Ecocriticism
Ecocriticism a term
born out of two words- ecology and criticism is also known as Environmental Criticism or Green Studies. It explores and analyses in
literature the bio-social context of unrestrained exploitation of nature by man
in the name of development. Ecocriticism focuses on the material contexts of
industrialization, development, pollution and ecocide while developing a frame
for reading. It has been influenced by insights from philosophy, development
studies in sociology, ecology, feminism, Marxism and other disciplines and
approaches.
In a way Ecocriticism
tries to study, explore and analyse:
Ø The
role of nature- writing in literature and cultural studies.
Ø Environmental
awareness in canonical texts
Ø Writers
of different period’s attitudes to non-human life and the depiction of the
human non human relationship in them as revealed through their wrings.
Ø The
subtexts of literary works that reveal anthropomorphic, patriarchal and
capitalist attitudes towards the non human, women, nature and landscape.
Ø A
socio-political frame work for reading literary and cultural texts.
Ø Linking
literary studies to environmental activism
Ecofeminism
Ecofeminism is a
concept that approaches and treats nature from a feminine point of view that
there is a strong bond between woman and nature and both suffer from the
patriarchal domination. The works of activists and writers like Vandana Shiva,
Mary Mellor, Ariel Salleh etc. have
generated nuanced readings of the relationship between gender and nature.
