Getting Back to the Garden: Pastoral Harmony as an Antidote to Fractured Social and Nature Relations

Abstract

This paper explores the trope of pastoral harmony in environmental literature, art, and media. Some themes in the pastoral harmony trope are arcadia, idyll, elegy, utopia, balance of nature, rootedness, locality, rurality, and natural health. Of particular focus in this piece is the celebration of agriculture and agricultural landscapes. By analyzing two case studies of contemporary artists who celebrate agriculture in their work, I explore the themes and tensions in modern pastoral art, which both “sells” the pastoral lifestyle and embraces progressive social and environmental ideals. The case studies include photographer and filmmaker Ben Stechschulte and music by Rising Appalachia. In a world of climate crisis and social injustice, these artists demonstrate a pastoral vision that prescribes a more nuanced understanding of rurality as the antidote to fractured relationships between human groups and the more-than-human world.