Ecofeminism and the Indian Novel tests the theories of ecofeminism against the background of India’s often different perceptions of environmental problems, challenging the hegemony of Western culture in thinking about human problems. This book moves beyond a simple application of the concepts of ecofeminism, instead explaining the uniqueness of Indian novels as narratives of ecofeminism and how they can contribute to the development of the theory of ecofeminism.
In examining a selection of novels, the author argues that Indian texts conceptualize the ecological crisis more as a human problem than as a gender problem. The book proposes that we should think of ecofeminism as ecohumanism instead, seeing human beings and nature as a part of a complex web. Novels analysed within the text include Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve (1954), Shivram Karanth’s Return to Earth (2002) and Na D’Souza’s Dweepa (2013).
Ecofeminism and the Indian Novel will be of great interest to students and scholars of ecofeminism, ecocriticism, ecological feminism, environmental humanities, gender studies, ecological humanities, feminist studies and Indian literature.
Author(s): Sangita Patil
Series: Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Tags: Literary Criticism,Ecofeminism, Feminism, Indian Novel, Indian Writing in English, Ecocriticism
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: ecofeminism and the Indian novel
Introduction
Ecofeminism: environmental studies and feminism
Ecofeminism: Indian polemical discourse
Indian novel
1 An interface between human beings and nature
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The genealogy of ecofeminism
1.3 Indian polemical discourse: environment and ecofeminism
1.4 The genealogy of the Indian novel
1.5 The discursive formation of the environment in Indian novel
1.6 Rumination on Indian environmental movements and protests
1.7 Conclusion: the formulation of framework
2 Narratives of agriculture: Nectar in a Sieve, The Upheaval, Return to Earth and Gift in Green
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Nectar in a Sieve: the impact of tannery on pastoral life
2.3 The Upheaval: the impact of mining on farming community
2.4 Shivram Karanth’s Return to Earth: the impact of modernisation on agrarian culture
2.5 Sarah Joseph’s Gift in Green: a toxic discourse
2.6 Conclusion
3 Dam construction and ecological crisis: The Coffer Dams and Dweepa
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The project of dam construction and ecological crisis in India
3.3 Kamala Markandaya’s The Coffer Dams: modern juggernaut
3.4 Na D’Souza’s Dweepa: an island of destruction
3.5 Conclusion
4 The industrial disaster: Animal’s People
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Bhopal gas tragedy: a backdrop
4.3 Patriarchal developmental attitude: industrial disaster
4.4 Women as victims of the industrial disaster
4.5 Rhetorical tropes
4.6 The uniqueness of Animal’s People as an ecohumanist narrative
4.7 Conclusion
5 Animals as absent referents: The Man from Chinnamasta
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The mythological background
5.3 The ethnography of animal sacrifice
5.4 Patriarchy and animal sacrifice
5.5 Women’s concern for animals
5.6 The uniqueness of The Man from Chinnamasta as an ecohumanist narrative
5.7 Conclusion
6 Reconceptualising ecofeminism: from ecofeminism to ecohumanism
6.1 Introduction
6.2 An overview of the ecofeminists’ concern
6.3 Reconceptualising ecofeminism: from feminism to humanism
6.4 Conceptual framework
Index
