Where Do I Begin?

Ecofeminism seems like a truly daunting word, completely disregarding the fact that it is a whole study in and of itself. Ecofeminism, when broken down, is inconceivably more simple than one could hope for. I am sure that there are many questions running through your mind, if anyone is actually taking the time to read this anyway. What is ecofeminism? Is this a real thing? Why is it important? Why bother with something like this? What will I get out of reading this blog? The answers to these questions and much more will follow in this blog. In particular, this first blog post will be explaining what ecofeminism is all about: what ecocriticism is, what feminism is, and when combined what ecofeminism is and means. After this particular blog post, there will be various applications of ecofeminist tenets to the award-winning film Avatar, written and directed by James Cameron.

Emerging in the late 1970's, ecofeminism has quickly become a strong branch of critical theory in literature. Truly, the movement began in the early 1960's when there was a sudden emergence of writers like Rachel Carson who warned people to ensure that the Earth was taken care of properly. They warned the rest of the world that if we did not begin taking precautions to protect the Earth, that there would be serious repercussions. Now, over forty years later, we are starting to see the effects of our ancestor's actions. However, thanks to the ecofeminist and ecocritical movements, many people are starting to realize that their actions are affecting the entire world, and are taking a stand against those who are doing nothing or doing things to harm the environment.

As in any literary criticism, there are guiding tenets that help to shape the way that the followers view the literary work, or poem. According to Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought, there are three main points the ecofeminism tries to disprove. The "most significant features of this framework are: value-hierarchial thinking, value dualisms and disjunctive pairs, and the logic of domination" (Tong, 237).

Ecofeminism tries to break these ways of thinking, and put into place a new way of viewing literature, and in this case, the environment in general. Ecofeminism aims to put a stop to value-hierarchial thinking. A value-hierarchial type of thinking has one need or desire in mind. Every other mean to get this desire is a value object.To the right is an example of a type of value-hierarchial thinking. For our purposes, a desire could be something like money, or in Avatar specifically, the element unobtanium. We will go more into that later though. Everything else, the objects are means to get to the goal. For us, this will include the Na'vi, the Home Tree, and the environment as a whole.

Next, ecofeminism tries to break the value of dualisms and disjunctive pairs; many of us know them as binary oppositions. The most common binary oppositions are: white and black, good and bad, and day and night. The first in the pair, generally, is the better or of higher status than the second. The second is always lower on the totem pole, so to speak. According to Jaques Derrida as reported by Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, "For each center, an opposing center (e.g., God/humankind, for example) exists. In addition, Western philosophy decrees that in each of these binary oppositions or opposing centers, one concept is superior and defines itself by its opposite or inferior center. We know truth, for instance, because we know deception; we know good because we know bad" (Bressler, 110-111). Ecofeminism aims to stop this because traditionally the binary oppositions for this instance would be men versus women, as well as environmental stability versus technological advancement.

Lastly, ecofeminism attempts to break the ideas from the logic of domination. Often times in works, like Avatar, there will be a patriarchal male figure who justifies what he is doing to an indigenous people, environment, etc. It will seem like he has a valid reason, but ecofeminism says that there is no logic to domination. There is never a good reason to overtake a group of people, destroy a particular area of land, or to pillage the land and animals. Ecofeminism breaks these fallacies of domination and help to bring the truth of domination to light.

These are some of the core values of ecofeminism. To learn more about the specifics, you can look at these resources online (There are of course tons of books on this subject as well.):

1) A TED Talk with Vandana Shiva

2) A TED Talk with a College Professor <-- Really easy to understand!

3) Beautiful (Strictly Feminist) Talk