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Women as Sacred Custodians of the Earth?

Women as Sacred Custodians of the Earth?

Alaine Low | Soraya Tremayne

(2001)

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Book Details

Abstract

Literature on women, development and environment is abundant. The relationship between women and ecology has been analyzed by various disciplines, by specialists from the North as well as the South. This book offers a new perspective, specifically to challenge the assumption that women have a special affinity with the Earth and therefore a historic mission for the care of the environment. The book explores spiritual, religious and philosophical beliefs concerning women and ecology, and whether women are truly "sacred custodians" of the Earth. This concept has evolved from ideas developed by eco-feminists. Whether and how different belief systems can be put to use to create an awareness to protect, preserve and improve ecological conditions is discussed. The collection of papers demonstrates the complexity of the issues and the variations and vulnerability of the assumed relationship between women and the environment in different cultural and political contexts. The book challenges policy solutions which are devised to be on a global scale and to create unrealistic global aspirations, and the value of targeting women in a particular attempt to achieve environmentally sustainable development.


"... an interesting collection of essays ... the text is engaging and highly informative."  · H-Net Review


Soraya Tremayne has a D.Phil. in Social Anthropology from the University of Paris, Sorbonne and currently is the Co-ordinating Director of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group, University of Oxford. She was formerly the Acting Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, and has carried out research in Iran and Malaysia. She is a Vice-President of the Royal Anthropological Institute.


Alaine Low has a D.Phil. in History from the University of Oxford. She has taught and carries out field work in Latin America and is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University. She is the Associate Editor of the five volumes of Oxford History of the British Empire.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Table of Contents v
Preface vii
Contributors ix
Chapter 1. Introduction 1
Part I. The Current Debate 21
Chapter 2. Gender, Nature and Trouble with Anti-Dualism 23
Part II. The Sacred 45
Chapter 3. Sacred Landscapes 47
Chapter 4. Aboriginal Women and Sacred Landscapes in Northern Australia 63
Chapter 5. The Separation of the Sexes Among Siberian Reindeer Herders 81
Chapter 6. Priestesses and Environment in Zimbabwe 95
Chapter 7. Rice, Women, Men and the Natural Environment among the Kelabit of Sarawak 107
Part III. The Great Religions 119
Chapter 8. Ecology and Christian Heirarchy 121
Chapter 9. Text and Practice: Women and Nature in Islam 141
Chapter 10. Soil as the Goddess Bhudevi in a Tamil Women's Ritual 159
Chapter 11. Nature and Gender in Theravada Buddhism 175
Chapter 12. Nature, Holism and Ecofeminism 195
Part IV. New Trends 217
Chapter 13. Children of the Gods 219
Select Bibliography 239
Index 251