naturewho

Naturewho is a term used in environmental humanities and digital culture to discuss how nature is framed as having agency or recognizable presence within human discourse. The term is applied to describe literary, cinematic, and online representations in which ecosystems, creatures, and geophysical processes are cast as actors, voices, or participants in social narratives. By foregrounding who or what counts as an agent in these representations, naturewho helps illuminate the ethics and power relations embedded in environmental storytelling.

The term blends nature with who, emphasizing personhood or subjectivity attributed to nonhuman entities. It has no single origin and appears across scholarly and popular discussions since the early 21st century, often within ecocriticism, animist readings, and naturewriting. The concept is used both descriptively, to analyze existing texts, and prescriptively, to encourage inclusive portrayals of ecosystem dynamics and to foster empathy toward nonhuman life.

In practice, naturewho is used to examine media campaigns, educational materials, and citizen science interfaces where users interact with nature as active participants rather than passive objects. Advocates argue it supports ethical engagement and conservation by making nature's processes legible and relatable; critics warn that over-anthropomorphizing may obscure ecological complexity or misrepresent scientific understanding.

Related topics include ecocriticism, environmental humanities, animism, nature writing, and personification in art and media.