Derrick Jensen

Derrick Jensen
Derrick Jensen
Born December 19, 1960
Occupation Environment activist and writer
Genres Global warming, ecology, social justice

www.derrickjensen.org

Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American author and environmental activist living in Crescent City, California.[1] Jensen has published several books questioning and critiquing modern civilization and its values, including A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame. He holds a B.S. in Mineral Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University.[2] He has also taught creative writing at Pelican Bay State Prison and Eastern Washington University.[3]

Contents

Themes in Jensen's work

Jensen's work is sometimes characterized as anarcho-primitivist,[4][5] although he has categorically rejected that label, describing primitivist as a "racist way to describe indigenous peoples". He prefers to be called "indigenist" or an "ally to the indigenous," because "indigenous peoples have had the only sustainable human social organizations, and... we need to recognize that we [colonizers] are all living on stolen land."[6]

Jensen sees civilization[7] to be inherently unsustainable and based on violence. He argues that the modern industrial economy is fundamentally at odds with healthy relationships, the natural environment, and indigenous peoples. He concludes that the very pervasiveness of these behaviors indicates that they are diagnostic symptoms of the greater problem of civilization itself. Accordingly, he exhorts readers and audiences to help bring an end to industrial civilization.

In A Language Older Than Words and also in an article entitled "Actions Speak Louder Than Words", Jensen states "Every morning when I awake I ask myself whether I should write or blow up a dam. I tell myself I should keep writing, though I'm not sure that's right".[8]

Jensen proposes that a different, harmonious way of life is possible, and that it can be seen in many societies including many Native American or other indigenous cultures. He claims that many indigenous peoples perceive a primary difference between Western and indigenous perspectives: even the most progressive Westerners generally view listening to the natural world as a metaphor, as opposed to the way the world works. Furthermore, these indigenous peoples understand the world as consisting of other beings with whom we can enter into relationship; this stands in contrast to the Western belief that the world consists of objects or resources to be exploited or used.

Writings

A Language Older Than Words uses the lens of domestic violence to look at the larger violence of western culture. The Culture of Make Believe begins by exploring racism and misogyny and moves to examine how this culture’s economic system leads inevitably to hatred and atrocity. Strangely Like War is about deforestation. Walking on Water is about education (It begins: "As is true for most people I know, I’ve always loved learning. As is also true for most people I know, I always hated school. Why is that?").[9] Welcome to the Machine is about surveillance, and more broadly about science and what he perceives to be a Western obsession with control.

Endgame is about what he describes as the inherent unsustainability of civilization. In this book he asks: "Do you believe that this culture will undergo a voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of living?" Nearly everyone he talks to says no. His next question is: "How would this understanding — that this culture will not voluntarily stop destroying the natural world, eliminating indigenous cultures, exploiting the poor, and killing those who resist — shift our strategy and tactics? The answer? Nobody knows, because we never talk about it: we’re too busy pretending the culture will undergo a magical transformation." Endgame, he says, is "about that shift in strategy, and in tactics."[10]

Jensen's writing uses the first-person and interweaves personal experiences with cited facts to construct arguments. His books are written like narratives, lacking a linear, hierarchical structure. They are not divided into distinct sections devoted to an individual argument. Instead, his writing is conversational, leaving one line of thought incomplete to move on to another, returning to the first again at some later point. Jensen uses this creative non-fiction style to combine his artistic voice with logical argument. Jensen often uses quotations as reference points for ideas explored in a chapter. (For example, he introduces the first chapter of Walking on Water with a quote from Jules Henry's book Culture Against Man.)[11]

Jensen wrote and Stephanie McMillan illustrated the graphic novels As the World Burns (2007) and Mischief in the Forest (2010).

Resistance Against Empire consists of interviews with J. W. Smith (on poverty), Kevin Bales (on slavery), Anuradha Mittal (on hunger), Juliet Schor ('globalization' and environmental degradation), Ramsey Clark (on US 'defense'), Stephen Schwartz (editor of The Nonproliferation Review, on nukes), Alfred McCoy (politics and heroin), Christian Parenti (the US prison system), Katherine Albrecht (on RFID), and Robert McChesney (on (freedom of) the media) conducted between 1999 and 2004.

Dreams draws on the mythologies of ancient cultures and the wisdom of contemporary thinkers like Jack Forbes, Waziyatawin (Dakota activist), Paul Stamets, and Stanley Aronowitz and is Jensen's challenge to the view that there is no knowledge ouside that gained by science.

Documentaries

Jensen was featured in the documentaries What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire (2007), Blind Spot (2008)[12], First Earth: Uncompromising Ecological Architecture (2009), Call of Life (2010) and END:CIV (2011)[13].

Awards and acclaim

  • 2008: Named a “visionary” as one of Utne Reader magazine’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World.”[14]
  • 2008: Grand Prize winner, Eric Hoffer Book Award for Thought to Exist in the Wild, Derrick Jensen, Photographs by Karen Tweedy-Holmes.[15]
  • 2006: Named "Person of the Year" by Press Action for the publication of Endgame.[16]
  • 2003: The Culture of Make Believe was one of two finalists for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize.[17]
  • 2000: Hackensack, NJ, Record declared A Language Older Than Words its best book of the year.
  • 2000: Language was nominated for Quality Paperback Book Club's New Vision Award.
  • 1998: Second Prize in the category of small budget non-profit advertisements, as determined by the Inland Northwest Ad Federation, for the first ad in the "National Forests: Your land, your choice" series.
  • 1995: Critics' Choice for one of America's ten best nature books of 1995, for Listening to the Land: Conversations About Nature, Culture, and Eros.[2]

Published works

Books

  • 1995, Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture, and Eros (with George Draffan and John Osborn), Sierra Club Books, ISBN 0-87156-417-3 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1931498562
  • 1995, Railroads and Clearcuts: Legacy of Congress's 1864 Northern Pacific Railroad Land Grant (with George Draffan and John Osborn), Keokee Company Publishing, ISBN 1-879628-08-2
  • 2000, A Language Older Than Words, Context Books, ISBN 1-893956-03-2 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1931498555
  • 2002 The Culture of Make Believe, New York: Context Books, ISBN 1-893956-28-8 Republished 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 978-1931498579
  • 2003, Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (with George Draffan), Chelsea Green, ISBN 978-1931498456
  • 2004, Welcome to the Machine: Science, Surveillance, and the Culture of Control (with George Draffan), Chelsea Green Publishing Company, ISBN 1-931498-52-0
  • 2005, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, Chelsea Green, ISBN 978-1931498784
  • 2006, Endgame, Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization, Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-730-X
  • 2006, Endgame, Volume 2: Resistance, Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-724-5
  • 2007, Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos (with Karen Tweedy-Holmes), No Voice Unheard, ISBN 978-0972838719
  • 2007, As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial (with Stephanie McMillan), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 1-58322-777-6
  • 2008, How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization, PM Press, ISBN 978-1604860030
  • 2009, What We Leave Behind (with Aric McBay), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1583228678
  • 2009, Songs of the Dead, PM Press, ISBN 978-1604860443
  • 2010, Lives Less Valuable, PM Press, ISBN 978-1604860450
  • 2010, Resistance Against Empire, PM Press, ISBN 978-1-60486-046-7
  • 2010, Mischief in the Forest: A Yarn Yarn (with Stephanie McMillan), PM Press, ISBN 978-1604860818
  • 2011, Dreams, Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-58322-930-9
  • 2011, Deep Green Resistance (with Lierre Keith and Aric McBay), Seven Stories Press, ISBN 978-1-58322-929-3
  • 2011, Truths Among Us: Conversations on Building a New Culture, PM Press, ISBN 978-1604862997

Spoken word on CD

  • Derrick Jensen Standup Tragedy (live double CD), 2002
  • ---- The Other Side of Darkness (live CD), 2004
  • ---- Now This War Has Two Sides (live CD), PM Press, 2008

See also

References

  1. ^ Endgame, Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization, Seven Stories Press (ISBN 1-58322-730-X), p. 17.
  2. ^ a b Derrick Jensen.
  3. ^ Jensen D., 2003, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, Context Books (ISBN 1-893956-37-7).
  4. ^ Sean Esbjörn-Hargens; Michael E. Zimmerman (2009). Integral ecology: uniting multiple perspectives on the natural world. p. 492. 
  5. ^ Bob Torres (2007). Making a killing: the political economy of animal rights. p. 68. 
  6. ^ Blunt, Zoe (2011). "Uncivilized". Canadian Dimension. http://zoeblunt.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/uncivilized/. Retrieved 24 May 2011. 
  7. ^ He defines a civilization as "a culture — that is, a complex of stories, institutions, and artifacts — that both leads to and emerges from the growth of cities (civilization, see civil: from civis, meaning citizen, from Latin civitatis, meaning state or city), with cities being defined — so as to distinguish them from camps, villages, and so on — as people living more or less permanently in one place in densities high enough to require the routine importation of food and other necessities of life." Jensen D., 2006, Endgame, Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization, Seven Stories Press (ISBN 1-58322-730-X), p. 17.
  8. ^ Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
  9. ^ Walking on Water, p. 1.
  10. ^ Endgame V.1, p. 1.
  11. ^ Jensen D., 2004, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, Chelsea Green (ISBN 1-931498-48-2), p. 1.
  12. ^ Blind Spot @IMDb
  13. ^ END:CIV @IMDb
  14. ^ Visionaries Who Are Changing the World
  15. ^ "HOFFERAWARD.COM". www.hofferaward.com. http://www.hofferaward.com/. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
  16. ^ Press Action ::: Press Action Awards 2006
  17. ^ Derrick Jensen

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Derrick Jensen — (* 19. Dezember 1960) ist ein US amerikanischer Autor und Umweltaktivist. Er lebt in Crescent City, Vereinigte Staaten. Werke von ihm sind unter anderem: A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe und Endgame. Auch hat er Kreatives… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Derrick Jensen — (né le 19 décembre 1960) est un écrivain américain, partisan du sabotage environnemental, vivant en Californie, il a publié plusieurs livres défiant la société contemporaine et les valeurs culturelles parmi lesquels The Culture of Make… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Derrick Jensen — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Derrick Jensen es un intelectual y activista anarquista y ecologista estadounidense asociado con la tendencia del anarcoprimitivismo. Contenido 1 Pensamiento 2 Bibliografía 3 Véase también …   Wikipedia Español

  • Derrick Jensen (American football) — Derrick Jensen Date of birth: April 27, 1956 (1956 04 27) (age 55) Place of birth: Waukegan, Illinois Career information Position(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Derrick Jensen (football player) — NFL player Name=Derrick Jensen DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1956|04|27 Birthplace=Waukegan, Illinois DateofDeath= Position=TE, RB College=Texas Arlington DraftedYear=1978 DraftedRound=3 DraftedPick=57 DatabaseFootball=JENSEDER01 PFR=JensDe00… …   Wikipedia

  • Endgame (Derrick Jensen books) — Infobox Book name = Endgame title orig = translator = image caption = Endgame: Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization author = Derrick Jensen illustrator = cover artist = country = United States language = English series = subject = Environment,… …   Wikipedia

  • Jensen (surname) — Jensen is a Danish and Norwegian originally patronymic surname, literally meaning son of Jens . Today however it is used as a generic surname for both men and women. The prefix Jens is the most common Danish version of the biblical Ioanne ( en.… …   Wikipedia

  • Derrick (Vorname) — Derrick ist ein männlicher Vorname. Varianten Theodoric (althochdeutsch), Theodorich (gotisch), Dirk (niederländisch), Dietrich (deutsch), Derek Bekannte Namensträger Derrick Adkins (* 1970), US amerikanischer Leichtathlet Derrick Allen (* 1980) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Jensen (disambiguation) — Jensen is a surname meaning Son of Jens . It is the most common surname in Denmark. It may refer to:* The asteroid 5900 Jensen, named after Poul Jensen (astronomer). * Axel Jensen, Norwegian author * Arthur Jensen, an American psychologist *… …   Wikipedia

  • Derrick Ramsey — Date of birth: December 23, 1956 (1956 12 23) (age 54) Place of birth: Hastings, Florida Career information Position(s) …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”