Woman-Nature Interface: An Ecofeminist Study
on
FOREWORD
Writing a foreword
is a tricky enterprise, especially on a book like Woman-Nature Interface: An
Ecofeminist Study. Now, we have to begin somewhere and I would like to
quote a few sentences from Adrienne Rich’s book On Woman Born: Motherhood as
Experience and Institution. She outlines the, “simple idea that women
are as intrinsically human as men, that neither women nor men are merely the
enlargement of a contact sheet of genetic encoding, biologically givens.
Experience shapes us, randomness shapes us, the stars and weather, our own
accommodations and rebellions, above all, the social order around us”.
Dipak’s book does just that. The
collection of essays focuses on studies on ecology with emphasis on global
perspectives and environmental activism, apart from woman centered narratives
in select female novelists and in other narratives, like ballads of Bengal. The essays focus on diverse authors like
Katherine Mansfield, Sarojini Naidu, Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Roy and several
others. However, the nexus between nature and woman had been the focus of
ancient Indian literature as is shown in the study of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala. Whereas the character of
Shakuntala has been sketched from a natural perspective, Shakespeare’s plays
like The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew analyse the
woman as well as nature from a male point of view. Such literature has been aptly
substantiated by articles on ecofeminism and environmental movements in India
and Pakistan in agricultural and economic sectors. There is also a return to
historical narratives as well as a fresh insight into the nature versus culture
debate within the context of rapid globalization.
Finally, the author- cum- editor
has been quite proficient in recent years with the publication of several books
on Indian writing, especially novel and drama within the ambience of
postcolonial studies. Collected editions on gender studies, diasporas,
homosexuality and transgender issues have been edited by him.
This book on Woman Nature Interface
illustrates how woman centered narratives can be contextualized within the
parameters of ecology and environment. The role of the woman becomes amplified
in the dialectics between nature and culture. The editor has aptly summarized
the rationale of the book in his introduction where he writes that ecology and
the woman are burning issues today. The message, which the book conveys can be
paralleled by an observation from Vandana Shiva, where she says that the
liberation of the earth, the woman, as well as humanity is a step towards
freedom and peace. Let us read this book.
Soumyajit Samanta
Retired Professor
North Bengal University
West Bengal