Biography
Nissi Karunya is an Assistant Professor of English at Lady Doak College, India. She is pursuing her doctoral studies in the area of ecological literature, with ecospirituality, ecofeminism and ecoethics as her core areas of research. Trekking, bird watching and nature walks are some of her favourite hobbies that honed her interest in ecology, religion and literature.
Paper Abstract
Ecofeminism is a conspicuous school of thought in environmental thinking. This ideology, which was initiated as a social movement, is a conglomeration of concerns that collate the repression of women and the abuse of nature. This paper examines how these two ideologies interject at various contexts with reference to the select works of Terry Tempest Williams, a leading environmental thinker in American literature and Mahaswetha Devi, an Indian writer whose creative consciousness has been a liberating voice to the tribals. When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice (2003) is a poetic memoir that reflects on the idea of the 'voice' of nature and women. Williams etches her keen observations on the landscape and weaves it with the legacy of women in her family who honed her ecological consciousness and identity as a woman. The Hunt by Mahaswetha Devi, translated by Gayatri Spivak is explores the close knit relationship between the natives and nature. The maternal bond between the tribals in Kuruda Hills and the rapid debilitation of their "mother" nature, the sole provider is explored in the light of the conflict between nature and culture. This paper seeks to explore the nexus between women and nature. The hypothesis that an understanding of the interdependence of the polar opposite worlds of nature and culture can complement each other and diplomatic co-existence can be achieved if thoughtfulness and empathy go together, modelled on the relationship women have with nature. Ecological and cultural subtleties synergised by the consciousness of women towards conservation are the essence of this study.