ways in which artists are challenging dominant narratives of extraction as a path to economic and social progress. The talk closes with an exploration of collaborative, cross-disciplinary reclamation art projects that prompt affected communities to envision post-extraction futures and an epistemological shift away from extraction culture.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Syllabi by Matthew S Henry
Climate Change and Colonialism Syllabus, University of Wyoming Honors College, Spring 2023
***... more Climate Change and Colonialism Syllabus, University of Wyoming Honors College, Spring 2023
***Please contact me if you would like a copy of the syllabus.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Environmental justice can be defined as “the right of all people to share equally in the benefits... more Environmental justice can be defined as “the right of all people to share equally in the benefits bestowed by a healthy environment.” Yet it has been well documented that the impacts of environmental degradation are distributed unevenly along the lines of race, class, gender, and ethnicity. This grim reality is worsened by a rapidly changing climate. While we are collectively experiencing a time of unprecedented transition, those rendered vulnerable by structural inequalities are likely to experience the worst impacts of this transition.
In this class, we will explore the intersection of environmental and social justice issues through an analysis of literary fiction, film, performance, music, and other media. We will engage with environmental policy, history, and literary and cultural theory, including fields such as settler colonialism and Indigenous studies, critical race theory, Latinx/Chicanx studies, and gender studies. We will study how structural inequality drives the uneven distribution of environmental risk. We will also consider the generative potential of the arts and humanities for supporting environmental justice struggles and imagining a just transition, a concept long championed by environmental justice and labor organizations to describe an alternative economic paradigm predicated on environmental sustainability and economic and social equity.
The working thesis for this class is that the arts and humanities are critical to this process because 1) they serve a documentary function, providing insight into complex historical factors driving environmental injustice and 2) they function as a form of “scenario-imagining,” providing underrepresented the communities a platform to plan for a Just Transition. As part of a semester-long project, you will have the opportunity to imagine, in your own words, what a just transition might look like in a community of your choice.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This syllabus is for my Spring 2020 Environmental Justice in Literature and Culture class at the ... more This syllabus is for my Spring 2020 Environmental Justice in Literature and Culture class at the University of Wyoming. It was cross-listed as an English and Environment and Natural Resources class.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Syllabus for ENR 2000: Environment and Society at the University of Wyoming. - Fall 2020
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This syllabus was designed for an online, introductory environmental literature course taught to ... more This syllabus was designed for an online, introductory environmental literature course taught to twenty-five M. Phil students at Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore, Pakistan during the Spring 2017 semester. The course was designed as part of a State Department-funded partnership between Arizona State University and Kinnaird College, which explored the globalization of American literary studies.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
How can the imagination help us cope with, confront, and overcome contemporary ecological crises ... more How can the imagination help us cope with, confront, and overcome contemporary ecological crises such as climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental injustice? Can the humanities help humans simultaneously re-imagine a relationship with the natural world that has frequently been defined in oppositional terms (nature vs. culture) while also improving the well-being of marginalized cultural groups throughout the world?
This course seeks to answer these questions by filtering them through contemporary crises surrounding our most precious resource: water. Turning to literature, film, and literary criticism, we will explore the cultural, economic, and ecological significance of water in diverse cultural contexts. Along the way, we’ll discuss the promises and pitfalls of early environmentalist approaches to river conservation; the convoluted history of dam-building in the American West; indigenous cosmological approaches to resource use in the American Southwest; the ravages of water privatization in Pakistan; hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), groundwater contamination, and the exploitation of rural working class communities in Pennsylvania; and an apocalyptic vision of a near-future Phoenix, Arizona ravaged by a megadrought.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Creative by Matthew S Henry
Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction, Sep 2016
"Victor and the Fish" was selected as runner-up for a global climate fiction contest organized by... more "Victor and the Fish" was selected as runner-up for a global climate fiction contest organized by Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination as part of the Climate Futures Initiative. It was judged by a multidisciplinary field of climate fiction experts including esteemed science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Books by Matthew S Henry
Peer-Reviewed Publications by Matthew S Henry
The energy landscape is changing dramatically. Communities are being impacted in different ways. Positive impacts include reductions in air pollution and new tax revenues from renewables. Negative impacts include lost jobs and foregone tax revenues after closure of large fossil fuels generation facilities and coal mines. The contours of this transition have been further altered by recent events such as the global oil market crash and the COVID-19 pandemic. While economic and social issues can be addressed through thoughtful policy design, the pace of change, and the extent to which communities have a say in what comes next, matter. Though the technical issues of transitions are well-researched, the socio-economic aspects of the energy transition remain both emergent and essential to an equitable transition to a low-carbon energy system. This article provides an overview of the history and current status of just transitions.
Public-Facing Scholarship by Matthew S Henry
Originally published in Edge Effects: A Digital Magazine: http://edgeeffects.net/green-new-deal-climate-fiction/
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters by Matthew S Henry
Invited Talks by Matthew S Henry
Syllabi by Matthew S Henry
***Please contact me if you would like a copy of the syllabus.
In this class, we will explore the intersection of environmental and social justice issues through an analysis of literary fiction, film, performance, music, and other media. We will engage with environmental policy, history, and literary and cultural theory, including fields such as settler colonialism and Indigenous studies, critical race theory, Latinx/Chicanx studies, and gender studies. We will study how structural inequality drives the uneven distribution of environmental risk. We will also consider the generative potential of the arts and humanities for supporting environmental justice struggles and imagining a just transition, a concept long championed by environmental justice and labor organizations to describe an alternative economic paradigm predicated on environmental sustainability and economic and social equity.
The working thesis for this class is that the arts and humanities are critical to this process because 1) they serve a documentary function, providing insight into complex historical factors driving environmental injustice and 2) they function as a form of “scenario-imagining,” providing underrepresented the communities a platform to plan for a Just Transition. As part of a semester-long project, you will have the opportunity to imagine, in your own words, what a just transition might look like in a community of your choice.
This course seeks to answer these questions by filtering them through contemporary crises surrounding our most precious resource: water. Turning to literature, film, and literary criticism, we will explore the cultural, economic, and ecological significance of water in diverse cultural contexts. Along the way, we’ll discuss the promises and pitfalls of early environmentalist approaches to river conservation; the convoluted history of dam-building in the American West; indigenous cosmological approaches to resource use in the American Southwest; the ravages of water privatization in Pakistan; hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), groundwater contamination, and the exploitation of rural working class communities in Pennsylvania; and an apocalyptic vision of a near-future Phoenix, Arizona ravaged by a megadrought.
Creative by Matthew S Henry
The energy landscape is changing dramatically. Communities are being impacted in different ways. Positive impacts include reductions in air pollution and new tax revenues from renewables. Negative impacts include lost jobs and foregone tax revenues after closure of large fossil fuels generation facilities and coal mines. The contours of this transition have been further altered by recent events such as the global oil market crash and the COVID-19 pandemic. While economic and social issues can be addressed through thoughtful policy design, the pace of change, and the extent to which communities have a say in what comes next, matter. Though the technical issues of transitions are well-researched, the socio-economic aspects of the energy transition remain both emergent and essential to an equitable transition to a low-carbon energy system. This article provides an overview of the history and current status of just transitions.
Originally published in Edge Effects: A Digital Magazine: http://edgeeffects.net/green-new-deal-climate-fiction/
***Please contact me if you would like a copy of the syllabus.
In this class, we will explore the intersection of environmental and social justice issues through an analysis of literary fiction, film, performance, music, and other media. We will engage with environmental policy, history, and literary and cultural theory, including fields such as settler colonialism and Indigenous studies, critical race theory, Latinx/Chicanx studies, and gender studies. We will study how structural inequality drives the uneven distribution of environmental risk. We will also consider the generative potential of the arts and humanities for supporting environmental justice struggles and imagining a just transition, a concept long championed by environmental justice and labor organizations to describe an alternative economic paradigm predicated on environmental sustainability and economic and social equity.
The working thesis for this class is that the arts and humanities are critical to this process because 1) they serve a documentary function, providing insight into complex historical factors driving environmental injustice and 2) they function as a form of “scenario-imagining,” providing underrepresented the communities a platform to plan for a Just Transition. As part of a semester-long project, you will have the opportunity to imagine, in your own words, what a just transition might look like in a community of your choice.
This course seeks to answer these questions by filtering them through contemporary crises surrounding our most precious resource: water. Turning to literature, film, and literary criticism, we will explore the cultural, economic, and ecological significance of water in diverse cultural contexts. Along the way, we’ll discuss the promises and pitfalls of early environmentalist approaches to river conservation; the convoluted history of dam-building in the American West; indigenous cosmological approaches to resource use in the American Southwest; the ravages of water privatization in Pakistan; hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), groundwater contamination, and the exploitation of rural working class communities in Pennsylvania; and an apocalyptic vision of a near-future Phoenix, Arizona ravaged by a megadrought.
This essay is an abbreviated version of a chapter of my dissertation, entitled "Hydronarratives: Reading Water in the Anthropocene," and I am currently revising it to submit for publication.
In this presentation, I argue that Gardens in the Dunes joins a corpus of artistic and public engagements with the US southwest that curate specific, regional manifestations of the Anthropocene characterized by declining river ecologies, worsening drought, and indigenous water rights struggles. Gardens, as an environmental justice novel, both diagnoses the current water crisis as symptomatic of Reclamation Era dam projects and resultant water management systems and provides crucial context for the Tohono O’odham Nation’s water rights struggles in central Arizona. I complement this reading with an analysis of Mark Klett’s rephotographic survey of the US west, which works to materialize anthropogenic changes to regional topographies over time, and the Pueblo Grande Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, which traces the history of the Hohokam people and their vast irrigation system and, because of its location in what Andrew Ross has called the least sustainable city in the world, calls contemporary resource ideologies into question. Taken together, novel, photographic collection, and museum highlight pre-development and cosmologically-based approaches to resource management and urge readers/viewers to think beyond dominant resource paradigms.
This panel explores the ways in which literature, film, photography, museum exhibits, and other forms of contemporary media work to uncover and diagnose the (mal)practices and (mis)management causing contemporary water crises. Ultimately, the texts and cultural forms examined in this panel offer novel ways to imaginatively engage with the catastrophic effects of water (mis)management; materialize the hidden social and ecological effects of water crises; make forceful environmental justice claims; and propose alternative, non-corrosive approaches to water management and use in the 21st century
Zahra Hanif examines Graciela Limon’s The River Flows North and Ana Luisa Calvillo’s No Documents, No Escape. Dealing undocumented immigration across the US-Mexico border, both texts elicit “compassion fatigue,” counteracting the authors’ aim to elicit compassion from the audience. Saifiya Fawad performs a comparative study of Pakistani author Uzma Aslam Khan’s Trespassing and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. As she argues, incorporating Tresspassing into global US studies can engender an identification of US readers with the Pakistani "other," while including Oscar Wao in Pakistani studies would bring the racialized, diasporic US “other” to bear on Pakistani studies. Finally, Matthew Henry analyzes Japaenese-American author Karen Tei Yamashita’s Through the Arc of the Rainforest to argue for the utility of postcolonial studies in delineating human and environmental consequences of economic development in the Americas. The novel critiques environmentally destructive resource development in Brazil, paralleling a Latin American “brand” of postcolonial studies focused on economic development.