Latin American ecolinguistics: deconstructing discourse studies, coloniality and industrial environmentalism

Abstract

Abstract Latin American universities have a strong tradition in discourse studies. Beginning in the sixties, local discourse analysis approaches introduced a critical turn that started in linguistics and semiotics and crossed social sciences establishing a new critical perspective. Ecolinguistics and environmental studies, on the other hand, present a different case. As a theoretical approach, ecolinguistics has found a hard time establishing itself as an autonomous discipline in the universities of the region, struggling with the tradition built by discourse studies. This article aims to analyse the development of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and ecolinguistics in Latin America to present a possible explanation of the difficulties ecolinguists have found in the region to introduce their scope in formal academic institutions and why critical discourse analysis (CDA) have remained far from the eco-perspectives in South America. We argue that Latin American CDA still maintains a Eurocentric vision while environmental perspectives remain loyal to the anthropocentrism and industrial fatalism posed by the dominant discourses. We believe that if issues approached keep an anthropocentric perspective while theoretical frames present a Eurocentric thinking, ecolinguistics, along with critical animal studies (CAS) and gender studies, may present an alternative to human-nonhuman-nature relations.