Refoliating the Anthropocene: plant being and indigenous ecological knowledges in 20th and 21st century Black women's literature
| Author(s) | Aquilone, Victoria Bradley | |
| Date Accessioned | 2023-08-21T23:16:31Z | |
| Date Available | 2023-08-21T23:16:31Z | |
| Publication Date | 2023 | |
| SWORD Update | 2023-06-26T19:10:16Z | |
| Abstract | The Anthropocene is a time in which both human and nonhuman Earth beings experience the alarming disappearance of their built refuges. Plant beings are crucial to this constructed refuge, but plants are often considered raw, inert matter rather than integral members of larger ecosystems, so their loss is considered minimal from the perspective of the capitalist-patriarchy. But such a diminishing of plant life, also known as defoliation should be quite concerning, not only because of human dependence on plants, but also considering the enchanting agency and intelligence of phyto-beings—agency that both Indigenous ecological knowledges and emergent Western science acknowledge. Given that textual plants have often been read and analyzed as symbols for the human experience, emergent science in plant capacity challenges traditional readings of literary phyto-characters, inviting us to refoliate the cultural imagination with plant-focused ecocritical readings. This project continues the trajectory of the Vegetal Turn with the theoretical groundwork of critical plant studies and material ecocriticism to consider how plants, as material beings with agency, are not merely literary symbols or motifs, but are storied matter that catalyze narratives in collaboration with the human. This project anticipates that restoring plants to their rightful place as agents in both our real and imaginary worlds will aid in refoliation of not only our reading practices, but also our planet. ☐ Additionally, this project combines developing Western scientific knowledge of plant capacity with Indigenous ecological knowledges of plants to evaluate the role of plants as storied matter in 20th and 21st century Black women’s literature. In so doing, this project also explores the subtle yet profound convergences of African American studies and Indigenous American studies, arguing that refoliation depends on an ecofeminist view of nature that departs from Western ways of being and knowing. As an alternative to Western ways of being and knowing nature, considering this set of primary texts—Black women’s literature spanning 1937 to 2011—with Indigenous ecological knowledges offers us a set of BIPOC perspectives of the Anthropocene in the Anthropocene. Ultimately, this project suggests that literary plants from marginalized perspectives have something to teach readers in the Anthropocene about interdependent communal survival of both humans and nature. | |
| Advisor | Duckert, Lowell | |
| Degree | Ph.D. | |
| Department | University of Delaware, Department of English | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.58088/rsyx-0r37 | |
| Unique Identifier | 1398226585 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/33223 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | |
| URI | https://login.udel.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/refoliating-anthropocene-plant-being-indigenous/docview/2832905193/se-2?accountid=10457 | |
| Keywords | African American | |
| Keywords | Ecofeminism | |
| Keywords | Ecology | |
| Keywords | Indigenous ecological knowledge | |
| Keywords | Plants | |
| Title | Refoliating the Anthropocene: plant being and indigenous ecological knowledges in 20th and 21st century Black women's literature | |
| Type | Thesis |