Collectivising resonance through ritual: The case of ecological emotions

Abstract

As environmental crises intensify, political responses remain inadequate, feeding cultures of ‘structural apathy’. On the margins of public opinion, however, growing numbers of environmental activists, community organisers, scientists, educators and young people testify to their experience of ecological emotions, that is, grief, despair and horror tracking accumulating more-than-human loss, past, present and future. This article offers a new conceptualisation of eco-emotions that helps us advance two arguments. First, we turn to social theory and critically modify Hartmut Rosa's concept of resonance to theorise eco-emotions as non-transient, painful experiences that evidence a non-alienated relationship with the more-than-human. Second, we propose that, to capture these emotions’ political potential, they need validation and support in community. Consequently, in dialogue with theories of ritual, we identify the practices that can vindicate, collectivise and channel eco-emotions politically. As illustrations, we analyse the podcast ‘Climate Change and Happiness’ and the project ‘Work that Reconnects’.