Women-Nature Similitude: An Ecofeminist Study of Indira Goswami's Select Works
Keywords:
dualism, ecofeminism, ecological consciousness, environmental crisis, prakriti, womenAbstract
Ecofeminism is the amalgamation of environmentalism and feminism. It explores the deeper connections between the oppression of women and nature, highlighting their entwined struggles. This paper argues that Indira Goswami’s novels The Blue-Necked God and The Man from Chinnamasta articulate a culturally rooted ecofeminist vision that critiques the intertwined oppression of women and nature through religious, socio-cultural, and political lenses. The paper focuses on how the Western concepts of duality have been internalised within the Indian socio-religious structure to justify domination, and how patriarchal ideology rationalises its authority over women and nature. Drawing on the Sankhya philosophy’s concept of prakrti, the paper aims to emphasise the interconnectedness of all life forms and Goswami’s subtle resistance to patriarchal authority The paper argues that Goswami’s works not only depict the shared suffering of women and nature but also proposes and analyses how embracing prakriti, a spiritually resonant and culturally embedded philosophy can be an alternative universal basis for gender liberation and the liberation of the environment.
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