Emerson College Library: Teach-In on Sustainability Fall 2024: Ecofeminism in the Twenty-First Century: A Conversation

Ecofeminism in the Twenty-First Century: A Conversation

Thursday, November 21, 12:00 pm EST - 1:45pm EST

Presenters

Jennifer McWeeny, Professor of Philosophy, Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies
Tove Pettersen, Professor, Centre for Gender Research, University of Oslo

Description:

Join Professors Pettersen and McWeeny in a conversation about the importance of ecofeminism to contemporary environmentalism and social justice movements. We will discuss key features of ecofeminist perspectives with reference to the work of Val Plumwood, A. Breeze Harper, Carol J. Adams, Chaone Mallory, and others. Topics of conversation include care ethics, historical parallels between women and nature, violence and exploitation, sustainability practices in diverse communities, and the intersections of racism, colonialism, sexism, abelism, and speciesism. Bring your questions and ideas about ecofeminism and join the conversation!

Location

SPC Blackbox, Little Building, Lower Level (LL)
80 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116

Sustainable Development Goal

Sustainable Development Goal 16: Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The United Nations explains the purpose of this goal is "promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. People everywhere should be free of fear from all forms of violence and feel safe as they go about their lives whatever their ethnicity, faith or sexual orientation. High levels of armed violence and insecurity have a destructive impact on a country’s development. Sexual violence, crime, exploitation and torture are prevalent where there is conflict or no rule of law. Governments, civil society and communities need to work together to find lasting solutions to conflict and insecurity. Strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights is key to this process, as is reducing the flow of illicit arms, combating corruption, and ensuring inclusive participation at all times."

Resources at Emerson

Feminism and the Mastery of Nature by Val Plumwood
Two of the most important political movements of the late twentieth century are those of environmentalism and feminism. In this book, Val Plumwood argues that feminist theory has an important opportunity to make a major contribution to the debates in political ecology and environmental philosophy. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature explains the relation between ecofeminism, or ecological feminism, and other feminist theories including radical green theories such as deep ecology. Val Plumwood provides a philosophically informed account of the relation of women and nature, and shows how relating male domination to the domination of nature is important and yet remains a dilemma for women.

Ecofeminism and Forest Defense in Cascadia: Gender, Theory and Radical Activism
The Bush administration had recently declared that this previously off-limits, endangered species habitat was no longer protected by provisions in the hard-won Northwest Forest Plan implemented by the Clinton administration in the 1990s. This is not to say that activists or theorists (or theorist activists) should not choose to focus on a particular issue, e.g. toxic waste, urban poverty, global warming, racism, domestic violence, deforestation, etc.
The 'Park' as Racial Practice: Constructing Whiteness on Safari in Tanzania
Popular imaginings of Tanzania's Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area are founded on the idea of wilderness preserved, but this conception of the 'park' is based in colonial-era race-thinking. Rather than simply a colonial-era manifestation of an apparently universal conservationist ideal, Serengeti and Ngorongoro are instead racial projects that embody the historical and ongoing processes of racial formation. The creation of Serengeti and Ngorongoro enabled a racialisation of nature, a process begun by the British and reinscribed via safari ever since. Recognising this racialisation of nature has larger implications for not only the treatment and perception of those in the Global South, the racialised 'other' to the Global North, but also for the realities of white privilege and constructions of whiteness.

Resources Beyond Emerson

Sistah Vegan by A. Breeze Harper (Editor)
Available at the Boston Public Library, Sistah Vegan is a series of narratives, critical essays, poems, and reflections from a diverse community of North American black-identified vegans. Collectively, these activists are de-colonizing their bodies and minds via whole-foods veganism. By kicking junk-food habits, the more than thirty contributors all show the way toward longer, stronger, and healthier lives. Suffering from type-2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and overweight need not be the way women of color are doomed to be victimized and live out their mature lives. There are healthy alternatives. Sistah Vegan is not about preaching veganism or vegan fundamentalism. Rather, the book is about how a group of black-identified female vegans perceive nutrition, food, ecological sustainability, health and healing, animal rights, parenting, social justice, spirituality, hair care, race, gender-identification, womanism, and liberation that all go against the (refined and bleached) grain of our dysfunctional society. Thought-provoking for the identification and dismantling of environmental racism, ecological devastation, and other social injustices, Sistah Vegan is an in-your-face handbook for our time. It calls upon all of us to make radical changes for the betterment of ourselves, our planet, and--by extension--everyone.