We have an online session on sitanshu Yashaschandra's poem and Ecocriticism' by Devang Nanavati.
One of the most persistent and controversial topics of contemporary politics is the issue of the environment. Global warming has demonstrated the devastating effects of the industrial revolution and the unfettered pursuit of capital expansion. The environment, and attendant topics such as ecofeminism, ecological imperialism, environmentalism,speciesism have all taken an increasingly prominent place in post-colonial thought because it has become clear that there is a direct connection between colonialist treatment of indigenous flora and fauna and treatment of colonized and otherwise dominated subjects and societies.The devastation of colonized place (and potentially of the planet) paved the way for the devastation of societies.Until now the destruction of the physical and human environments have become the same thing. (Introduction to the Second Edition: POST-COLONIAL STUDIES: The Key Concepts by Bill Ashcroft,Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. Routledge. 2007.)
# colonization of ecology by human being:
This animation by Steve Cutts explains in nutshell the encroachment and thus colonization of Ecology by Human Beings. The deconstructivehermeneutics of helps us in developing the perspective necessary for both, the ecocriticism as well as postcolonial reading of relation between human and environment.
#Reading Mass Media Imagery: Ecofeminism
* What do you understand by the theory of 'Ecocriticism'?
* What is your understanding of 'Ecofeminism'?
The theory of 'Ecocriticism'
Ecocriticism is the study of literature and the environment from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature.
In simple words, "Ecocriticism is a study of the relationship between literature and physical environment."
#Ecofeminism:
It is normal practice to associate female imagery wherever mass media deals with Nature. The mass media is all about popular, shallow and superficial human psychology. It deals with what is popular and at superficial shallow level of memory. At this conscious level of memory, people readily accepts imagery which are floating at upper surface of memory. That is the reason why nature is so easily and conveniently associated with female. Without any question, it is readily accepted by the people of all cultures.
who will help us to critically examine this and similar mass media imagery where female is equated with nature.well let's quote Richard Kerridge at length to contextualize this hypothesis in proper theoretrical framework.
" In 1974, an influential essay by sherry B.Ortner, 'Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture' ,sought to explain,in terms of structuralist anthropology, the presence in diverse cultures of the idea that women were subordinate to men. the underlying idea,ortner discover.is that woman is closer to nature.this helps to explain the acquiescence of women in their own subordination of nature. Beliefs that legitimate the oppression of women also legitimate environmental degradation. This is ecofeminism's key insight. Certain fundamental binary oppositions fit neatly over one another, creating the ideological basis for both sorts of harm:
Male | Female
Culture | Nature
Reason | Emotion
Mind | Body
(Kerridge)
she further her questioning by asking : Why Is Woman Seen as Closer to Nature ?
In her own words:
The discussion on following arguments is based on universal human and cultural values:
1) Woman's physiology seen as closer to nature.
2)Woman's social role seen as closer to nature.
3)Woman's psyche seen as closer to nature.
Feminist environmental justice campaigners, such as Vandana Shiva' points out also that women and children are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental hazards. This particular ad makes use of both mother and child.
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