The climate crisis, driven by anthropogenic climate change, can be attributed to what I call a problematic ‘view-of-nature’. This view-of-nature is an anthropocentric one that posits nature as instrumental—to be consumed and used at will. It is also historically prevalent in the Global North/West, which has also been the main driver of climate change (Povinelli, 2016). In this chapter, I briefly show how a problematic view-of-nature is salient through some of the intellectual history of the West. I argue that the triple oppression of women (through patriarchy), nature (through anthropocentrism), and the Other (through colonialism) have their roots in what Karen J. Warren calls the ‘logic of domination’. This logic of domination ‘posits the moral superiority of humans or groups of humans and claims that this superiority justifies the subordination of inferior groups’ (Warren, 1990: 129). Thereafter, I spend more time considering how ecofeminists have provided an alternative paradigm, where dualisms, such as man/woman, human/nature and rationality/emotion are rejected in favour of a more nuanced worldview, specifically a more nuanced view-of-nature. Given that the triple oppression of women, nature and the Other stems from the same logic of domination, it follows that a postcolonial ecofeminist approach may provide a promising approach to thinking about the climate crisis.

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Undoing the Dualisms: Towards an Ecofeminist, Postcolonial Environmental Justice

  • Yolandi M. Coetser

摘要

The climate crisis, driven by anthropogenic climate change, can be attributed to what I call a problematic ‘view-of-nature’. This view-of-nature is an anthropocentric one that posits nature as instrumental—to be consumed and used at will. It is also historically prevalent in the Global North/West, which has also been the main driver of climate change (Povinelli, 2016). In this chapter, I briefly show how a problematic view-of-nature is salient through some of the intellectual history of the West. I argue that the triple oppression of women (through patriarchy), nature (through anthropocentrism), and the Other (through colonialism) have their roots in what Karen J. Warren calls the ‘logic of domination’. This logic of domination ‘posits the moral superiority of humans or groups of humans and claims that this superiority justifies the subordination of inferior groups’ (Warren, 1990: 129). Thereafter, I spend more time considering how ecofeminists have provided an alternative paradigm, where dualisms, such as man/woman, human/nature and rationality/emotion are rejected in favour of a more nuanced worldview, specifically a more nuanced view-of-nature. Given that the triple oppression of women, nature and the Other stems from the same logic of domination, it follows that a postcolonial ecofeminist approach may provide a promising approach to thinking about the climate crisis.