Journal articles on the topic 'Religious aspects of Ecofeminism'

An examination of sustainable living practices through the lens of ecofeminism is the subject of this article. In this article, sustainable living practices refers to the actual implementation of environmentalism ideas in everyday situation. The selection of this subject is deemed significant due to the prevailing trend in environmental literature to associate it as pro-environmental behaviour that, unlike environmental activism, exclusively with the uppermiddle class, thereby rendering it feeble, apolitical, and inconsequential. This study aims to evaluate the correlation between pro-environmental behaviour and environmental action and activism by examining sustainable living practices through the lens of gender. Departing from Ecofeminism, it attempts to incorporate insights from relevant literature to enhance the discussion. Availing from exploratory field observations, this study uses Indonesia as a case studies. The study found that, in addition to the availability of social media and spiritualfactors, there are educational orientation that, related to cultural and religious aspects, bridges private/public elements as well as agents/victims division in Ecofeminism discourse. The transformation of the movement’s character from individualist to collectivist is influenced by global political dynamics, as well as showing the moral and spiritual orientation of this movement. Keywords: sustainable living practice, ecofeminism, environmental care, pro-environmental behaviour, environmental activism

Full TextIn contemporary, North American society, what it means to be ‘human’ is often taken for granted; in other words, ‘humanness’ is usually accepted as a readily knowable, uncomplicated and stable aspect of social reality. Ivone Gebara argues that because we believe that we already know the meaning of ‘humanness,’ reflecting on this notion often appears to be of little interest, need or value. “Since we imagine that everyone already knows what a [‘human’] is, we might have the feeling that we are wasting our time on notions that are already familiar, and that we ought to be seeking solutions to the urgent problems that [currently] face us” (Gebara, 1999: 67). Like Gebara, I argue that the concept of ‘human,’ is not ‘natural,’ stable or straightforward, rather it is a culturally-specific and historical invention, one intimately implicated within contemporary, environmental problems. In other words, although the category of human is often understood as readily comprehensible and fundamentally elevated above, and detached from, nature and ‘more-thanhuman’I beings, I maintain that the human subject is positioned within what I will term ‘the web of life,’ that is, the worldwide, ecological community which encompasses both human and more-than-human subjects. I believe the term, ‘becoming’ is a useful adjective to describe the human; becoming allows us to consider the human not as a natural or stable entity, but as one which is emerging and transforming in relation to environmental and social contexts. As a being situated within an ecological web of life, the human is not distinct from nature and more-than-human animals, but exists and changes in continuous relation to them. Long before the onset of European colonization of what is now considered North America, various dualisms permeated the European, historical imagination. Within this worldview, aspects of these dichotomies were understood to exist in fundamental distinction from one another; that is, not only were divisions of each dualism conceptualized as inherently disconnected and independent, but one aspect of each dichotomy was always understood as naturally and intrinsically superior to the other. Sallie McFague argues that the primary dualism within this imagination was the conceptualization of ‘reason’ and ‘nature’ as fundamentally distinct entities, in which reason was positioned in hierarchical relation to nature. However, this dichotomy has been broadened to represent, incorporate and interconnect with multiple other dichotomies, including, spirit/body, male/female, reason/ emotion, and human/nature (McFague, 1997: 88). According to McFague, “the [reason/nature] dualism illuminates most of the other dualisms: whatever falls on the top side of a dualism has connections with ‘reason,’ and whatever falls on the bottom side is seen as similar to ‘nature’” (1997: 88). In this sense, the projection of these constructions onto seemingly-different aspects of reality, including ‘different’ bodies, functioned to hierarchically organize both European society and the universe at large. It is important to recognize that because these dualisms were constructions of a very particular and ethnocentric group within European history, namely elite, white men, such subjects were also imagined to embody the superior aspects of various dichotomies; in other words, characteristics associated with reason were presumed to adhere to white, European males (McFague, 1997: 88). Within this imagination, the rational capacities and spiritual natures of white, masculine and European humans were imagined to prevent them from being confined by or to their bodies, or influenced by emotional or sexual responses. Importantly, because such racialized and gendered subjects were the only subjects envisioned to embody these and other superior dimensions of various dualisms, white, European men were positioned as the ideal modes of humanness within a great chain of being. In this sense, as the white, European masculine subject was assumed to embody humanness, subjects who were constructed to embody the opposing dimensions of these dichotomies were regarded as his nonhuman Others. Arguably, as the human was constructed to embody whiteness, masculinity and European ancestry, his Other may be regarded as the colonized, non-white woman. Through her gendered, racialized and cultural difference from the human, she was constructed to embody characteristics he did not. According to this dualistic relationship of interconnected difference(s), because she embodied matter, or solely bodily existence, she possesses neither inherent consciousness nor spirituality allowed by such consciousness. Because she was conceptualized as the Other to the sole, normative human, she was categorized as nonhuman. In this sense, it may be recognized how there has existed a significant, conceptual connection between non-white women and nature, as both were understood as nonhuman material beings in relation to the European, white man, who was presumed to embody true humanness. Through this ideology of the normative human subject, women and nature are conceptually demoted to a subordinate position because of what they are assumed to be (Primavesi, 1991: 142). However, this connection between nature and Aboriginal women is not only ideological: because both are regarded to exist in solely material form, and therefore to lack spiritual natures or capacities for consciousness, various manifestations of colonial violence against both nature and Aboriginal women have been historically disregarded, undermined or recognized as justified. This construction of the masculine human subject as the one who alone inhabits higher realms of reason and spirit served to legitimize and stabilize future social and religious structures of subordination and dominance. Women and nature have been placed under male domination and rule by the compelling and authoritative force of this prevailing ideology (Primavesi, 1991: 142-147). Within contemporary, North American academe, this historical, European construction of the human has been greatly interrogated, denaturalized and critiqued by postcolonial, critical race and psychoanalytic theorists, including Frantz Fanon and Sylvia Wynter, among many others. Within their theories, great energy is focused on how the articulation of humanness has, and continues to affect subjects who have been historically excluded by this rigid definition at the level of social, emotional, psychic and bodily realities. These theorists are correct in their assertions that the purpose of the human construction was to reduce the modes of being, embodied by nonwhite and non-European/nonwestern subjects, in order to elevate the mode of being embodied by their cultural Others. However, it must be recognized that there exists a subtle, but continued, hierarchical and dualistic relationship between human and nonhuman within these theories. Not only do human beings continue to be understood as stably and inherently different from nonhuman beings, principally animals, but human experiences of colonial violence, and therefore, human modes of being, are essentially recognized as more significant than the modes of being and lived realities of more-than-human beings. In fact, as the conflation of racialized humans with more-thanhumans is articulated as undermining the violence experienced by such human subjects, violence against animals and nature, in such forms as human invasion, objectification, exploitation and voracious consumption, is disregarded as violence per se. Gebara calls this trend an anthropocentric “hierarchicalizing of knowing [that actually] runs parallel to the hierarchicalizing of society, [which is] itself a characteristic of the patriarchal world” (1999: 25). In this sense, within such criticism, there is an attempt to destabilize one conception of the boundary between human and nonhuman, while a second human/nonhuman dualism is (re)produced and supported; ultimately, the traditional border, employed in colonial fantasies to distinguish what counts as (a) human and what does not, is kept intact. These attempts to distinguish the human, along with having a colonial genealogy, are built on the assumption of a distinct sphere in which humans act, and blind to ideas of significant interconnection and interdependence: dimensions of each dualism are considered not only unrelated to, but to actually oppose, one another. However, each element of social reality is constructed in relation to others; in other words, every aspect of each dichotomy involves a reference to that which is supposedly opposite, distinct from, or Other to, the primary category (See Hewitt Suchocki, 1982). In this sense, all aspects of the dichotomies require reference beyond them in order to develop as intelligible categories and, therefore, cannot be understood, or even exist, outside the relationships within which they are implicated (Hewitt Suchocki, 1982: 6—7). More importantly, there are material interrelationships that are not captured by these dichotomies. As an example we can think of contemporary environmental threats, such as global warming and Colony Collapse Disorder in North America, that illustrate how humans are not ultimately separate from nature, but dependent on it for our survival, and that ‘natural’ phenomena has the potential to powerfully and disastrously affect humans. In this sense, it must be recognized that there is danger within denial: by assuming that we are not part of nature, we ultimately deny the significance of ecological problems on their own bodies and lived realities. However, I think it necessary at this point to remark on the (neo)colonial anthropo-centrism within many conceptions of human/nature relationality. Similar to the consciousness of more-than-human animals, when ecological problems are recognized as problems per se, and especially, when such issues are recognized to transcend the human/nature divide and create an impact in the lives of humans, such problems tend to be understood in human terms. In other words, nature often becomes the subject of human attention, concern, and care when humans acknowledge the fact that we are intimately related to, and ultimately dependent on, the earth for our survival and wellbeing, and that by abusing and destroying nature and more-than-human subjects, humans ultimately bring about their own destruction. Although within such types of care, the interrelatedness among all beings within the web of life is recognized, such care for nature often develops because humans fear the effects of environmental disasters on our lives, and not because we genuinely care about the lives and wellbeing of Other creatures or the earth, in and of themselves. And even within environmental concerns, the recognition of the interrelatedness of all living subjects often leads to a hierarchy of environmental issues. Within conceptions of human/ more-than-human relations, there is often a hierarchy of environmental issues and social issues, including the (neo)colonial treatment of humans outside the dominant, white, European/western man as nonhuman, strengthening the conceptual disconnect between these human and more-than-human. These aspects of environmental interrelatedness must be regarded as not only anthropocentric, but violent, contemporary manifestations of the historically-dominant, European construction of the normative and viable human subject. In this sense, it is evident that a new consciousness must emerge. Humans must begin to recognize that, as Paula Gunn Allen states, “we are the land… the land and the people are the same… The earth is the source of being of the people and we are equally the being of the earth. The land is not really a place separate from ourselves… The land is not a mere source of survival, distant from the creatures it nurtures” (Allen, as quoted in Christ, 1997: 114). Christ employs the term ‘interdependence’ in order to characterize the connection between all beings in the web of life. Yet the word interdependence must be used cautiously, for although humans are dependent on nature, animals, plants and other more-than-humans, as well as other humans for our survival, the earth is not reciprocally dependent on humans. In fact, the presence of (certain) humans on the earth has historically prevented, and continues to threaten, the flourishing and wellbeing of Others, including both human and more-than-human beings within the web of life. In this sense, concepts such as interdependence undermine the reality of power relations that exist between and among different modes of being, including human relationships and those between humans and nature. For this reason, ecofeminists’ use the notion interdependence to illustrate that humans are not separate from, but intimately implicated within, the natural world. This concept helps to demonstrate that “‘human’ beings are essentially relational and interdependent. We are tied to [‘human’ and ‘more-than-human’] Others from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Our lives are dependent in more ways than we can begin to imagine on support and nurture from the web of life, from the earth body” (Christ, 1997: 136). Because the interdependent relation between human subjects and the earth is conceptualized as so intimate, human actions can have significant, and often disastrous effects on nature. However, the agency and power of nature in creating significant phenomena in the lived realities, societies and experiences of humans must also be recognized. This concept destabilizes colonial, western (and gendered) conceptions of the earth as a passive object, to be owned, harnessed, excavated and harvested in order to increase the economic and social flourishing of humans. In other words, the notion of interdependence demonstrates that humans are also affected by more-than-human lives, and that the earth is not a passive, receptive instrument to be exploited by and for human cultures. Examples such as decreased air quality and Colony Collapse Disorder illustrate the power of the earth to violently fight back against human abuse in order to protect itself. In order for a more life-affirming, harmonious relationship between the natural world and human beings to emerge and, therefore, in order to ensure the survival of all beings within the web of life, what ultimately needs to emerge is a new conception of the relationship between human and more-than-human life. McFague proposes the notion of subject-subjects relations, which encompasses a radical and life-affirming way of transforming this hierarchical relationship. According to this model, human subjects must relate to nature as a subject. While recognizing their own intrinsic relation to Other subjects, grounded in their interconnection within the web of life, human subjects must recognize morethan- human subjects’ own intrinsic value and right to live, quite apart from human interests and lives. In other words, we must recognize the otherness of morethan- humans, yet simultaneously feel a connection and recognize an affinity with such subjects. This connection “underscores both radical unity and radical individuality. It suggests a different, basic sensibility for all our knowing and doing and a different kind of know-ink and doing… It says: ‘I am a subject and live in a world of many other different subjects’” (McFague, 1997: 38). According to McFague, this will involve “the loving eye [as well as] the other senses, for it moves the eye from the mind (and the heavens) to the body (and the earth). It will result in an embodied kind of knowledge of other subjects who, like ourselves, occupy specific bodies in specific locations on this messy, muddy, wonderful, complex, mysterious earth” (Mc Fague, 1997: 36). Practicing this type of relationship will implicitly and explicitly embody a radical challenge to what it has historically meant to be both a human and nonhuman subject. It will require an erosion of the imagined boundary, grounded in the perception of difference, between human and nature, and the other, interconnected dichotomies within the European, colonial, historical imagination. It will also involve re-valuing the both sides of classic western dualisms as significant and worthy in and of themselves. This type of relationship will necessitate the erosion of concepts such as intrinsic inferiority and superiority, and potentially end the embodied and lived power relations that such concepts sanction. Perhaps most importantly, the subject-subjects relationship will allow a new understanding of the relations between all beings within the web of life to emerge; the human, that is, the normative, white, European man of the (neo)colonial imagination, and the human of the human/nature dichotomy, and his wellbeing, subjectivity, knowledge and mode of being, will be displaced of from the dominant center. Beginning to recognize and relate to more-thanhumans as subjects will inevitably represent a strong challenge to the coherence of the traditional, anthropocentric, colonial paradigm. The fantasy of humans as the sole, normative subjects within the universe has historically, and continues to provide powerful senses of security and identity to many of us; we are therefore deeply attached to this conception of humanness. However, in order for a more life affirming, harmonious relationship between the natural world and human beings to emerge, we must begin to practice such models within all of our relationships, including relationships with more-than-human beings and other human subjects. Such an endeavor is crucial for the flourishing, and ultimately, the survival of all beings within the web of life. Bibliography Christ, Carol P (1997). Rebirth of the Goddess: Finding Meaning in Feminist Spirituality. California, Massachusetts and New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing. Gebara, Ivone (1999). Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Hewitt Suchocki, Marjorie (1982). “Why a Relational Theology?” In God, Christ, Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 3-11. McFague, Sallie (1997). Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Primavesi, Anne (1991). From Apocalypse to Genesis: Ecology, Feminism and Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. i The term, ‘more-than-human’ will be used in place of the term, ‘nonhuman’ in certain areas within this paper. For a number of reasons, I believe the former term is more appropriate. Firstly, nonhuman carries connotations of difference from an explicitly human norm, and a related sense of deficiency and deviance. For this reason, I will employ nonhuman in areas in which I describe traditional, colonial human perceptions of more-than-humans. However, I believe that more-than-human conveys a sense that there literally exists significantly more than simply human realities in the world. More-than-human is also more comprehensive than related terms, such as animals or nature, as it can encompass many diverse expressions of realities, experiences and subject(ivitie)s that transcend traditional constructions of humanness.

The ecofeminism movement in Indonesia is generally territorial and intersectional but tends to be secular. This study shows the emergence of ecofeminism ideas integrated with Islamic values in the form of pesantren. Unlike other ecofeminisms—which were generally born as a response to women and environmental issues an sich, pesantren ecofeminism was an effort to rise from the mental-class and economic-class trauma of peasant society. I used a subsistence perspective, which led me to the Pesantren Ekologi Ath-Thaariq in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. I combined Harvard and Longwe frameworks to analyze pesantren’s activity, access, control, and equivalence level. This article contains the pesantren ecofeminism concept in viewing the environment through faith, local wisdom, and piety. This study further examines the ability of pesantren to break unequal power relations between humans and between humans and non-humans, instead of continuing the patriarchal tradition and its kiai-centric system.

This study aims to analyse the indigenous women's movement to protect nature using the perspective of religious ecofeminism. The Indigenous People Alliance of Indonesia (Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara-AMAN) documented 13 cases of indigenous territory seizure, affecting 103,717 indigenous people and 251 hectares of indigenous territories. Consequently, the patterns of indigenous knowledge related to spirituality, as lived by indigenous women, prompt them to respond to the exploitation of nature. This research seeks to confirm the basic thesis of ecofeminism that links the domination of women and nature. The study employs qualitative methods, utilising text data from online media such as Twitter. The selection of data sources is based on the role of online media as a space for the representation of indigenous women and indigenous peoples. The main findings indicate that indigenous women have successfully positioned themselves at the forefront of nature protection through their movements. The indigenous women's movement to protect nature exemplifies a relationship based on indigenous understanding and knowledge, which is inseparable from the interpretation of nature itself. Equally important, the response of indigenous women reflects the interpretation of humans and nature as interdependent entities that provide sustenance, a concept known as religious ecofeminism. This concept embodies a cultural and religious understanding of the cosmology of life. The study contributes to raising awareness of the critical role of indigenous women in environmental conservation and demonstrates that their movements are grounded in religious ecofeminism values.

rnest Hemingway is regarded as one of the greatest American writers in the 20th century. This paper aims to interpret Hemingway’s ecofeminism by analyzing his short stories Cat in the Rain and Hills Like White Elephants. In these two short stories, Hemingway’s ecofeminism is reflected mainly in three aspects: the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between man and woman, and the resonance between woman and nature. It is clear that Hemingway’s Ecofeminism is interwoven closely with the social and economic condition of America, the awakening of female consciousness, Hemingway’s family education as well as his own experiences. The interpretation of Hemingway’s ecofeminism inspires us today to deconstruct the patriarchal worldview.

Coastal ecofeminism is women's concern for the environmental conditions of coastal settlements which are synonymous with slum settlements. The aim of this research is to analyze the implications of ecofeminism in efforts to preserve the coastal settlement environment in terms of ecological, psychological, economic, social, cultural and disaster mitigation aspects. The research object is the coastal settlements of Kendal Regency which stretches from Tawang to Kaliwungu. The research subjects are the coastal communities of Kendal Regency, communities and related agencies. This research uses descriptive qualitative phenomenological research methods to present the results of observations, interviews and field documentation. The results obtained in this research are that coastal ecofeminism needs to be supported by all parties so that there is sustainability. In the ecological, cultural and disaster mitigation aspects, ecofeminism needs to be supported so that the sustainability of coastal settlements is maintained. In the economic aspect, society needs strengthening and policies for business and MSME development. In the psychological aspect, women are given psychological protection and counseling, especially those who have experienced trauma healing from domestic violence or broken homes.

A few decades ago, ecofeminist historical efforts provided decisive revelations and analyses of the historical entanglements and parallel oppressions of women and nature: a women/nature nexus. Ecofeminism(s) are experiencing a resurgence, with fresh voices in new contexts, and addressing a wide range of concerns. It is encouraging that the relevance of the intersections of gender/nature and feminism and ecology is being reconsidered in new ways. This chapter addresses the topics of ecofeminism, climate change and related theological considerations. After an introduction to ecofeminisms and their debates, the discussion moves to ecofeminism and climate justice, ecological rights, planetary frameworks and the need for inspiring visions, especially in a (post)-COVID era.

AbstractCallicott convinces us that diverse religious traditions provide resources in constructing an environmental ethic. However, his use of the term postmodern, while rejecting most of postmodern thought, is not helpful for his project. Callicott also presumes that nonanthropocentrism and holism are necessary for a universal environmental ethic, and provides only one version of ecofeminism. There are reasons to prefer pluralism in environmental ethics and ecofeminism.

AbstractCallicott convinces us that diverse religious traditions provide resources in constructing an environmental ethic. However, his use of the term postmodern, while rejecting most of postmodern thought, is not helpful for his project. Callicott also presumes that nonanthropocentrism and holism are necessary for a universal environmental ethic, and provides only one version of ecofeminism. There are reasons to prefer pluralism in environmental ethics and ecofeminism.

Ecofeminism in India, if approached and analysed non-intersectionally, will negate the struggles of the indigenous ecofeminists and their encounters. Therefore, it is important to look deeply into the indigenous ecofeminist initiatives in the country, especially by the Dalit and the Adivasi women. The paper attempts to engage with intersectional ecofeminism in India by focusing on the textual and the pragmatic aspects of the movement through specific case studies. “Mayilamma: The Life of a Tribal Eco-Warrior” and “Save the Forest the Movement” in Jharkhand are closely read and analysed to understand the similarities and differences in the relationship between tribal women and their environment. This paper therefore tries to see the impact of ecofeminist activities of Adivasi or tribal women on battling environmental crisis and the reception of the same in policy making for sustainable development. The main aim of the paper is to understand the effect of intersectional ecofeminism in India on sustainable development. The paper also acknowledges the criticisms against intersectional ecofeminism and highlights the presence of alternate movements. This analysis further leads to the proposal of intersectional ecofeminism as a suitable model for sustainability in future.

This research discusses the issue of gender and environment in Southeast Asia and focuses on the casestudy of Female Forest Rangers or also known as Mpu Uteun in Aceh, Indonesia. It aims to answer the question: how do Female Forest Rangers in Aceh challenge masculinity and apply aspects of ecofeminism in protecting Aceh’s Forest? Using Warren’s approach of ecofeminism, the analysis of this research is divided into three parts. The first is masculinity and men’s role in Aceh’s environmental degradation, second is women and interconnection with nature, and third is ecofeminist philosophy in the case of Aceh’s female forest rangers. This study found that first, perpetrators of deforestation are mostly men as it is one of their ways to make a livelihood, enforcing a masculinity perspective that men should be dominating in providing for their family, including dominating the environment. Second, the female forest rangers have strong interconnections with nature since all the categories of interconnectedness between women and nature according to Warren can be found in this casestudy. Lastly, this case study can be claimed as an example of ecofeminist philosophy because the three aspects of Warren’s ecofeminist philosophy can be found in the research. These aspects are feminism; local and indigenous perspective; as well as nature, science, development, and technology. Keywords: Ecofeminism, masculinity, Aceh, Indonesia, female forest rangers

Born and bred in the Western lands in the context of ecological crisis and feminist movement in the 1970s, ecofeminism views men’s rule over women and human’s rule over nature as two aspects of the same issue, and believes that there is an inherent connection between them. By criticizing the oppressive status of women and nature, and eliminating the dualism rooted in western patriarchy, ecofeminism aims to promote equality and harmony among all things. Taoism, an ancient Eastern philosophy with a history of thousands of years, also places great emphasis on harmony among individuals, nature, society, and the universe. Its principles of “the unity of man and nature”, and balance between “Yin” and “Yang” provide philosophical support for ecofeminism which rejects dualisms and encourages wholeness and harmony. As society and economy develop rapidly, humanity faces a series of crisis, and this paper just intends to combine ecofeminism with Taoism to make an analysis on Louise Glück’s poem collection of A Village Life to explore her ecofeminist consciousness and how she advocates the establishment of a diverse but harmonious world without hierarchical differences in her poems.

This paper is an attempt to consider an alternative pluralist pantheism (Mary Jane Rubenstein) as the next step in the evolution of interpersonal, interspecies, and God–human–nature relationships and its possible realisation in (post-)Christian ecofeminism and its epistemology. It follows the methodology and epistemology of theological ecofeminism, which assumes that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature stem from the same constellation of phenomena: patriarchal domination, dualistic anthropologies, and global hypercapitalism. Recognising that pantheism is a very complex phenomenon and should not be viewed as a single codified viewpoint, but rather as a diverse family of different doctrines, this paper understands pantheism primarily as the paradigm that asserts that everything is part of a divine unity consisting of an all-encompassing, manifested deity or God/Goddess. The paper first explains the pan-en-theistic turn in Christian ecofeminism as a tool for deconstructing the dominant Cartesian dualistic binaries and their symbolism and metanarratives, and as the first “safe” phase of transition from Christian anthropocentrism. From this standpoint, Grace M. Jantzen’s defense of pantheism as an alternative to transcendental theism is further explored as she argues that divinity is found “in” the physical and material world and nowhere else. The paper then moves to the second phase, proposed in the final part of the paper, on the possibility of the theoretical adoption of pluralist pantheism in (post-)Christian ecofeminist ecotheology. Here, the question of the “fear and horror of pantheism” in Western thought is discussed.

Ecofeminist philosophy and literary theory need mutually to enhance each other's critical praxis. Ecofeminism provides the grounding necessary to turn the Bakhtinian dialogic method into a critical theory applicable to all of one's lived experience, while dialogics provides a method for advancing the application of ecofeminist thought in terms of literature, the other as speaking subject, and the interanimation of human and nonhuman aspects of nature. In the first part of this paper the benefits of dialogics to feminism and ecofeminism are explored; in the second part dialogics as method is detailed; in the third part literary examples are discussed from a dialogical ecofeminist perspective.

Abstract Ecofeminism is a term coined by Françoise D’Eubonne in her book Feminism or Death (1974) to show the affinities between ecology and feminism. Both women and nature are perceived as passive elements and like women who complain about patriarchal constraints, ecologists shed light on the impacts of human exploitation over nature which is affected by pollution. Some dimensions of ecofeminism are present in Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Yellow Woman (1981). The postmodern novel contains a female character who forges a link with the natural surroundings and is in a direct contact with some natural elements like plants and animals. What is specific about the heroine is that she escapes her matriarchal society and goes back to nature in order to reconstruct her identity. At the end of the narrative, the female narrator leaves the natural setting and goes back to her family to replay social roles. The present article sets out to study the importance of Mother Nature for the female narrator and to examine the affinities between Earth Mother and the female protagonist. The first part will offer a theoretical background about the basic principles of ecofeminism. Then, my analysis will touch upon the aspects of ecofeminism in the novel. However, the last part will focus on the way the narrator goes beyond her matriarchal culture and reshapes female identity.

Rosemary Radford Ruether (2 November 1936–21 May 2022), feminist foremother, prophet, and empowering voice for women in the Roman Catholic Church and in the theological academy, particularly in the areas of feminist liberation theology, ecofeminism, women’s ordination, and global activism.

Deep ecology and ecofeminism are contemporary environmental philosophies that share the desire to supplant the predominant Western anthropocentric environmental frameworks. Recently thinkers from these movements have focused their critiques on each other, and substantial differences have emerged. This essay explores central aspects of this debate to ascertain whether either philosophy has been undermined in the process and whether there are any indications that they are compatible despite their differences.

As awareness grows of global warming and ecological degradation, words such as “climate anxiety”, and “eco-anxiety” enter our vocabularies, describing the impact of climate change on human mental health and spiritual wellbeing. Distress over climate change disproportionately impacts children, who also are more susceptible to the broader health, economic, and social effects brought about by environmental harm. In this paper, I explore children’s vulnerability to climate change and climate anxiety through the lens of ecofeminist practical theology. Ecofeminism brings the liberatory concerns of feminist theologies into engagement with those theologies focused on the life of the planet. Drawing on ecofeminism, practical theology must continue and deepen its own ecological conversion, and practical theologies of childhood must take seriously the work of making an ecological home, oikos, in which children are embedded as a part of the wider ecology that includes the more-than-human world. This requires foregrounding religious education with children toward the inhabitance of the earth in good and just ways. However, these theologies also must address children’s lived realities of increased anxiety over planetary changes that endanger life through practices of spiritual care with children that engage and support them in their distress toward participatory empowerment for change.

This research aims to discuss ecological wisdom in Arjasari as a link between hadith and community practice. This qualitative research used a case study. It used hadith science theory as the formal object, and the practice of ecofeminism the material object. Using observation, interviews, and documentation for data collection, this study analyzed the data through inventory, classification, and interpretation stages. The research involved two community organizations affiliated with the Sapa Institute: Bale Istri Community and Islamic Organization in Arjasari, Bandung, Indonesia, from July 2022 to December 2022. This research is unique because it explores thematic hadiths, which serve as a basic source for integrating Islamic teachings into the practice of ecofeminism. This study explores the matan of traditions related to ecology, using a thematic approach to understand their relevance to contemporary environmental challenges comprehensively. The research shows that ecofeminism practices of community organizations from the perspective of hadith were found in Arjasari Village, Bandung. The identified hadiths emphasize responsible land use, sustainable agriculture, and preservation of natural resources, contributing to developing an ecofeminist framework in Arjasari, harmonizing Islamic values with environmental ethics. This study's unique contribution lies in exploring thematic hadith, which integrates ecofeminist practices. The deliberate linkage of religious principles with ecofeminist discourse promotes the equivalence between environmental standards and Islamic values.

Ne’ Balungkur represents the inherited living value of traditional paddy farming lived by Dayak Kanayatn. Concerning the ecofeminism ideology, this study aims to reveal the existence of women and nature in traditional paddy farming in Ne’ Balungkur folklore in relation to the cultural-value system. Enriching the ecofeminism perspective in this study, the community prominent figure of the Dayak Kanayatn community was interviewed to give triangular validity to the data interpretation. Exhibiting comprehensive ecofeminism analysis to show the representation of woman empowerment through Dayak Kanayatn's code of conduct in planting to harvesting paddy is the main contribution of this study. Ne’ Balungkur demonstrates how women of the Dayak Kanayatn tribe are respected for their roles in traditional paddy farming and cultivation. This woman’s role in Ne’ Balungkur folklore challenges the customary male supremacy in Indonesian agriculture. This study is also able to identify the pattern of the cultural-value system. The pattern of the domain, taxonomy, componential, and cultural theme analysis shows that the current religious system, which blends ritual, custom, and religion into a single thought, has always been entwined with culture and education. Numerous opportunities for incorporating local folklore especially from West Borneo into official educational contexts are suggested by this study

After a turbulent period during which feminist studies disavowed ecofeminism, the field is finding new popularity with strains that have made their way into gender and sustainable development studies and new material feminisms. To do so, they have had to evacuate all traces of spirituality. This essay reviews the circumstances under which spiritual ecofeminisms fell from favor before turning to theologians, religious studies scholars, and Chicana feminist theorists and artists for whom spirituality plays a central role. It asks: how can we take spirituality and religion seriously again in ecofeminism? Is there room to respect spirituality even in feminist environmental safe houses, whether socialist and development oriented or science-infused new material approaches? This essay concludes with artist Amalia Mesa-Bains’s installations as a case study to illustrate what Chicana environmentalisms could teach us about materiality and spirituality within a decolonial framework.

This article off ers a pioneering ecofeminist study of Viktor Ivchenko’s Lisova pisnia (1961) and Yurii Illienko’s Lisova pisnia. Mavka (1980), two Soviet Ukrainian film adaptations of Lesia Ukrainka’s eponymous fairy-drama (1911; Forest Song). It focuses on the interrelated depiction of gender and nature along with the drama’s ideological and material aspects: androcentrism and deforestation. The production of both fi lms coincides with, and arguably refl ects, what Marko Pavlyshyn describes as “the emergence of a conservationist consciousness” in the USSR in the 1960s. The article’s goal is therefore twofold – to bring new ecofeminist insights into Ukrainian fi lm studies and to raise eco-awareness about the Volyn Polissia, which provides the setting for Ukrainka’s drama and its adaptations, and currently faces environmental devastation from illegal amber mining.

Ecofeminism depicts the movements and philosophies that establish a close relationship between women and nature. It is also an academic movement that sees a critical connection between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women. The term ‘Ecofeminism’ was coined by the French writer Francoise d’Eaubonne. This term intersects the two critical perspectives- ecology and feminism. Ecofeminist theory asserts that a feminist perspective of ecology does not place women in the dominant position. This theory can be used to explore the connection between women and nature in culture, religion, literature and thus address and bring out the parallels between the oppressions of nature and the oppressions of women. Using gender as an important factor, ecofeminism examines the conditions that cause and perpetuates the subordination of both women and nature. This analysis includes seeing men as the curators of culture and women as the curators of nature, and also how men dominate women and humans dominate nature. This paper titled, ‘An Ecofeminist Reading of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian’ discusses the term ecofeminism and how this theory can be analysed and applied in this book written by Han Kang, a South Korean writer who won the Man Booker International prize for fiction in 2016 for this particular book. The book is about a home-maker whose decision to stop eating meat after a deadly nightmare about human cruelty leads to various problems in her personal life. This paper mainly tries to bring out how women and nature are oppressed by the patriarchy and how both are showing resistance toward this dominance. It investigates how man colonizes nature and as well as women. There are various other books that can be analysed under this feminist theory but this book in a way different as the main protagonist of this book sees vegetarianism as a way of not causing any harm on anything, but asserting her identity and freedom in patriarchal society. Thus this paper brings of the various ecofeminist aspects that can be analysed in this book through the various contexts related to the protagonist.

Vandana Shiva in her thinking of Ecofeminism, tried to deconstruct the paradigm of masculinity (its an ideology or principle that emphasizes more competitive, dominant, ambitious, vertical and fulfilling personal interests, it has hegemony many things, especially in terms of feminism and mainstream ecology, and also offers alternative understandings in the form of marriage between ecological thinking and feminism. Secondly, here I would like to discribe, the concept of ecofeminism. Vandana Shiva had been emphasized the need to restore feminine values (love, and nurturing), as a formulation or solution of the hegemony for masculinity that has been penetrated in many aspects. Third, the most important thing according to Vandana Shiva, is the restoration of the feminine values based on the overall principle, namely the creative existence and awareness in nature, women, and men. The implication for the nature is as a living organisms. For women, as a women productive and active beings. And finally the implication of the principle restoration of men is the transfer of life's actions, not to create a life-threatening society that had destroys the life.

Vandana Shiva in her thinking of Ecofeminism, tried to deconstruct the paradigm of masculinity (its an ideology or principle that emphasizes more competitive, dominant, ambitious, vertical and fulfilling personal interests, it has hegemony many things, especially in terms of feminism and mainstream ecology, and also offers alternative understandings in the form of marriage between ecological thinking and feminism. Secondly, here I would like to discribe, the concept of ecofeminism. Vandana Shiva had been emphasized the need to restore feminine values (love, and nurturing), as a formulation or solution of the hegemony for masculinity that has been penetrated in many aspects. Third, the most important thing according to Vandana Shiva, is the restoration of the feminine values based on the overall principle, namely the creative existence and awareness in nature, women, and men. The implication for the nature is as a living organisms. For women, as a women productive and active beings. And finally the implication of the principle restoration of men is the transfer of life's actions, not to create a life-threatening society that had destroys the life.

This paper attempts to explore Alice Munro’s short story, “Princess Ida” from an ecofeminist lens. “Princess Ida” is one of Munro’s stories from 1971 short story collection, Lives of Girls and Women. The paper uncovers the elements of paganism, one of the strands of ecofeminism, present in the story. It offers pagan ecofeminist study of the text by opposing monotheistic religion and embracing any religion that worships the earth, nature, or fertility deity, such as the various forms of goddess worship or matriarchal religion. It establishes a connection between earth-worship and the Gaia hypothesis. The present paper attempts to underline that Earth as a living organism, like any other living thing, invariably tries to exert constant or stable conditions for itself (homeostasis). And these exit groups and beliefs that come under the category of earth religion, such as paganism, a polytheistic, naturecentered religion; animism, a doctrine that all natural objects and the universe itself, have souls. Munro associates many female characters with primordial vitality, renders them with pagan and mythic qualities, constructs a narrative of female goddess figures, signifying pantheistic religions of the primitive world. The paper exhibits how Munro’s character withdraws herself from the masculine Christian mythology and is drawn towards pagan religious context of Astarte and Isis where both woman’s and earth’s life-giving powers are associated and respected.

Human beings are supposed to be the gifted creations of the universe in which many more creations are also found. There is a reciprocal or mutual relationship among them. This relationship has been variously defined to be one of the most powerful sensibilities of this universe. Such sensibilities of these creations and co-relations among them can be seen hither and thither which has been rightly defined and recognized as the ecological relations of the species. The concept ecofeminism with its multifaced dimensions is one of them. It is studied in the growth of ecological relations of the women and the environmental happenings all over the world. The present research article attempts to reconnoiter the combination of environment with the creativities and relative coherence of women in Toni Morrison’s well-known novel, The Bluest Eye.

Ecocritical and ecofeminist studies have frequently borrowed from Indigenous epistemologies to conform new approaches to human-nature relations, particularly now that the pressing climate crisis is making western societies contemplate the need for radical solutions. As Leanne Betasamosake Simpson remarks, “the western academy is now becoming interested in certain aspects of Indigenous Knowledge” such as “Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)” (373). However, the scope of this interest is reduced and disconnects ecological knowledge from decolonial practices, such as land claims or Indigenous feminisms. Maile Arvin et al. emphatically support that “settler colonialism has been and continues to be a gendered process” (8) and thus its ramifications and effects (upon nature or Indigenous communities) cannot be detangled without an Indigenous feminist perspective. In this article, I focus on an ecocritical analysis of several works by Lee Maracle, who dedicated her career to the regeneration and revalorization of Indigenous systems of knowledge, in order to pinpoint the intersections between feminism, decolonization, and nonhuman ecological thinking that might develop into a potential Indigenous ecofeminism that truly recognizes Indigenous epistemologies in their full context. Basing myself off Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s theories on Indigenous radical resurgence, which assert that a cultural resurgence (such as a revalorization of Indigenous ecological knowledge) cannot take place without a political resurgence (such as the acknowledgement of Indigenous sovereignty), I argue that Maracle’s portrayal of natural elements and her imagining of human-nature relations is inextricably linked to a decolonizing perspective foregrounded on Indigenous feminism.

Against the background of recent global environmental changes on our planet, serious and dangerous problems are expanding. One of them is the problem of water scarcity. Water scarcity is severe mainly in the southern regions of Uzbekistan. Even in areas where water is not so scarce, the amount of water is decreasing because of pollution and salinity. This study examines the geographical and environmental aspects of water scarcity in Uzbekistan based on a Case Study. A small remote district of Uzbekistan called Oltinsoy was chosen for the study. The case study mainly focuses on the water problem in agriculture. Thus, the water problem in this area currently exists as an environmental problem, which seeks the main attention and quick solutions. The purpose of this study is to promote the fight against water scarcity in the region and to emphasize support for the concrete and effective implementation of projects to ensure sustainability at the local level. During the study, water scarcity is becoming more serious, and the results showed that a capable solution should be found as soon as possible. In the region, it was found necessary to implement many measures, such as the protection of water sources, the control of polluting wastes, and the implementation of effective management of water resources. However, there is a strong data limitation. In conclusion of the study, the following is considered very essential that bringing water collection systems into the area. It is necessary to carry out regional exact and transparent statistical data in the field of agriculture and others.

This paper displays the results of a system-typological and structural-semiotic analysis of female pagan images in Russian feature films, shown in interrelations with religious movements and ideological trends of modern culture. The relevance of this research is determined by the need of ensuring the ideological security and sociopsychological well-being of modern society. The research was conducted on the material of mystical series, folk horror, ethnographic cinema, and historical fantasy. The study highlights static and dynamic types of female pagan images. The static type exists in two contexts: rural and urban, and the dynamic type develops in two directions: progressive and regressive. The paper detects connection of the victim's motif, which characterizes dynamic female images, with gender and postcolonial issues. Comparison of the ways of representation of female pagan images, discourses of modern paganism and ecofeminism allowed us to conclude about the mutual influence of these three discursive systems. The connection of the system of female images with the modern processes of the revival of paganism follows the pattern of isomorphism. The study shows that Russian cinema has experienced the influence of Western ecofeminism, yet the relationship of the sexes here does not have the character of an open confrontation. The author focuses in this case on the new role and gender identity of women, which is best expressed by the static heroines of mystical series and historical fantasy.

This article engages with the care ethics of Laudato Si’ through the lens of postcolonial ecofeminism. Laudato Si’ speaks of the family of creation where nature is both a nurturing mother and a vulnerable sister, reflecting patriarchal associations of women with nature, fragility, and the virtue of care. This indirectly undermines the need for men to engage in care/social reproduction work as well as the strengthening of women’s agency. While this kin-centric ecology acknowledges the interdependence of creatures, it maintains the hierarchy of humans over nature and underlines this family’s headship by an all-powerful Father. Laudato Si’s family ecology and God language inadvertently reifies women–nature–care connection and reinforces the logic of male domination. This study recommends exploring gender inclusive images of the Trinity and the family of creation in mutual relations to foster care that promotes both the agency of women and nature.

Zawiyya as a place of teaching and spreading Islam in Morocco has had quite a significant influence. An Igurramen, or zawiya leader in the Berber tribe, is able to mobilize the population around him with his religious influence. Zawiyya Ahansal as a place of Islamic teaching in the Atlas Mountains has its own challenges as a marginalized area. The Igurramen collaborated with Cloe Medina Erickson to build the Atlas Cultural Foundationto develop and empower the people around the zawiyya, especially children and women, hence this action shows the collaborative care and awareness between the saint, educator, and ecofeminist. This article aims to provide an analysis of the conditions of children and women's development and empowerment in Zawiyya Ahansal, Morocco. Keywords: zawiyya, Ahansal, Morocco, ecofeminism

The article deals with the issues of religious tolerance in modern society. The Republic of Kazakhstan represents multiethnic, polyconfessional, polycultural society. In this regard huge attention is paid to the general ideas of equivalence of all people. At the global level, a number of specially designed documents and regulations have been developed and adopted. Emergence of religious tolerance logically intertwines with such concepts as free-thinking, toleration, laicisation. Experience of our country shows that various religions and faiths can be quite compatible, coexist peacefully and effectively.