Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved
This article, evaluating the usefulness and applicability of the ecofeminist tenets upon the environmental fiction of Erdrich and Morrison, creates a new understanding of the preservation of the environment for engendering a more egalitarian relationship between humanity and nature. It presents the critique of the ways Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich engage with the environmental themes and motifs using the historical connections of their communities with nature as a reference point via eco-performative texts. The overall scheme of the article, therefore, denies the anthropocentric approach upheld by the Euro-American world towards the environment and glorifies the biocentric approach revered and celebrated by the Native American and AfroAmerican lifestyle, emphasizing that in the cosmic scheme of nature, not just humans but non-humans, nature and environment are equal partners. The study concludes that Morrison and Erdrich have stressed in their fiction the ecocritical recognition of the inevitable interdependence of man and nature. Their fiction asserts that considering environmental issues to be human issues can positively affect the human attitude towards nature/environment.
-
(1) Mumtaz Ahmad
PhD Scholar, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(2) Nighat Ahmad
Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(3) Amara Javed
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government College Woman University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
- Adamson, J. (2001). American Indian literature, Environmental justice, and ecocriticism: The middle place. Arizona: University of Arizona Press
- D'Eaubonne, F. (1974).Feminism or death. New French feminisms: An anthology. France: Environment & Society
- Dixon, M. (1994).The black writer's use of memory.History and Memory in AfricanAmerican culture. New York: Oxford University Press
- Erdrich, L. (1988).Tracks .London: Hamish Hamilton
- Farley, W. (1993). Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing; By Rosemary Radford Ruether New York, Harper Collins Publishers.
- Glotfelty, C. & Harold, F. (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology. Georgia: University of Georgia Press
- Howell, N. R. (1997).Ecofeminism: What one needs to know? Zygon32 (2): 231-41.
- King, Y. (1989). Healing the wounds: Feminism, ecology, and nature/culture dualism. In A. M. Jaggar& S. R. Bordo (Eds.), Gender/body/knowledge: Feminist reconstructions of being and knowing (pp. 115- 141). New Brunswick & London: Rutgers University Press
- McGaa, Ed. (1990).Original: Mother earth spirituality: Native American paths to healing ourselves and our world. New York: HarperOne.
- Morrison, T. (1987).Beloved. New York: Plume.
- Norwood, V. (1993).Made from this earth: American women and nature. North Carolina: UNC Press Books.
- Shiva, V. R. (2014). Close to home: Women reconnect ecology, health and development. London& New York: Routledge.
- Warren, K. J. (2000).Ecofeminist philosophy: A western perspective on what it is and why it matters. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Warren, K. J. (2016). The power and the promise of ecological feminism. Environmental Ethics. 12(2): 125-146.
- Warren, K. J. (1997) Ed. Ecofeminism: Women, Culture. Nature. Indiana: University of Indiana Press.
Cite this article
-
APA : Ahmad, M., Ahmad, N., & Javed, A. (2021). Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved. Global Social Sciences Review, VI(I), 48-56. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).06
-
CHICAGO : Ahmad, Mumtaz, Nighat Ahmad, and Amara Javed. 2021. "Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved." Global Social Sciences Review, VI (I): 48-56 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).06
-
HARVARD : AHMAD, M., AHMAD, N. & JAVED, A. 2021. Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved. Global Social Sciences Review, VI, 48-56.
-
MHRA : Ahmad, Mumtaz, Nighat Ahmad, and Amara Javed. 2021. "Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved." Global Social Sciences Review, VI: 48-56
-
MLA : Ahmad, Mumtaz, Nighat Ahmad, and Amara Javed. "Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved." Global Social Sciences Review, VI.I (2021): 48-56 Print.
-
OXFORD : Ahmad, Mumtaz, Ahmad, Nighat, and Javed, Amara (2021), "Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved", Global Social Sciences Review, VI (I), 48-56
-
TURABIAN : Ahmad, Mumtaz, Nighat Ahmad, and Amara Javed. "Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved." Global Social Sciences Review VI, no. I (2021): 48-56. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-I).06