P. Mary Vidya Porselvi
An Ecofeminist Approach to Folktales from India
“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story” – Linda Hogan
What is Ecofeminism?
Ecofeminism “asserts the special strength and integrity of every living thing” (Mies 4). Inspired by Mother Earth, it is a holistic approach to life which respects the spiritual element in all living creatures, integrates feminism, environmentalism and peace movements and assimilates alternative worldviews that work towards gender equity and sustainable development. Ecofeminism believes in “plurality of voices” (Gaard vii), diversity in culture and interconnectedness of life on earth. Ecofeminist Discourse model can be defined as a scientific study of woman’s language of the environment in relation to her society and culture.
Ecofeminism in India
With a goal to “reweave” the world, Ecofeminists attempt to unite the rights of women with the rights of nature. They believe that nature empowers women and women in turn empower nature. Women who live close to nature gain shakthi from their environment. Chipko movement was born in the 1970’s mainly comprising of women, children and some men against deforestation in Uttar Pradesh. In an interview, when Itwari Devi, a local leader of Chipko movement, was asked about her source of strength (Shakti) and the strength of the Chipko movement she replied, “Shakti comes to us from these forests and grasslands, we watch them grow, year in and year out through their internal shakti and we derive our strength from it…Our power is nature’s power” (251). The dynamism of nature offers a prototype to these women who combat injustice done to nature and environment. According to Sturgeon,
ecofeminism is a movement that makes connections between environmentalisms and feminisms; more precisely, it articulates the theory that the ideologies that authorize injustices based on gender, race and class are related to the ideologies that sanction the exploitation and degradation of the environment (23).
Discourse analysis is an analysis of language in use. “The concept of discourse is fundamental to understanding language as communication: it is the means by which the beliefs, values, assumptions that constitute a speaker’s social and individual reality are moulded and expressed” according to Widdowson (Llamas 41). In order to comprehend the worldviews of women who live close to nature it is necessary to understand their discourse. Folktales or oral tales exemplify women’s discourse that affirms woman’s voice which has been hitherto considered ‘silent’ or ‘silenced’ for a long time. As A.K Ramanujan puts it, “A woman’s culturally constructed life-forms, her meaning-universe, is different from a man’s” in their tales (Raheja 227).
Ecofeminist discourse analysis is identified as a tool in building up a society by establishing an interface that links ecology with women’s voice, where, the inner dynamic force of an individual called motivation, the power within or shakthi steers a person from self to self-actualization. “Feminist theory applies Paulo Freire’s theory of Conscientisation in different ways. First, one becomes conscious of one’s individual suffering as a woman, which is a subjective precondition for liberating action. Then women make a collective conscientisation…sharing and formulating of problems” (Mies 11). Hence, Ecofeminist Discourse analysis facilitates people to identify problems and discover solutions by appreciating the spirit of non-violence or Ahimsa. As Deborah Cameron quotes Penelope, in ‘The Feminist Critique of Language’, “For us, consciousness-raising was a profound mind-altering experience that impelled us to change our lives” (xxx).
The interface between Ecofeminism and Sociolinguistics offers a praxis approach underscoring the relationship among woman, environment, language and society. As Suzanne Romaine puts it “The question of language and gender seen from a feminist perspective must address two fundamental questions: how do women speak? And how are they spoken about?” (101) Oral tales communicated from one generation to another, by women to children during meal-time in insignificant villages ascertains the worldviews of anonymous human persons who were considered ‘silent’, but actually ‘silenced’ by the patriarchal system from the ancient times.
‘A Flowering Tree’ is a Kannada folktale narrated by Siddamma and translated into English by A. K Ramanujan. It is “a woman’s tale” which communicates Ecofeminist belief in woman power or Shakthi, and the concept of Stree Shakthi which is Ahimsa or non-violence. The story revolves around a woman who discovers her ability to become a flowering tree to help people around her, particularly her mother who does “menial jobs in order to feed and clothe and bring up her children” (Ramanujan 53). She marries a prince who is enamored by her beauty and her special powers. Later, she suffers in the hands of her jealous in-laws, exploited into a ‘thing’. In a favorable environment when people show genuine love and concern to her she finally becomes a human being.
The central motif in ‘A Flowering Tree’ is the process of woman becoming a tree and the tree becoming a woman which exemplifies Stree Shakthi. The woman –tree association in the folktales from India provides insights on the worldviews and consciousness of indigenous people in our planet. The title symbolizes woman- nature relationship and their survival in a patriarchal society. Wangari Maathai in her memoir ‘Unbowed’ asserts the significance of trees as a symbol of motivation.
“Trees are living symbols of peace and hope. A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance” (293).
Oikos signifies home, family and relationships. The folktale ‘A Flowering Tree’ exemplifies three phases in a woman’s life characterized by integrated, hierarchic and anarchic oikos. The woman “becomes” a tree five times in the story, first time spontaneously for the sake of her mother, second time to clear her mother’s doubts, third time for the prince who intends to marry her, fourth time forcefully by her sister-in-law and her friends and finally ends up as a ‘Thing’ (Ramanujan 59). The woman gets transformed into a tree spontaneously in her mother’s house which signifying integrated oikos. “The older sister plucked the flowers carefully, without hurting a stalk, or sprout, or leaf” (Ramanujan 54). When the mother and the prince ordered the young woman to take the form of a tree the second and the third time she experienced hierarchic oikos. The fourth time the woman changed into a tree amidst confusion and chaos created by her sister-in-law in an anarchic oikos. The storyteller narrates,
“In their greed to get the flowers, they tore up the sprouts and broke the branches. They were in a hurry to get home. So they poured the second pitcher of water at random and ran away. When the princess changed from a tree to a person again, she had no hands and feet. She had only half a body. She was a wounded carcass” (Ramanujan 58).
The first time the transformation of the woman into a flowering tree signifies ‘order’ whereas the fourth time it symbolizes ‘discord’ and ‘chaos’. The elder sister valued the ‘spiritual’ element in both her younger sister and the flowering tree. As she plucked the flowers gently without touching the plant with her sharp fingernails she revealed the ahimsa way of life. In contrast, the narrative also gives an account of people who were insensitive to the needs of others in their environment, who craved for material benefits unmindful of the humanity around them.
Within the Sociolinguistic framework, four stages in Ecofeminist Discourse analysis of the folktale were envisaged: Firstly, to identify Ecofeminist motifs such as the Woman-Tree association in the ‘The Flowering Tree’, secondly, to comprehend woman’s language of eco-consciousness and eco-sensitivity, in this case, an “ordinary” villager Siddamma recounting the “extraordinary” power of a “woman becoming a tree”, thirdly, to understand Ecofeminist worldviews such as woman power or ‘shakthi’ characterized by ‘ahimsa’ or non-violence which paves the way towards peaceful and harmonious existence and fourthly, to realize the scope of Ecofeminist Consciousness-raising by facilitating the younger generation to revisit the oral tales, acknowledge the voice of the voiceless and appreciate the relevance of such discourses to ascertain gender equity and sustainable development.
‘A Flowering Tree’ can be read as a parable that challenges the consumerist society which exploits both women and nature in the name of development. The fourth time when the woman becomes an incomplete being, half a tree and half a human being it signifies “maldevelopment” (5) what Vandana Shiva terms “ the death of the feminine principle” (5). According to Vandana Shiva , “Maldevelopment is the violation of the integrity of organic, interconnected and interdependent systems, that sets in motion a process of exploitation, inequality, injustice and violence. It is blind to the fact that recognition of nature’s harmony and action to maintain it are preconditions for distributive justice” (Staying Alive 5-6). Vandana Shiva in her book ‘Staying Alive’ quotes Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not for some people’s greed” (6). The ‘thing’ in the folktale ‘A Flowering Tree’ symbolizes the ecofeminist concept of maldevelopment.
The Chipko movement is a women’s movement for the conservation of trees. It is believed that three hundred years ago in Rajasthan, a woman named Amrita Devi led a group of 300 people in a non-violent protest to save the “sacred khejri trees by clinging to them” (Shiva 67). Some of the significant names of the Chipko resistance are Mira Behn, Sarala Behn, Bimala Behn, Hima Devi, Gauri Devi, Gunga Devi, Bachni Devi, Itwari devi, Chamun Devi and many others. Mira Behn was instrumental in guiding Sunderlal Bahaguna a prominent spokesperson of the movement. Bahuguna shared his activism with people like Ghanshyam Raturi and Chandi Prasad Bhatt who have worked for the strengthening of the Chipko movement at the national level. According to Shiva, “ The philosophical and conceptual articulation of the ecological view of the Himalayan forests has been done by Mira Behn and Bahuguna, the organizational foundation for it being the women’s movement was laid by Sarala Behn with Bimla Behn in Garhwal and Radha Bhatt in Kumaon” (71).
In the recent times the Chipko movement has inspired people to explore the significance of environmental folk tales in the western countries. For example, ‘The people who hugged the trees: an environmental folk tale’ adapted by Deborah Lee Rose describes a girl called Amrita, (the legendary woman from Rajasthan) who attempted to save trees by hugging them. This folktale meant for children, has been translated into eleven languages and prescribed for schoolchildren in South Africa.
‘Amrita’s story’ has been adapted by various writers in the west to communicate their concern for Mother Earth to children. For example, ‘The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales’ by Dawn Casey and Anne Wilson published in 2009 by Barefoot in Cambridge. This particular collection of folktales conveys that Mother Earth is sacred and it is the duty of the human beings to respect her. The author narrates “sometimes, Amrita climbed her tree. Sometimes the wind swayed her and she was a forest queen. Sometimes she talked to her tree, sharing her daydreams and her secrets, but today was so peaceful that she sat in silence.” (72) When the woodcutters decided to cut down trees for the Maharaj, Amrita boldly fought the ordeal. As the story goes,
A woodcutter brushed past Amrita, toward her own special tree. “No! No! Please don’t! she cried, tears springing to her eyes. “Please don’t cut down my tree.” The woodcutter advanced. The sharp tang of bleeding trunks was stinging her eyes. Amrita stepped in front of him, blocking his path. Her voice shook as she spoke: “I will not let anyone harm my tree (Casey 77).
Women who manage the household are sensitive to the problems of the environment. Being close to nature, they are conscious of the issues and conflicts that affect the hierarchy of needs; they envisage crisis situations and identify solutions in a pro-active manner. Vandana Shiva describes “the worldview of women in India who leave food for ants on their doorstep, even as they create the most beautiful art in kolams, mandalas, and rangoli with rice flour. Abundance is the worldview of peasant women who weave beautiful designs of paddy to hang up for birds when the birds do not find grain in the fields” (Shiva 21). The ‘flowering tree’ symbolizes abundance. But the personification of nature as Mother Earth and the nature-nurture relationship poses a problem in the age of fraudulent, forcible raiding of natural resources and extends to the ill-treatment of women, children, indigenous people and various other ‘voiceless’ groups. Ecofeminism acknowledges the compassion and magnanimity of Mother Earth on one hand and inspires a crusade to fight for the rights of women, children and nature on the other.
Hence this “simple” folktale communicated from one generation to another, by women to children during meal-times in insignificant villages ascertains the worldview of anonymous human persons who were considered ‘silent’, but actually ‘silenced’ by the patriarchal system from the ancient times. According to Paulo Freire, education is the “praxis of liberation” (vii). In order to redefine the culture of this era, education must facilitate new avenues that lead to alternative worldviews which offer solutions to the problems in our contemporary society. John Paul Tassoni explains that an Ecofeminist dialogical approach helps “students engage critically with and consider alternatives to those aspects of our society that undermine egalitarian relations not only between humans… but also between humans and nonhumans and among various other forms of life on the planet (Gaard 205).
Ecofeminist worldview interrogates consumerism, questions the exploitation of natural resources, emphasizes subsistence perspective as a way out of the global chaos (both economic and ecological), recognizes human rights and the women-nature needs, and offers a way of life that acknowledges the ‘spiritual’ element in all living creatures. It tries to reverse the systems that crave for unlimited economic growth on a finite planet. It accentuates the collective rights of people thereby highlighting ‘conscientizaao’ as a tool for liberation. Ecofeminist Discourse analysis as Conscientizaao offers a platform to anonymous women and men who weave tales to reweave the world, with a hope to recreate an alternative future characterized by interconnectedness and holistic approach to life.
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