ERIC J ROBERTSON portrait
  • Instructor (Lecturer), Honors College

Presentations

  • Robertson, E. (2019). “Meme-ing the American Dream: Navigating Queer Multitudes.” Presented at the Annual Humanities Symposium, “Memes, Emblems and Icons.” Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah. March 2019. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2019.
  • Robertson, E. (2017). “Why Shit Matters: Post-human Humor as Queer Ecological Performance in MTV’s Jackass.” 2017 ASLE, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Biennial Conference, “Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery.” Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. June 2017. Conference Paper, Presented, 06/2017.
  • Robertson, E. (2015). “Forgetting and Cultural Renewal: Queer Ecology’s Novel Forms.” Presented at the Fourth Annual Humanities Symposium. Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah. March 2015. Conference Paper, Presented, 04/2014.
  • Robertson, E. (2014). “The (W)holes of Human Nature: New Materialism and the Humanities.” Presented at the Third Annual Humanities Symposium, “Found Objects.” Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah. March 2014. Conference Paper, Presented, 03/2014.
  • Robertson, E. (2012). “The Queer Sublime: Volcanoes, Guts and Sloppy Sounds in Shelley's Frankenstein.” Presented at the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, Pepperdine University. August 7-9, 2012. Malibu, CA. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 08/2012.
  • Presented at the session on ecocriticism (co-sponsored by Association for the Study of Literature & Environment), 2012 PAMLA Conference. October 19-21, 2012. Seattle University, Seattle, WA. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 10/2012.
  • Presented at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, ASLE-UK, “Composting Culture: Literature, Nature, Popular Culture, Science.” September 2012. University of Worcester, UK. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 09/2012.
  • Robertson, E. (2012). “The Penetrated Male: Phallic Feedback and Imposture.” Presented at The Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. February 2012. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 02/2014.
  • Presented at the Confutati Graduate Symposium. University of Utah. April 2012. Conference Paper, Refereed, Presented, 04/2012.

Languages

  • Swedish, fluent.

Research Statement

Queer Ecology

Queer theory and behavioral ecology walk into a bar. The discursive turn meets the meat—minds versus matter(ing). I’m interested in constructing a theoretical platform whereon queer theorists such as Lee Edelman, Jack Halberstam, and Kathryn Stockton are marooned with some of the greats in behavioral ecology, Susan Gowaty, Kristen Hawkes and Sarah Hrdy—the Darwinian feminists meet the gender atheists.

I’m thinking of some big questions to ask. How do nonprocreative bodies find themselves as mythic figures within social narratives and to what ecological ends could those figural positions be of some benefit?  How are queer bodies becoming integral participants in human ecological and cultural ontologies?      

 

Research Keywords

  • queer cultural ecology, English literature and film, critical theory, queer theory, ecocriticism), philosophy of science, creative fiction/non-fiction writing, and environmental humanities.

Publications

  • Eric Robertson (2020). “American Overburdens”. ISLE, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. Oxford University Press. Accepted, 05/2020.
  • Eric Robertson (2017). “Wasted Sex, Wasteful Bodies; Queer Ecology and The Future of Energy Use.” . English Language Notes, University of Colorado. Published, 05/2017.
  • Eric Robertson (2014). “Volcanoes, Guts, and Cosmic Collisions: The Queer Sublime in Frankenstein and Melancholia.” . Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. Routledge Press. Published, 02/2014.
  • Eric Robertson (2012). “The Penetrated Male: Phallic Feedback and Imposture.” . Trans-Scripts, An Interdisciplinary Journal in the Humanities and Social Sciences. University of California Irvine. Published, 05/2012.
  • Eric Robertson (2019). “The Simple Pleasures of Indecipherable Magic in Janalyn Guo’s “Our Colony Beyond the City of Ruins.” . 15 Bytes. Published, 08/2019.
  • Eric Robertson (2018). “She Doesn’t Remember Falling.”. Vol. 13, The Dark Mountain Project, MPG Books Group.. Published, 09/2018.
  • Eric Robertson (2017). “Stop Everything! Save the Planet!” . The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide. Vol. 24. Published, 10/2017.
  • Eric Robertson (2017). “Struck From Different Dimensions: A Profile of Scott Abbott.” . 15 Bytes. Published, 05/2017.