Anthropozine & Using DIY Publishing to Promote Collective Climate Action: An Examination of Eco-Zines.

Student

Isabelle Elizondo

College(s)

College of Arts and Letters

Faculty Advisor

Joanna Lin Want

Class Year

2021

I have always found zines to be a unique way to connect to the community around me - one of my most memorable experiences at Notre Dame was writing for WVFI’s zine, Mindset, as a sophomore. I was assigned to explore local music venues and in the process, I discovered a super cool music community. Because of how awesome I found this experience to be, I have been consistently surprised at how small and disparate indie media networks are on this campus.

This project was an attempt to address both the lack of student/indie media at ND and to increase levels of student activism. The idea was to create a space where students concerned about issues related to climate change and the environment could freely share their opinions, beliefs, and knowledge, while simultaneously building community with each other. This community would then be empowered to act together. While it is not yet clear how good Anthropozine is at manifesting this form of collective action, I think it is fair to say that action-taking was done through any participation in this project.

What I am confident that the zine succeeded in, is creating a space where students of all backgrounds can share their perspectives on climate change and the environment. I’ve come to see this zine as a super-cool reflection of the multidisciplinary ideas that are required to address the climate emergency. Science, social studies, and art have a large role to play in finding solutions; we see all of these interacting with each other within these pages. Hopefully, this zine may also be a step towards having the multiple arms of ND’s sustainability community come together in other areas.

Moving forward, I hope to see this zine become an even more inclusive space. How I approach sustainability is informed by being Latina, so I know that highlighting Black, Indigenous, Asian and marginalized voices will create a much more robust and just concept of how our generation will solve the climate emergency and other environmental issues. Because of this, I think it is super important Anthropozine takes an intersectional approach going forward.