NADIA QARAQRA, 2016
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any ecocritical
inquiries related to postcolonialism and ecofeminism have been carried out by
many philosophers, thinkers and authors of diverse contemplative stances, most
prominently; I will be comparing chapter twenty three of “TOXIC BODIES AND ALIEN AGENCIES, Ecocritical perspectives on
ecological others” by Serpil Oppermann and “LOVING THE ALIEN. ECOFEMINISM, ANIMALS, AND ANNA MARIA ORTESE’S
POETICS
OF OTHERNESS” by Serenella Iovino each according to the literary
applications to their texts of choice; In order to form a thorough
comprehension of their views on Alterity.
Alterity,
not only-but also The Other; is this second party, always the second party,
effortlessly identified in a literary text or an ecocritical research paper; the
imperfect, the insufficient and deficient in comparison to the 1st
person laying out the text.
While
some might find Oppermann’s title flagrant and sometimes outrageous; one might
think that Iovino’s is nobly falsified for a paper of this nature. Therefore,
for a reader of expertise – which is the target audience for both studies-
despite disagreeing with Oppermann; this outrightness draws us to her watertight text, where she backs up her judgment with a language exposing a high
level of intelligence, keen knowledge and intense confidence. On the other
hand, the title of Iovino is a sweetener to the case tackled; a more peaceful
approach is anticipated. And Iovino, as Oppermann; declared whose side she was
on in between the lines of the appellation.
Going
through the lines of Oppermann, our first impression of her point of
view intensifies and becomes more explicit, Opperman BELIEVES in the binary opposite,
which “implies a centring or imposition of order: such binary signification
is stable and systematic to structuralists, and unstable and decentred to
poststructuralists.”[1] It is not only in literature that she believes
in the existence of the binary opposite, rather in any socially structured
community even beyond naturalism; “I frame my view by reading the body as a
material text in which cultural practices, social and political decisions, and
environmental processes are intertwined with issues of justice, health, and
ecology”. In addition, he linked that to the Social Behavioral Structure, subjoining
the body and the environment firmly. It appears that Opperman is at last a fan
of connections and ecocritical attachments; as he brings up ecocriticism and compares
it to postcolonialism, he produces a new accouchement, Postcolonial
Ecocriticism.
Before
getting to Iovino’s ecofeminism friendly article; posthumanism stroke my mind,
not only because of the accumulation of posts: (postcolonialism,
postnaturalism, postcolonial ecocriticism, etc.…) but also because on account
of both essays, we are somehow brought to reflect and meditate on Alterity from
a posthumanist microscope. Iovino opens up her research with a notion of this
in her abstract; “Building my theoretical discourse mostly on feminist animal studies,
material ecocriticism, and posthumanism, I consider the work of the Italian
writer Anna Maria Ortese (1914- 1998) and her “creaturely poetics of
otherness,” as exemplified in particular by her novel The Iguana.”[2]
The
bibliography used by both writers is long and detailed, while the main weight
of the articles depended heavily on quotations and evidence from either Sarah
Jaquette Ray along with Nancy Langston by Oppermann. And Anna Maria Ortese’s Poetics
Of Otherness
over and above quotes of Oppermann herself in the case of Iovino.
In a
different occasion onward in his text, we take notice in Oppermann taking her language to a different level, trying to convince the audience of the dangers
put out by the ‘toxic bodies’ and raising a red flag warning hereafter; “In what
follows, a brief reading of two novels by a Turkish and an American author may
help to substantiate my argument that the stories bodies tell about their
trans-corporeal dynamics reflect the dangerous circulation of alien agencies
and toxic discourses across living bodies regardless of national boundaries as
well. In particular, Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills (1983) by
Latife Tekin and Gain (1998) by Richard Powers epitomize how “the environmental
crisis is really the crisis of the body.”41 Moreover, they effec- tively
capture bodily stories by telling gripping and intimate tales about ecological
otherness. In more general terms, however, embodying postcolonial and material
ecocritical perspectives in a balanced way, they alert us to the
socio-ecological significance of the mesh of human and other-than-human
environments. I want to show that, regardless of their local differences
(concerning Turkish and American cultures), these two texts reveal vividly that
hazardous material agencies are oblivious to all class, gender, culture, or
species boundaries.” [3] We can
see from this quote how The Other in every color is set forth by Oppermann, she
did not leave any underlying distinctive category of ecocrticism she did not exploitatively
maneuver to belay her examination of the topic, and in the same context posing
over and over again how the toxic body converts into the ecological other.
As
expected, Iovino goes on by standing up for the feminist view of Alterity as
she elucidates; “Let us think, for example, of the way feminist thinkers such as Karen
Warren, Val Plumwood, Carolyn Merchant, Karen Warren, Carol Adams, Rosemary
Radford Ruether, and Greta Gaard, theorize difference in ecological terms. In
their view, the category of difference is conceived not simply as a gender
issue, but as but as a macro-category that includes and structures many forms
of otherness. In the failed acknowledgement of the human-nonhuman
interdependency (Plum- wood speaks of “denied dependency”) an “alienated
identity of dominance” is built and “naturalized” by a materially and
conceptually oppressive power that “construes and constructs difference in
terms of an inferior and alien realm.”[4]
Citing works of feminists and enthroning herself to be the spokesman of
feminists on this stage, similarly; she uses strong decisive language to steady
her lofty stance.
In
conclusion; both observations in the two arguments we have debated through the
scope of Alterity for that matter, adopt two completely different schools of
thought. While Oppermann tries to enhance an extremely squeaky image in the
reader’s minds raising the questions of race, class, gender, and the opposite
binary which is doomed to be ‘against the grain’ and posing a great danger
simply being ‘the ecological other’ according to her postcolonial ecocritical
view; We find Iovino exposing the well known feminist ethics of tackling a topic
and well supporting it with a romantic language while combating the traditional
view of The Other and proposing a modern genuine and favorable argument that
denies ostracization and alienation of The Other quoting Oppermann herself and
refuting her argument scientifically and methodically.
I
personally found myself leaning towards neither in this matter although
identifying to an extent with Iovino. Nevertheless, I was eager for a strong
unbiased refutation, I was seeking less feminism defense and zealous for more
human stance on the topic. I trust, that in order to create and grow, The Other
is a fundamental keystone of a rich substance, but I’m a proponent of The
Togetherness. I believe in my individuality as well as in my Otherness, which is
generated by realizing and absorbing all that which I am not, and all that
constitutes me.
Finally,
chapeau to both authors for mingling a detailed orientation of information and human-life
analysis with reality; through language, literature, and research.
 |
| Left to Right: Serenella Iovino, Serpil Oppermann. |
[1] "Binary Opposition." A Dictionary of Literary Terms
and Literary Theory. Cuddon,
J. A. Blackwell Publishing, 2013. Blackwell Reference Online. 14 October
2016
<http://www.blackwellreference.com/subscriber/tocnode.html?id=g9781444333275_chunk_g97814443332753_ss1-43>
[2] Iovino, Serenella. “Loving
The Alien. EcoFeminism, Animals, And Anna Maria Ortese’s Poetics Of Otherness”.
Università di Torino, 09/10/2013, p.177.
[3] Oppermann, Sepil. “Toxic bodies and alien agencies: Ecocritical
perspectives on ecological others”. P. 417.
[4] Iovino, Serenella. “Loving
The Alien. EcoFeminism, Animals, And Anna Maria Ortese’s Poetics Of Otherness”.
Università di Torino, 09/10/2013, p.180.
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