Extimate nature: Environmental crisis and the Excluded

Drawing on the Lacanian notion of “extimacy,” which denotes that which is both intimate and exterior, this article aims to contribute to the bourgeoning field of psychoanalytic political ecology by emphasizing two extimate features: the instability of—or extimacy in—the socionatural world, rendering impossible notions of natural unity or harmony; and the priority of the Excluded, viewed as symptomatic of—extimate to—the ills of global capitalism: those upon which the System vitally depends yet repudiates. The article dwells on the crucial linkage between these two extimate elements—socionature's volatility and subaltern politics—asking what it might entail in our age of ecological crisis. What political-ecological structures would need to be in place for addressing ecological turbulence, while also tackling the socioeconomic antagonisms that produce the Excluded? And how might the social and environmental commons have to be regulated to better ensure that the subaltern does not pay the highest price in order that the wealthiest pay the lowest? By addressing these questions through the lens of extimacy, the article probes the emancipatory potential of political ecology.