Ecological Conversion and the Pluriversal Challenge

This article examines challenges in conceiving dynamics of conversion in an ecological way. Of key concern are ambiguities between traditional conceptions of conversion and pluralistic ecological perspectivism. These ambiguities are intensified when we juxtapose conversion’s affective phenomenology with the planetary context of ecological polycrisis. To better understand these ambiguities, the article examines how images of holism have been leveraged in both conversion and ecological discourses. This is necessary so ecological conversion can resist capture by imperialistic assumptions of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model while also avoiding ineffectual or complacent relativism. This places pressure on the affective and epistemic dynamics of conversion, which have often functioned through invocation of a single transcendent truth. In response, the article concludes by suggesting an alternative approach towards ecological conversion, not in terms of determinate content or outcome, but in terms of what it calls seeds of practice.