Ecocriticism_&_Ecofeminism

Ecocriticism&Ecofeminism



Introduction: Ecocentricism &Ecofeminism are the two terms which are related with nature but one has connection with specificity, while another has connection with interdisciplinary approach. One can be related with different societal, psychological, behavioural aspects, another also but by centralizing woman at center, in former approach literature is given prime importance which isn't in latter one and from that approach systematically one can deconstruct as well as structuralize woman's identity and draw her character to the extent of generalizations, that how "woman is to male, as nature is to culture".

Ecocriticism

Cheryll Glotfelty's working definition in The Ecocriticism Reader is that "ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment", and one of the implicit goals of the approach is to recoup professional dignity for what Glotfelty calls the "undervalued genre of nature writing". 

Lawrence Buell defines "'ecocriticism' ... as [a] study of the relationship between literature and the environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis".

To elaborate aforementioned aspect of "ecocriticism" as it is underlined "relationship between the literature and physical environment":

Both the aspects of this particular term have their nature, those are naturalized with interdisciplinary approach. Which comprises all integral essence of a literary work, where social, physical, psychological, astronomy, linguistics etc can be included and 'science' can be perceived, working as an 'embryo'. How these aspects are naturalized with the character as well as the environment, behavioural patterns, way of living life, customs of the social system etc, reflecting to a particular culture.

It can be related with "Roland Barthes close textual reading, structuralism, deconstruction and post-structuralism and anthropology. The reader has full-fledged freedom to pursue, how he/she/hir wants to and in what manner, what tendency.

Roland Barthes "close textual reading" may relate either to interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach, which is in an either way interdependant on each other.

Or it can be accordingly structuralize with reference to other movies, literary texts and day to day life issues reflecting in newspapers.

It can be deconstructed that how woman is at present time, how she was in past as well as going to be in future, as awareness is spreading in favour of woman with leaps and bounds.

Thus we knew here how a nature can be related with various aspects, it is inter as well as multi disciplinary approach, where with interdependancy one can analyze, critique on anything taken in his/her hand.



Ecofeminism: with refernece to Claude Levi Strauss's: Elementary Structures of Kinship(1969):

Eco = nature + feminism = who is banished from high social status, politics, economic like realms of the world, where only the men are given 'the prime priviledge'.

When we see this aspect by centralizing woman in center, we are to see how a woman is framed particularly in respect of society, psychology and phisiological.

IF we discuss this idea is brief then "physiologically women is seen as delicate", has natural functionality, to give birth to a child, taking care of him/her along with her husband and if she is in joint family then also of husband's family. They have to hover in and around of this atmosphere as the job is very intricate and engaged, and are victim of gender specification of social structure, they won't get free space even to think of themselves or of their existence. While in men's respects it differ.

When we see her in "social aspect". She would be seen mere as 'societal creature's as constructed by the society, concerning her role, status, manner in working with societal peoples. When occasionally gets chance of getting get togetherness she will be an individual, she will try 'for time being' to wipe out her identity, and to intermingle with societal people and exchanging and framing ideas. While the daughter of this specific gender will be of this particular identity and as she has seen her mother as her role model of social creature, though she is given particular atmosphere to shape herself but ultimately she will turn to that specific specificity and so it doubles, triples as generation after generation passes on.

Concerning their "psycology/psychic tendency". We discussed earlier how women are socialized, but it isn't that those can be seen only as such. This can be seen in an area where people are still uneducated or not having that type of air(if we see in this context, tribal people also don't have privilege of getting education, but still in some sects they were having matriarchal society) or can say some who have got societal atmosphere and specifically their minds are trained, there we can see how irrational and emotional women are.

On contradictory, we may have an example of rational and practical women(an example of one of the Dashwood sisters: Elinore in Sense&Sensibility) and of many of the states in India, while at some corner, some are underprivileged(an example of Marriane-Sense&Sensibility-Jane Austen).

If refering to some literary works, we can see, old women have become subjective, can't find even any reason, whether due to inability of acting or stamina,or of hopelessness or frustrated of many gathered experiences, where they have only seen failure and hopelessness.

 Some become concrete so they just engage themselves only in such works, which are produced in front of them, and without any sense they will adapt meaninglessly.

Some of the novels of Afro-American women novelists, except the rightly downwards indicated work on autobiography by Harriet Jacob.
 

If we see the core idea of how African women are made mere a slave, where they have to just behave as unexpected girl child, who is ignorant of society, culture  or of any highly designated place(for which one can't even imagine)and not given any space to shape, nurture, or to think anything for themselves, and in extremity they have to surrender to the particular predicting societal situation and at last they are squeezed to death. But some as narrated in these works, are able to come out of societal structure and shape their lives for the betterment of the society and of themselves.

 If we see this, concerning cooking as nature to women, that's it that they're not given reward what they are doing for, everything is done selflessly. While for the same thing men are given wages, when working as a chef in(France and China).

If we see the similar thing in the similar context in contemporary times, today we have many fractions of women; some are still submissive, some seems to be rationale, some are privileged to be subordinate but somehow are able to come out of it and some just influenced with their past experiences that unable to come out of it and as those are engage at extent, that they won't be able to see the exact prevailing tendency of society.

Ecofeminism in Contemporary times:

The feelings, emotions, desires and spirit of women, which were earlier repressed under customs, religious beliefs and social construction, is suddenly now surfacing. What woman was "by product" earlier, she was spiritful, emotional, in her personal benefits rational, but discrete, craving for any kind of power, manipulative, social. All these aspects were lying collectively, somewhere in her mind, with the advent of women favouring laws, those dormant feelings and emotions, started surfacing and as a result we have mixture kind of women. Some have become dominant, some are still there, where they were placed under social canons, some have balanced views, some have inferior views towards men, some staunchly follows "feminism" and always keeps on crying in the name of their considered inferior status.

Conclusively we saw here how women varied; sociologically, psycologically and physiologically, though both men and women both have their abilities and in inabilities, it is up to them and their choices, what they want to be. If one wants to naturalize the concept of feminism in them will remain forever crying for themselves and won't be able to come out of it, who will see outside the window, would perhaps be able to come out of it, but those who influence their position to manipulate society, will turn out to be nowhere in the world, here also the karmical theory works.

Thankyou
Samiya Kagdi
A learner at PG center
First year(semester-1)
Department of English
MKBU

Applied Sources:

https://dilipbarad.blogspot.com/2016/12/ecofeminism-in-mass-media-imagery.html.