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Assessing How We Assess Environmental Risk: Kathrin Röggla’s Documentary Film The Mobile Future

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Book cover German Ecocriticism in the Anthropocene

Part of the book series: Literatures, Cultures, and the Environment ((LCE))

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Abstract

Kathrin Röggla’s 2012 made-for-TV documentary The Mobile Future examines the rhetorical strategies at work in articulating threats to the environment, the linguistic and visual imagery we conjure up in the process, as well as the realities of those who make a living in the field of risk management. Born in Salzburg in 1971 and now residing in Berlin, Röggla has made a name for herself as a writer and an essayist on contemporary topics. Drawing attention to the importance of rhetoric and communication for effective ecocriticism, her self-reflective film emphasizes the complexities contained in the assessment of environmental danger and the challenges involved in the delivery of nuanced messages to the public.

“Some want strong images, big emotions, clear narration, mood. Others want complex information, didactics, reflection, talking heads. And I am in the middle of all this and want something different altogether.”Kathrin Röggla, “Beitrag zu einem kleinen Wachstumsmarathon” (Contribution to a Small Growth Marathon)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Katharina Gerstenberger

Authors
  1. Katharina Gerstenberger
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Caroline Schaumann

  2. Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Heather I. Sullivan

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Gerstenberger, K. (2017). Assessing How We Assess Environmental Risk: Kathrin Röggla’s Documentary Film The Mobile Future . In: Schaumann, C., Sullivan, H. (eds) German Ecocriticism in the Anthropocene. Literatures, Cultures, and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54222-9_14

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