Thesis Format

Monograph

The Poetics of Environmental Destruction, Care, and Insurgency: Socio-Environmental Crisis in Women’s Contemporary Novels and Films in The Americas

Author

Victoria Jara, The University of Western OntarioFollow

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Comparative Literature

Collaborative Specialization

Environment and Sustainability

Supervisor

Burucúa, Constanza

2nd Supervisor

Miller, James

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

The effects of the climate crisis have reached a point of undeniability. Action is required urgently at a global level. Women’s activism against environmental dispossession in the Americas is expressed not only through the streets, classrooms, and social media, but also through their artistic filmmaking and writing. My focus on women’s literature and film was not only motivated by the need to study their overlooked contributions, but by the need to unravel how they illuminate the entanglements of environmental dispossession with injustices on matters of gender, ethnicity, age, class, and labour.

The aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate that an increasing number of contemporary women filmmakers and novelists in the Americas offer a sustained engagement with environmental matters, analyze the similarities and differences of how these ecological issues are represented, and identify a set of principles to establish a common ground between the texts.

Through an interdisciplinary focus on Environmental Humanities, Gender Studies, Literature and Film Studies, I compare novels and films from Canada and Latin America. Through textual analysis three poetics were identified: environmental destruction, care, and insurgency. The term poetics signifies a set of thematic and stylistic principles that are derived from repeated patterns and functions across the novels and films (Bordwell, 2008; Walker, 2014). In the poetics of environmental destruction, the artists challenge socio-environmental devastation by questioning the model of maldesarrollo [bad development]. The texts that focus on care seek to push our understanding of caring beyond the human realm into the non-human by underscoring the need for reciprocity and interdependency among beings. With regards to the poetics of environmental insurgency, novelists and filmmakers represent the struggles to overthrow the hegemonic extractivist models and imagine equitable socio-environmental alternatives.

The analyzed films and novels are a starting point for readers and audiences to become aware of how deeply environmental justice issues are interwoven into society.

Summary for Lay Audience

The effects of the climate crisis have reached a point of undeniability. Action is required urgently at a global level. Women’s activism against environmental dispossession in the Americas is expressed not only through the streets, classrooms, and social media, but also through their artistic filmmaking and writing. My focus on women’s literature and film was not only motivated by the need to study their overlooked contributions, but by the need to unravel how they illuminate the entanglements of environmental dispossession with injustices on matters of gender, ethnicity, age, class, and labour.

The aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate that an increasing number of contemporary women filmmakers and novelists in the Americas offer a sustained engagement with environmental matters, analyze the similarities and differences of how these ecological issues are represented, and identify a set of principles to establish a common ground between the texts.

By using ideas from academic fields that study the environment, gender, literature, and film I compare novels and films from Canada and Latin America. Through the analysis of these films and novels I have identified a set of three characteristics which are: the poetics environmental destruction, care, and insurgency. The idea of poetics refers to patters in themes and styles among the analyzed texts. In the poetics of environmental destruction, the artists challenge the devastation of nature by challenging the structures of predominant economic models. The texts that focus on care seek to expand what caring means by extending it to the realm of the environment. The artists in this second group highlight the need for mutual dependency among living beings. With regards to the poetics of environmental insurgency, novelists and filmmakers represent the struggles to overthrow socio-economic models that hinder the environment, and they also represent sustainable alternatives.

The analyzed films and novels are a starting point for readers and audiences to become aware of how deeply environmental justice issues are interwoven into society.

Recommended Citation

Jara, Victoria, "The Poetics of Environmental Destruction, Care, and Insurgency: Socio-Environmental Crisis in Women’s Contemporary Novels and Films in The Americas" (2022). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 9048.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/9048

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