Ecofeminism On The Edge

With a special focus on education and underrepresented geographical locations, this book is an inclusive collection of theories, discourses, art, identities, and practices related to this discipline.

With a special focus on education and underrepresented geographical locations, this book is an inclusive collection of theories, discourses, art, identities, and practices related to this discipline.

The Routledge Handbook of Ecofeminism and Literature explores the interplay between the domination of nature and the oppression of women, as well as liberatory alternatives, bringing together essays from leading academics in the field to facilitate cutting-edge critical readings of literature. Covering the main theoretical approaches and key literary genres of the area, this volume includes: • Examination of ecofeminism through the literatures of a diverse sampling of languages, including Hindi, Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish; native speakers of Tamil, Vietnamese, Turkish, Slovene, and Icelandic. • Analysis of core issues and topics, offering innovative approaches to interpreting literature, including: activism, animal studies, cultural studies, disability, gender essentialism, hegemonic masculinity, intersectionality, material ecocriticism, postcolonialism, posthumanism, postmodernism, race, and sentimental ecology. • Surveys key periods and genres of ecofeminism and literary criticism, including chapters on Gothic, Romantic, and Victorian literatures, children and young adult literature, mystery, and detective fictions, including interconnected genres of climate fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and distinctive perspectives provided by travel writing, autobiography, and poetry. This collection explores how each of ecofeminism’s core concerns can foster a more emancipatory literary theory and criticism, now and in the future. This comprehensive volume will be of great interest to scholars and students of literature, ecofeminism, ecocriticism, gender studies, and the environmental humanities.

There are countless ways of thinking, feeling, and acting like an ecofeminist. Ecofeminism includes a plurality of perspectives, thriving in dialogue between diverse theories and practices involving ecological and feminist matters of concern. Deepening the dialogue, the contributors in this anthology explore critical and complementary interactions between ecofeminism and other areas of inquiry, including ecocriticism, postcolonialism, geography, environmental law, religion, geoengineering, systems thinking, family therapy, and more. This volume aims to further the cultural and literary theories of ecofeminism by situating them in conversation with other interpretations and analyses of intersections between environment, gender, and culture. This anthology is a unique combination of contemporary, interdisciplinary, and global perspectives in dialogue with ecofeminism, supporting academic and activist efforts to resist oppression and domination and cultivate care and justice.

The relationship between feminism and ecology has grown in importance in recent years. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the ecofeminist movement and its history, as well as an extended analysis of the main perspectives within it. Mellor examines the connections between feminism and the green movement, and outlines the contributions of the major participants, while contextualizing them within a wider range of debates. She re-examines classic feminist texts from an ecofeminist perspective, and explores the relationship between ecofeminism and other ecological movements, such as 'deep' ecology, social ecology and ecosocialism. Mellor discusses the association of women with biology and 'nature', and argues that the relationship between women and the environment can help us to understand the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Against the trends towards radical economic liberalism, global capitalism and postmodernist pluralism, she argues that there is within the feminist and green movements the basis of a new radical movement which draws on the principles of both. A useful and engaging account of feminist perspectives on ecology, the book will be welcomed by students and researchers in feminism and gender studies, sociology and political theory.

Why is ecofeminism still needed to address the environmental emergencies and challenges of our times? Ecofeminism has a chequered history in terms of its popularity and its perceived value in conceptualizing the relationship between gender and nature as well as feeding forms of activism that aim to confront the environmental challenges of the moment. This book provides a much-needed comprehensive overview of the relevance and value of using eco-feminist theories. It gives a broad coverage of traditional and emerging eco-feminist theories and explores, across a range of chapters, their various contributions and uniquely spans various strands of ecofeminist thinking. The origins of influential eco-feminist theories are discussed including key themes and some of its leading figures (contributors include Erika Cudworth, Greta Gaard, Trish Glazebrook and Niamh Moore), and outlines its influence on how scholars might come to a more generative understanding of the natural environment. The book examines eco-feminism’s potential contribution for advancing current discussions and research on the relationships between the humans and more than humans that share our world. This timely volume makes a distinctive scholarly contribution and is a valuable resources for students and academics in the fields of environmentalism, political ecology, sustainability and nature resource management.

Surprisingly, glimmerings of ecofeminist theory that would emerge a century later can be detected in women’s poetry of the late Victorian period. In Reconceiving Nature, Patricia Murphy examines the work of six ecofeminist poets—Augusta Webster, Mathilde Blind, Michael Field, Alice Meynell, Constance Naden, and L. S. Bevington—who contested the exploitation of the natural world. Challenging prevalent assumptions that nature is inferior, rightly subordinated, and deservedly manipulated, these poets instead “reconstructed” nature.

Ecofeminism is for those who desire to improve their understanding of the current crises of poverty, environmental destruction, violence, and human rights abuses, and their causes. It is an ecofeminist analysis of modern society's dualized, patriarchal structure, showing that one-sided reductionist, masculine, and quantitative (yang) perceptions inform science, economics, and technology, resulting in subordination of holistic, feminine, and qualitative (yin) values. This yin-yang imbalance manifests as patriarchal domination of women, poor people, and nature, leading to the above crises. Since similar values inform Third World Development, its activities are also exploitative. Thus, rather than improving human well-being, development increases poverty and natural degradation in the South. Modern patriarchy manifests in neo-liberal policies that promote 'free' global economic markets and trades, generating huge profits to the political and economic elites with devastating results for societies and nature worldwide. Unless we increase our awareness and demand changes that balance the yang and yin forces, patriarchal domination will eradicate life on planet Earth.