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Nature as Feminine: An Eco-Feminist Reading of Selected Latin American Narrative

Abstract

This project examines representations of feminine subjugation in the natural world in 20th century Latin American narrative, in particular narrative from Mexico and Colombia respectively, through the lens of ecocriticism and,more specifically, eco-feminism. I explore the ways in which some literary works represent the interconnectedness of humans and the environment and how this relationship mirrors the hegemonic patriarchal structures of Western society, paying particular attention to the oppressive structures operating against feminine, marginal beings, human or non-human. When referring to the feminine, I include any marginal individuals, regardless of their sex. Most importantly to this project is the two-pronged domination of the earth and the marginal beings who inhabit it. In this introduction, I will examine discussions on feminism and the environment as well as recapitulating criticism regarding environmental reevaluation of literature eventually narrowing it down to ecofeminism in Latin America. In Chapter One I review the literature regarding ecocriticism, a field concentrated on reviewing the representation of nature in literature, as well as review the field of ecofeminism within a Latin American context. In Chapter Two I explore the impact of globalization and industrialization and its implications on the natural world in La tierra pródiga (1960) by Agustín Yáñez and La parcela (1898) by José López Portillo y Rojas. I posit that the domination of nature mimics the domination of marginal beings which thus produces a differential in society. In Chapter Three I focus on two urban novels, Morirás lejos (1967), by José Emilio Pacheco, and Paraíso Travel (2001) written by Jorge Franco. In discussing these novels, I extend the discussion of ecocriticism to include the city, which is to be considered a living and adapting organism. For this novel, my intent is to focus on the domestication of nature that is imposed by the incessant need for humans to control and find order amongst the chaos of the natural world. In the final analysis chapter, Chapter Four, I draw my focus onto the Colombian novel by Jorge Franco, El mundo de afuera (2014). For the analysis of all aforementioned novels, I draw from theories of colonization stemming from the studies of Anibal Quijano and Nelson Maldonado-Torres as well as drawing from the ample gender studies of Judith Butler.

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