Gender-Inclusivity in Nature Preservation by Renouncing the Dualisms: An Ecofeminist Reading of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing

Abstract

The given study aims to conduct an ecofeminist investigation of Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, employing Val Plumwood’s theory of critical ecofeminism that embraces a gender-inclusive approach toward nature’s conservation. The study utilizes qualitative approach to highlight ecofeminist elements in the given novel. Focusing on the said novel, the research states that Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing discourages anthropocentric, dualistic thinking by underscoring the damages of deeming nature passive, and inferior to reason, capitalist development, and men’s society. Owens, through her protagonist, Kya, showcases women’s intimate bonds with the environment and its sentience, repudiating the master-slave relationship between the human community and nature’s wilderness. Owens, in addition, stresses men’s role in saving the environment from degradation, offering a critical ecofeminist approach toward nature preservation. The given study concludes that anthropocentric traditional notions of master-slave are redundant and problematic. To ensure the mutual survival of life on the planet, the study recommends that anthropocentrism must be replaced with an all-encompassing environmental consciousness.