NATURE AND CULTURE: AN ECOLINGUISTICS’ ANALYSIS OF IS A RIVER ALIVE BY ROBERT MACFARLANE

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between nature and culture through an ecolinguistics analysis of
Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive? The research examines how language shapes human perceptions of rivers
and the natural world. Using Arran Stibbe’s ecolinguistics model, the study investigates metaphors, framing,
narrative strategies, and identity constructions to reveal how discourse can either support environmental
destruction or promote ecological harmony. Macfarlane challenges the dominant anthropocentric view that treats
rivers as mere resources and instead presents them as living beings with memory, agency, and legal personhood.
His use of metaphors such as “the river speaks” and “the river remembers” transforms rivers from objects into
subjects, encouraging readers to rethink the human–nature relationship. The book also highlights Indigenous
worldviews, especially the Māori understanding of the Whanganui River as an ancestor, showing how legal and
cultural systems can recognize rivers as persons with rights. This challenges Western dualisms such as
nature/culture and subject/object. The study finds that Macfarlane’s narrative framing and poetic discourse create
ecological awareness by replacing destructive stories with beneficial “stories we live by.” His work demonstrates
that language is not neutral but a powerful ecological tool that can reshape environmental ethics and inspire
sustainable thinking. Thus, Is a River Alive? serv