Stewart Cole, Visiting Scholar
Brave New World and the Rise of the Factory Farm
Stewart Cole (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh)
Although Aldous Huxley's 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World is widely recognized as a critique of consumerism, a portrait of state control, and a cautionary bioethical fable, its significance as an ecological novel has gone under appreciated. In his talk, Dr. Cole will demonstrate how Huxley's novel engages with several early 20th-century developments - including assembly line production and advances in agricultural technology - that helped give rise to factory farming, one of the key drivers of global heating. Along the way, he will consider the importance of the environmental humanities for understanding and addressing the ecological crises of our time.