A quest for identity an eco feminist exploration of the major novels of Nadine Gordimer and Kamala Markandaya

Abstract

The thesis has primarily focused on the identity crisis faced by the marginalized newlinein South Africa and India. The marginalization is based on the basis of gender, culture, newlinenature, class, and race. Mainstreaming the marginalized is the primary objective of the newlineresearch which is achieved by analyzing some selected texts of Nadine Gordimer and newlineKamala Markandaya from an ecofeminist perspective. Ecofeminism as a theory and newlinepraxis deals with all kinds of oppressive systems which exist in the name of patriarchy in newlinethe society. Basically eco-feminism can be defined as an environmental and feminist newlinediscourse dealing with all kinds of oppressions casted upon women and nature. newlineEcofeminism can be an umbrella term which encompasses social and ecological issues. newlineThis thesis comprises various chapters which explain and#8215;quest for identity by applying newlinevarious analogies.Selected novels of Nadine Gordimer and Kamala Markandaya are newlinetaken as case studies to analyze the marginalization process in the light of ecofeminism. newlineNadine Gordimer and Kamala Markandaya belong to two different countries with acute newlinecolonial experience. Nadine Gordimer represents the apartheid driven states of South newlineAfrica in her novels and Kamala Markandaya s novels depict Indian subalterns. The first chapter of this thesis introduces ecofeminism and its emergence. newlineEcofeminism, an offshoot of feminism, emerged as a school of thought in 1970 s with a newlinevision to assimilate and examine all kinds of domineering structures which discriminate newlinethe environment and society. Francoise d Euborne coined the term ecofeminism to newlinedemonstrate the helpless condition of women and nature under patriarchy. newline