Ecofeminism, also called ecological feminism, branch of feminism that examines the connections between women and nature. Its name was coined by French feminist Françoise d’Eaubonne in 1974. Ecofeminism uses the basic feminist tenets of equality between genders, a revaluing of non-patriarchal or nonlinear structures, and a view of the world that respects organic processes, holistic connections, and the merits of intuition and collaboration. To these notions ecofeminism adds both a commitment to the environment and an awareness of the associations made between women and nature. Specifically, this philosophy emphasizes the ways both nature and women are treated by male-centred society. Ecofeminists examine the effect of gender categories in order to demonstrate the ways in which social norms exert unjust dominance over women and nature. The philosophy also contends that those norms lead to an incomplete view of the world, and its practitioners advocate an ALTERNATIVE worldview that values the earth as sacred, recognizes humanity’s dependency on the natural world, and embraces all life as valuable.
Of course in the years ecofeminism has been understood in different ways and through different reading.
My approach was discussed as part of the roundtable Nomadic and Dialogic: Art and Ecofeminism, at New Hall Art Collection at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. This was introduced and chaired by Eliza Gluckman and included feminist geographer Susan Buckingham and environmental academic Jenny Bavidge.
As I research in Italy, I will try and understand it’s specific connotation there, while also developing a body of work that relates to a related ‘geometry of difference’.
