Postcolonial ecofeminism: the ecological crisis and its intersections with colonialism and women’s oppression in Vandana Shiva, Arundhati Roy and Amitav Ghosh.

Abstract

Ecofeminism emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as the result of the intersection of two critical perspectives, namely ecology and feminism. Therefore, it simultaneously serves as an environmental critique of feminism and as a feminist critique of environmentalism. The term was coined to designate a new social theory and a critical and political stance that challenges scientific views, gender relations, social institutions and the dominant economic doctrines, or, in other words, mankind’s role in the ecosphere, by asserting that all forms of oppression are connected and that structures of oppression must be addressed in their totality. The aim of this thesis is to analyze ecofeminism as a form of literary criticism and its relationship with postcolonialism. In order to do so, it will start by providing a general overview of the ecofeminist movement, focusing particularly on its theoretical origins, its history and importance and role as a literary approach. Thereafter, this work will focus on the links between the current ecological crisis, colonialism and the oppression of women through a close reading and analysis of Vandana Shiva’s acclaimed book Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development. Finally, it will provide an ecofeminist postcolonial reading of two renowned and awarded novels by contemporary Indian-born authors, namely Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide. The latter will be analysed with a particular view at investigating whether it is possible to approach a literary text by a male author from an ecofeminist perspective.