Preferred Name
Lantz Shifflett
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Date of Graduation
5-6-2021
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
School of Communication Studies
Advisor(s)
Matthew Brigham
Alison Bodkin
Pete Bsumek
Abstract
Ecofascism of the 21st century is a revival of centuries-old white nationalist fascism integrated with a concern for environmental issues from the last few decades. Designated by their writers as “manifestos,” three ecofascists have widely disseminated their documents online just before committing acts of racially motivated terrorism in three different countries. Furthermore, these manifestos provide a lens into contemporary ecofascist conspiracies as well as their own concocted “snakeoils” that present their ecofascist agendas in the form of rhetorical “curatives” to environmental issues of pollution. These “cures” are grounded in a new “green nationalism” that attempts to disguise the white supremacist foundations of their conspiracies. Kenneth Burke’s (1939) “Rhetoric of Hitler’s ‘Battle,’” compels rhetorical critics to participate in an anti-fascist “battle” against the distortions of religion and other Nazi-appropriated symbols, forms of commercialization, and Aryan white nationalism. Following suit, this thesis attempts to expose the ecofascist distortions from these three ecofascist manifestos: the Christchurch shooter in 2019, the El Paso, Texas shooter in 201,9 and the Oslo bombing and Utøya shooter of 2011. My project includes a focus on revealing these shooters’ “green” tactics and methods of appealing to wider audiences beyond their white nationalist core of followers. Exposing ecofascist rhetorical tactics also presents new challenges to environmental advocacy, and as Yamamoto and Lyman’s (2001) “Racializing Environmental Justice” argues, pushes environmental justice proponents to “examine white racism” in law, policy, and practice.
Recommended Citation
Shifflett, Lantz, "Ecofascist “Snakeoil” and the imperative of racializing environmental justice for the 21st century: A Burkean rhetorical criticism of contemporary ecofascist manifestos" (2021). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 107.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/107
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Social Justice Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons
