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WOMAN-NATURE INTERFACE: AN ECOFEMINIST STUDY

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WOMAN-NATURE INTERFACE
AN ECOFEMINIST STUDY
WOMAN-NATURE INTERFACE
AN ECOFEMINIST STUDY

- Edited by -
Dipak Giri
WOMAN-NATURE INTERFACE
AN ECOFEMINIST STUDY

Edited by
Dipak Giri
Dedicated to...
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 FOREWORD

Writing a foreword is a tricky enterprise,

especially on a book like Woman-Nature Interface:
An Ecofeminist Study. Now, we have to begin
somewhere and I would like to quote a few
sentences from Adrienne Rich’s book On Woman
Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. She
outlines the, “simple idea that women are as
intrinsically human as men, that neither women
nor men are merely the enlargement of a contact
sheet of genetic encoding, biologically givens.
Experience shapes us, randomness shapes us, the
stars and weather, our own accommodations and
rebellions, above all, the social order around us”.
Dipak’s book does just that. The collection of
essays focuses on studies on ecology with
emphasis on global perspectives and environmental
activism, apart from woman centered narratives
in select female novelists and in other narratives,
like ballads of Bengal. The essays focus on diverse
authors like Katherine Mansfield, Sarojini Naidu,
Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Roy and several others.
However, the nexus between nature and woman
had been the focus of ancient Indian literature as
is shown in the study of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala.
Whereas the character of Shakuntala has been
sketched from a natural perspective, Shakespeare’s
plays like The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew
analyse the woman as well as nature from a male
point of view. Such literature has been aptly
substantiated by articles on ecofeminism and CONTENTS
environmental movements in India and Pakistan
in agricultural and economic sectors. There is also
a return to historical narratives as well as a fresh
Foreword
insight into the nature versus culture debate
Introduction
within the context of rapid globalization.
Finally, the author-cum-editor has been quite 1. An Ecofeminist Scrutiny of Katherine
proficient in recent years with the publication of Mansfield’s ‘Prelude’
several books on Indian writing, especially novel Chinmayee Nanda 29
and drama within the ambience of postcolonial
studies. Collected editions on gender studies, 2. Woman and Nature: Exploring the Connections
Diasporas, homosexuality and transgender issues in the Study of Roy’s Fol ded Earth and
have been edited by him. Markandya’s Nectar in a Sieve
This book on Woman Nature Interface illustrates Sanjukta Bala 38
how woman centered narratives can be
contextualized within the parameters of ecology 3. Woman-Nature Parallelism: An Ecofeminist
and environment. The role of the woman becomes Insight into Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain
amplified in the dialectics between nature and and K. R. Usha’s Monkey Man
culture. The editor has aptly summarized the Bhaskar Ch. Sarkar & 51
rationale of the book in his introduction where he Nabanita Barman
writes that ecology and the woman are burning
issues today. The message, which the book conveys 4. A Multidimensional Projection of Land: A
can be paralleled by an observation from Vandana Reading of Gone with the Wind in the Light of
Shiva, where she says that the liberation of the War
earth, the woman, as well as humanity is a step Mahendran U. 62
towards freedom and peace. Let us read this book.
Soumyajit Samanta 5. In Search of an Abode in Nature: The Theme
Retired Professor of Matriarchal Nourishment and the
North Bengal University, West Bengal Interference of Patriarchy in Mahua the Gypsy
Girl
Jyoti Biswas 73
6. In Custody: An Ecofeminist Study 14. An Interfacial Reading of Woman and Nature
Parimal Kumar 83 from Ecofeminist Perspective
Shefali Sharma & Dr. Uma Mishra 187
7. A Re-conceiving and Re-visioning of both the
Feminism and the Environmental Ethics as 15. Historical Responsiveness through Tribal
the Power and Promise of Ecofeminism: A Identity: A Study on Deori Women of North
Detailed Study Bank of Brahmaputra Valley in Assam
Dr. Shantanu Siuli 94 Guptajit Pathak 194

8. Women-Nature Affinity in Anita Desai’s Fire 16. A Study of Woman–Nature Similitude in

on the Mountain: A Study in Postcolonial William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and The
Ecofeminist Perspective Taming of the Shrew
Manas Barik 105 Debasis Samaddar 208

9. Creator’s Unbearable Hostilities: An 17. Ecofeminism in the Poems of Kamala Das and
Ecofeminist Story Sarojini Naidu with the Five main Steams of
Dipika Ghosh 125 Ecofeminism
Raghabendra Garai 228
10. Ecofeminism and Environmental Movements
in India: A Theoretical Study 18. Impact of Globalization on Woman and Nature
Lucky Dey 135 Biplob Ghosh 251

11. Shakuntala and the Natural Sublime: 19. Subversion of Gender Binary in Relation to
Representations in Literature and Media Nature/Culture Dichotomy: An Ecofeminist
Subhrajit Samanta 151 Study of Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain
Dipak Giri 261
12. Feminization of Agriculture and Its
Implications on Economic Well Being of Notes on Contributors 273
Households
Atanu Ghosh 167

13. Social Position of Pastoral and Town Working

Females in Pakistan
Dr. Mohd. Azam 180
 INTRODUCTION

In last few decades, Ecofeminism as a

philosophy and a movement has gained much
momentum. As an offshoot of third wave feminism,
Ecofeminism sets its ideal like any other feminism
as both feminism and Ecofeminism involve the
development of world views and practices that are
not based on male biased models of domination.
Drawing parallelism between feminism and green
movements, Ecofeminism links the exploitation and
degradation of the natural world with the
subordination and oppression of women and hardly
sees any difference between them. Soon after its
emergence in the mid 1970s, Ecofeminism gained
fast momentum as both ecology and woman are
the need of the hour. At initial stage it laid an
emphasis on the feminine instinct for nurture and
holistic knowledge of nature as curative processes
for removal of split between nature and culture.
However, modern outlook comes in opposition
against such essentialism concentrating more
on intersectional questions, such as how the
nature-culture split enables the oppression of
female and nonhuman bodies.
The term ‘Ecofeminism’ was first coined by
French Feminist Francoise d’Eanboune in her book
Le féminisme ou la mort in 1974. Next it was
developed by Ynestra King, an activist, teacher
and writer from New York City in about 1976 and
finally it took the form of a movement in 1980. For
the growth and development of this movement the
first ecofeminist conference – “Women and Life
on Earth: Eco feminism in the 80s”, at Amherst,
Massachusetts, US was held and as a result of
this conference the movement earned global
recognition. In India, the most visible advocate of
eco-feminism is Vandana Shiva, an environmental
activist and anti-globalization author. Her work
comes closest to cultural ecofeminism in the
Indian context.
This present volume of eighteen essays presents
a critical insight into the works of many writers of
repute. All essays are woman and ecocentric where
both woman and ecology are critically discussed.
Along with literary essays, the volume also
presents essays on other disciplines of learning.
Hopefully this volume would try to reach many
unexplored areas of knowledge and serve larger
sections of humanity.
The very first article of Chinmayee Nanda
analyzes Mansfield’s story “Prelude” from an
ecofeminist perspective by highlighting the analogy
between nature/woman and culture/man to show
how the writer puts more emphasis on the former
of the dualisms through the valorization of women
and nature. In “Prelude”, she has presented the
story of the Burnell family shifting from town to a
new house with a garden, Mansfield focuses on
the connectedness of the ecology and persona. The
proximity of the natural with man-made,
particularly the garden and the aloe tree in this
story, reflects the frame of mind of the characters
as well as the divergent associations between the
individual and the place s/he lives in. Eco-
feminism, which dovetails the issues of ecology to
the situation of women, highlights that the
evolvement of characters cannot be ideated in
isolation rather physical surroundings play a
pivotal role.
Sanjukta Bala’s article tries to explore the link
between woman and nature in reference to Roy’s
Folded Earth and Markandya’s Nectar in a Sieve.
Ecofeminism primarily explores the connections
between women and nature. From time
immemorial women have been seen as similar with
that of nature as both are giving, sacrificing
entities. Besides this both nature and women are
seen as life bearing. But in Ecofeminist thinking
this equation has been challenged variously. They
believe that women and nature share grounds of
commonality but those grounds cannot be
explained in plain terms. There are differences in
how the ecofeminists themselves define the
grounds. Some find a special spiritual bond
between them. Western ecofeminists mostly
believe that both nature and women share a
“Feminine Principal”. This has been termed as
spiritual connection between them. They believe
that if we could find this divine “Feminine
Principal” within nature or begin to see nature as
living spiritual being we can never harm it. They
talk about regenerating that spiritual conception
within nature which is feminine in nature.
Secondly some believe that from the inception of
modernity man has created this binary of culture-
nature. Nature is now perceived as an obstacle in
his way to establish himself as superior. Thus
nature became an object to control, to dominate.
And on the other hand women too in cultures are
seen as inferior to man. Their shared history of
oppression is a thread that connects them. Thirdly,
many believe that women work within nature more
intimately than man. In countries like India women
depend on nature more closely for their survival
and that is why when nature is affected their lives
are affected too. This has been termed as material
bond between them. These theoretical approaches
when applied to literature many other aspects
emerge that help to broaden the peripheries of
Ecofeminism itself. Bala’s article tries to find out
the connection shared by women and nature as a
complex and dynamic thing rather than plain and
simplistic. In Roy’s Folded Earth and Markandya’s
Nectar in a Sieve we get an array of such complex
relationship between women and nature. This
helps us better understand how women and nature
connect in a third world country.
The joint article of Bhaskar Ch. Sarkar &
Nabanita Barman on Anita Desai’s Fire on the
Mountain and KR Usha’s Monkey Man explores to
bring out how the Indian women novelists have
portrayed the exploitation of women and nature
in the materialistic Indian Society. They have also
identified woman-nature connection as a cultural
construct and have found the ways to liberate both
women and nature from false ideologies.
Mahendran U’s article on Margaret Mitchell’s
Gone with the Wind tries to analyse the difficulties
of war time along with the shattered world of
women in such condition. The major characters
like Scarlett O’Hara, Ashley and Rhett Butler and
their sense of belonging to the land is being
highlighted. However, the other unspoken side of
war and its consequences are also touched. The
love which occurs at the time of appalling
predicament is slightly explained. An attempt has
been made to the best of the researcher’s ability
to show/indicate the fact that wars have
contributed hugely to the destruction of the earth.
Jyoti Biswas’s article on Mahua The Gypsy Girl,
a ballad written by Dvija Kanai, a medieval Bengali
poet and compiled and edited in Eastern Bengal
Ballads (1923) by Dinesh Chandra Sen, shows how
woman-nature interface sustains harmony in a
natural setting on one hand, and the man-nature
interface disrupts it on the other. Mahua, a gypsy
girl and Naderchand, a Brahmin landlord fell in
love with each other when the former came to
visit the latter’s place, village Baman Kandi and
show acrobatic skills along with her foster father,
Homra and other gypsy members from their native
place in Jainta Hills which is but an eastern
continuation of the Garo and Khasi Hills.
Throughout the text, two dominant forces work
opposite to each other, namely the affluence of
nature and her nourishment in the life of Mahua
like a mother and the powerful presence of Homra,
Mahua’s foster father, interfering in her searching
for an abode of peace with her lover, the Brahmin
landlord Naderchand in this affluent natural world.
The life of Mahua gets trapped in these two
contradictory forces: the matriarchal nourishment
amidst the world of nature and patriarchal
interference in her love with Naderchand and in
wider sense, in her attachment to nature for
survival. The setting of the plot rests entirely in
the abundance of greenery, a symbol of both
simplicity and harmony, but the development of
the plot shows that both Mahua and Naderchand
submitted before the dominant patriarchy amidst
the very pastoral world that in turn became
disharmonious with this interference. The life of
Mahua and her interaction with the natural world
seem to be an integral part of a daughter-mother
relation, whereas Homra becomes a dominant
patriarchy causing the tragic death of the lovers.
Parimal Kumar’s article studies Anita Desai’s
In Custody through the lens of ecofeminism. In
Custody, as the title suggests, depicts a world
where all the characters are incarcerated in their
own way. It distinctly portrays a world which is
bare, desolate and bears the mark of
environmental imbalance. Since the society is
dominated by patriarchy, the women suffer more
meekly. Imtiaz Begum has to earn a livelihood by
dancing and reciting poetry but her merit both as
an artist or a poet never achieves legitimacy by
the male dominated world. Rather visitors flock to
her inclined by her lustrous beauty of the youth,
while her husband scarcely contributes the family
financially. Safia Begum has to adopt tricky ways
of securing money as she is also at the verge of
bare necessity. Sarla has to manage the entire
household of Deven but she is disregarded and
never receives even any emotional support by her
husband. The ecological imbalance never allows
the female characters to pursue a dignified living
or career. The paper endeavours to lay bare how
natural hazards wreck the female characters’
standard of living exposing them to suffer endlessly.
Shantanu Siuli’s article reconceives and
revisions feminism and environmental ethics as
the power and promise of ecofeminism.
Ecofeminism is a holistic value system in which
significance and action are indissoluble; one
cannot care without acting. Ecofeminism redefines
an ethical shift from granting moral consideration
to nonhumans absolutely on the grounds of some
similarity they share with human beings to a highly
contextual account to see clearly what a human
being is and what the non-human world might be,
morally speaking, for the human beings. The very
concept of ecofeminism is based on the proposition
that person and planet are dangerous to each
other- a toxic and obnoxious mindset of domination
and control that degrades both women and nature.
Ecofeminism creates problems and seeks solutions
to determinate the problems of human beings on
a universal basis. Ecofeminists insist that the sort
of logic of domination used to justify the domination
of humans by gender, racial or ethnic, or class
status is also used to justify the domination of
nature. Ecofeminist theory emphasizes and begins
with what is seen as the inextricable link between
the many and varied types of violence against
women and the contempt with which humans treat
the earth.
Manas Barik’s article on Anita Desai’s Fire on
the Mountain studies woman-nature relationship
from postcolonial ecofeminist perspective. In the
Third World countries Earth is represented as
female, “Mother Earth” and “virgin land”, upholding
the interconnectedness of women and nature.
Both women and nature suffered abject
exploitation and violence at the hand of
patriarchal, capitalist society since times
immemorial. The urgent need of ‘Ecofeminism’ in
1970s was basically a protest against the society
where there was no liberation for women, no
identity of their own, and no solution of the
ecological crises. The term embodied women’s
capacity for bringing about an ecological revolution
to ensure human survival on the planet, so that it
entails new relations between women and men,
humans and nature. Postcolonial Ecofeminism still
follows the Euro-American point of view of
domination and includes postcolonial ecocriticism
and ecofeminism under singular shade unveiling
the exploitation of Nature and subjection of Women
intimately linking class, caste, race, colonialism
and neo-colonialism. From 20 th century onwards
myriads of women writers and social workers over
the globe shot to seek female subjectivity in order
to substantiate an identity and raise voice against
the environmental depletion. Medha Patakar,
Mahasweta Devi, Arundhati Roy, C. K. Janu,
Vandana Shiva, Wangari Maathai, and Ken Saro-
Wiwa carefully contextualized contemporary social
issues in their writings and took active
participation in environmental problems. As a
postcolonial women writer, Anita Desai, embedded
in Indian sensibility, addressed patriarchal social
set-up, women’s issues, portrayed myriad faces of
the new women and their close nexus with Nature.
In Fire on the Mountain, Anita Desai portrayed four
generations of women: Nanda Kaul & Ila Das, Asha,
Tara and Raka; all of them were the victims of
patriarchal social set-up. The Women-Nature
affinity in the novel was unfolded through a
crisscrossing between the present and the past,
the uneventful mundane present and supposedly
glamorous past, between reality and
reminiscences. To solace her tormenting neglected
past, Nanda Kaul, the protagonist, took refuge in
the lonely spheres of Carignano enfolded by the
scented sibilance of the pine trees and the
invisible music of cicadas. Later on Raka, the great-
grand-daughter, joins Nanda and tries to recover
her pain-afflicted soul by scrambling up the hill
like a wild animal. Tara suffered from a chronic
nervous breakdown that emanated from the
marital disharmony. Ila Das was raped and
murdered at the very end of the novel.
Dipika Ghosh’s aerticle “Creator’s Unbearable
Hostilities: An Ecofeminist Story” tries to uncover
the ecofeminist’s clandestine kinship with nature
and their protest against bars, composed by power
minded people through the sagas of deities and
its performative cults. Women, a designation of
ecofeminist and an imbibed soul by the limbs of
patriarchy, impeded against the corrosions of
environment for the bloomy milieus of their future
generations. India, a clime of rich cultures,
traditions and values with all religions defrayed
the abyssal bracing of dual dames-women and
ecology and their struggle for healthy existence
from occlusions, composed by different edifications
of beliefs.
Lucky Dey’s article attempts to understand the
theoretical concept of ecological feminism and
discuss the active participation of women in various
environmental movements in India. It shows how
Ecofeminism as an interdisciplinary movement
represents the synthesis of the radical movement
in ecology and feminism; how it unmasks and tries
to dismantle the abstract framework of the
supremacy, oppression, commodification etc., and
how it mainly aims at eliminating all forms of
domination from all spheres of life putting forth
the fact of interdependence and connection of
human beings to the earth.
Subhrajit Samanta’s essay focuses on
Kalidasa’s representation of Shakuntala, which
diverges from Vyas’s portrait of her in Mahabharata.
Scholars have highlighted Kalidasa’s portrayal of
human feelings in the context of nature.
Shakuntala illustrates both love in separation and
love in union. This theme has been the focus of
scholars like Romila Thapar and others. In the
final section the focus is on different
representations of Shakuntala in the light of her
appeal to Indian as well as Western psychology.
Dr. Atanu Ghosh’s article “Feminization of
Agriculture and Its Implications on Economic Well
Being of Households” carries out a study in
selected blocks of Bankura districts to understand
the implication of feminization of agriculture on
its socioeconomic dimensions at household and
community level. The finding revealed that
feminization of agriculture has improved the
economic wellbeing of the household but has less
or no impact on economic freedom and decision
making power of women. It has negative impact
on status of women at the community level.
Dr. Mohd. Azam’s article presents the social
position of pastoral and town working females in
Pakistan. The paper shows how in Pakistan female
contribution in marketplace has enlarged due to
increased service opportunities. Women are
approaching out of their homes in order to attain
financial independence as well as their civil
liberties and rank like men in society and in family.
Today one finds females in wide range of livelihood
other than teachers and doctors. Women happen
to work in middle level occupations which were
regarded as male professions only few years ago.
The entrance of women in labour market has
basically distorted the status of women in the
family as well in the society. However women are
facing new challenges concerning their social
status which varies from country to urban areas
and females of various families in one area.
Joint article of Shefali Sharma and Dr. Uma
Mishra presents woman-nature study from the
perspective of past movements participated by
Indian woman to save nature and environment held
in India.
Guptajit Pathak’s paper is an attempt to focus
the historical perception of Deori Women on the
North Bank of Brahmaputra Valley in Assam.
Debasis Samaddar’s article analyses the literary
works of Shakespeare from the perspective of
ecofeminism. Shakespeare’s The Tempest and The
Taming of the Shrew survey the dominance of woman
and nature by male ideology. The deconstruction
of patriarchy and its power to create a difference
between civilized-uncivilized, intelligence-
foolishness, domestic-wild is established through
these plays. In The Tempest, the wild nature is
dominated and in The Taming of the Shrew, the
Shrew of the play, Kate is supposed to be a wild
animal and is dominated by male power. This study
examines The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew
in terms of ecofeminism, bringing the relation
between domination of nature and domination of
woman by male power.
Raghabendra Garai’s article aims to study and
illustrate how ecofeminism and its practices in
post-modern era play a significant role in today’s
culture and facilitate to understand its major
contribution in literature, society, culture, gender,
race, etc. spontaneously for flourishing a
spectacularly unassailable life of all humans. This
approach is growing within us gradually that helps
to formulate the course of civilization and society
from male chauvinism centric world to eco-cultural
development of all notions. In this respect of India
and any other thriving countries, ecofeminism is
exigent to disclose the absorptions and aggressions
over our ecology and its possessing, by the booming
countries in the approaches of spatial inequality,
urbanization, political and cultural aspects of life.
In such a way, to analyse the fact that gender
discrimination is a big question today, it is very
important to uncover the relation of nature with
all living beings. Today, ecofeminism is playing a
vital role in the importance of the integration of
nature and women through which the attitude of
the dictatorship of a patriarchal society is eroded.
Garai’s paper focuses on the selected poetries of
Kamala Das and Sarojini Naidu, which are
fecundated with the essence of ecofeminism with
its post- colonial progeny in the Indian socio-
political and cultural environment that create a
path against subalternity and male-chauvinism
society with confessional motifs through the major
streams of ecofeminism: Radical ecofeminism,
Spiritual ecofeminism, ecofeminist theology, social
ecofeminism and socialist ecofeminism.
Biplob Ghosh’s article discusses the impact of
globalization on woman and nature. The paper tries
to explore how Ecofeminism seeks solution to the
glaring issues of why women do 65% of the world’s
work for only 10% of its wages, why the rape case
has increased an incredible, how the role of the
state has decided by the multinational, why the
concept of ‘Mother India’ has been changing, how
violation affected nature and women of Kashmir,
why glocalization is not local-glocalized, why soils
are losing her organic character, why Amazon rain
forest is on fire, why indigenous people are
becoming homeless refugees, why farmers are
forced to suicide, what is the relation between
the right of ‘Mother Earth’ and the right of
corporation and militarized states.
Lastly Dipak Giri’s article on Anita Desai’s Fire
on the Mountain tries to explore not only the fight
and struggle of women to set them free along with
nature from the subjugation and oppression of
masculine culture but also their attempts to
subvert the age-old gender binary in terms of
nature/culture dichotomy. Since the feminist
movement in the late 1960s, one issue over which
discussion has often been held is to what extent
the oppositional role of women and men can be
conceived of in terms of nature-culture dichotomy
and what implication this dichotomy actually gives
as regards to the position of women in society. As
per this dichotomy, masculine culture/feminine
nature binary appeared later and this binary gave
birth to many binaries like mind/body, objective/
subjective, rational/emotional, public/private, in
each of which the former is indicative to masculine
culture, whereas the later to feminine nature. By
this formulation, women are victims of universal
 devaluation that stems out from the patriarchal to express my heartfelt love and regard to all my
way of looking woman as nature-identified and family members for their adequate support by
perceiving them as such, male society is devaluing creating congenial atmosphere around me from
and derogating them in comparison to culture intial to final stage of this project. Last but not
which as per this logic, is completely under the the least I want to be thankful to all my contributors
domain of man, can mould nature and woman as whose strong and deep faith on me helps me to
per its requirement and thus establish its bring out this anthology to its final shape.
superiority over them. Disregarding this nature- Dipak Giri
culture dichotomy, ecofeminism seeks plea for the December, 2019 Cooch Behar (WB), India
equality of woman with men and in this regard, it dipakgiri84@yahoo.in
differs from liberal feminism which only believes
in the freedom of women. As an ecofeminist text,
Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain presents the
struggle of characters in accepting this nature-
culture dichotomy. This struggle is apparent in
their role and action. The female characters in
the novel, being identifiable with nature, seek
solace and freedom in nature in order to escape
masculine culture, whereas men go to the extreme
to control them. In this struggle and fight, women
do not retreat even in adverse situation, though
they are succumbed to masculine culture and are
even made victim of death and destruction. The
paper tries to explore not only the fight and struggle
of women to set them free along with nature from
the subjugation and oppression of masculine
culture but also their attempts to subvert the age-
old gender binary in terms of nature/culture
dichotomy.
Before coming to the conclusive word of this
introductory note, let me first thank to the
Almighty God for His constant Benedictions from
the beginning of this anthology to its fruitful end.
I also want to express my special thanks and
gratitude to AABS Publishing House, Kolkata for
bringing this anthology timely and elegantly. I want

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