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The Changing Nature of Eco/Feminism

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The Changing Nature of Eco/Feminism asks that we quit appropriating those THE CHANGING as eco/feminist”: it is an example of indigenous peoples. In addition to NATURE OF of (ecofeminist) theory in practice formulating our own ethnoculture ECO/FEMINISM: that, as Moore demonstrates, is also and eco-identity as connected to TELLING STORIES resonant with postmodern feminist place, this appears to be the driving concerns. FROM CLAYOQUOT message of the book. Moore contextualizes her project In summary, after reviewing An- SOUND in response to the gap she perceived cient Spirit Rising it is my opinion between third-wave feminist theory that it is an important, significant Niamh Moore. in the 1990s and the so-called “death and timely read. I highly recommend Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015 of feminism,” on the one hand, and reading it, and also recommend the “intense, vibrant, and lively keeping it as a resource toward further reviewed by lauren experiences of eco/feminist politics exploration, thought, and referencing fournier in action” that she bore witness to on problems of cultural identity, at Clayoquot Sound on the other. and solutions as found in practices Written with an acute awareness to Moore responds to this gap between of ecospirituality and the ancestral the challenges facing ecofeminist theory and practice— a gap that arts. Eyers has gone into great depths theory and practice in relation to fem- is exacerbated by the marginal, or in presenting her thesis. It is well inism more broadly, Moore’s book marginalized, place of ecofeminism thought out, well written and ref- makes the case for ecofeminism’s in feminism more broadly— by erenced. Most importantly, Ancient compatibility with contemporary turning to the accounts of activists Spirit Rising presents significant issues intersectional feminisms. who were involved in the Clayoquot for the era in which we are living—a This book is written from the Sound peace camps in the summer time in which all of humanity is perspective of someone who has of 1993. With postmodern feminism confronted by tremendous change. witnessed ecofeminist activism in and emergent modes of theory in practice and believes in the relevance her quiver, Moore directly addresses Sharon G. Mijares, Ph,D. is a global of these activist practices to feminist the various charges against ecofem- traveler and has led workshops to em- theory, including emergent modes inism: most notably, the charge of power women in Costa Rica, Ecuador, of theory like feminist new mate- essentialism. Well aware of the ways Egypt, Mexico, Scotland, Uganda, rialisms. It is an auto-ethnographic in which ecofeminism has tended to Venezuela, and the United States. She account of Moore’s exploration of be disregarded by feminist theorists is the primary editor of A Force Such ecofeminism in Canada, a project for its “anachronistic” essentialism, As the World Has Never Known: which began when Moore was an Moore revisits terms like “essential- Women Creating Change (Inanna, undergraduate student in London ism,” “maternalism,” and “genealogy” 2013). Her workshops and writings (UK) in 1992. Turning to the spe- in light of postmodern theory while are focused on empowering women cific situation of Clayoquot Sound emphasizing the importance of con- for global transformation. For more, in 1993, Moore contextualizes this sidering such (redeemable) terms in see www.psychospiritual.org moment for ecofeminism in light context. of the contemporaneous discourses Her citational practice of juxtapos- References around the death of feminism in the ing postmodern (and post-postmod- 1990s. Moore describes the turn to a ern) feminist theory and queer theory Anne Newkirk Niven, “Living the specific case study in terms of Donna with transnational eco/feminist activ- Dream: Letter from the Edi- Haraway’s “situated knowledges and ism contributes to her making the case tor.” SageWoman: Celebrating the partial perspectives,” and she draws of the compatibility of ecofeminism Goddess in Every Woman, Issue 43, on Haraway throughout. One of with both contemporary feminism “Ancestors.” Autumn 1998. the reasons Moore chooses to focus and contemporary theorizing on and on the Friends of Clayoquot Sound around the environment, nature, and (FOCS) peace camps in 1993 is matter. Moore draws on the work of because it is an internationally Sara Ahmed, Judith Butler, Karen recognized environmental activist Barad, Lee Edelman, Jack Halber- movement that, Moore argues, was stam, Donna Haraway, Gayatri “based on feminist principles, which Spivak, Isabelle Stengers, and Anna were sometimes explicitly identified Tsing alongside work by Catriona VOLUME 32, NUMBERS 1,2 141 Sandilands, Noel Sturgeon, Greta One of the shortfalls of this book As a work of scholarship, this book Gaard, Starhawk, Vandana Shiva, is what feels like a truncated attempt is valuable in bridging accounts of and others. She incorporates creative at incorporating a de-colonizing activist histories with feminist the- work into her intertextual tapestry: practice into an otherwise fairly ory, all the while maintaining the Vancouver-based Daphne Marlatt’s intersectional feminism. Moore artic- relevance of ecofeminism as a mode poetry-prose work Ana Historic ulates the imperative to de-colonize of feminist theory and practice in the functions as a refrain throughout, feminism and acknowledge colonial contemporary. She outlines the con- and the Raging Grannies provide histories and neocolonialism in envi- tributions of the Friends of Clayoquot an example of ecofeminist activism ronmental activist practices, and lip Sound initiative, reading their work as performance and performative. service is paid to the issues that First through an intersectional feminist The effect of these citational pairings Nations peoples of the west coast have lens. Moore enacts a fruitful exchange is a re-inscription of ecofeminism faced and continue to face, including of terms between ecofeminism and in/as postmodern feminism and a a discussion of the politics of un- postmodern feminism, rooting her ‘de-naturalizing’ of ecofeminism as ceded territory in British Columbia theorizations in the lived experiences a movement so often denounced for as it factors in to how we consider of activists at Clayoquot Sound. The its presumed essentialist tendencies. the politics of place, nation, and book presents some possible direc- Moore supplants the category home. Moore complicates whiteness tions for future ecofeminist work, of “woman” with an intersectional through an intersectional approach, including conceiving of Mother feminist approach to oppression, and arguing that the British colonizing Nature as queer cyborg, configur- includes voices of queer women and project in British Columbia has ing the goddess as “sacredsecular,” men alongside heterosexual wom- always been contested vis-à-vis the and extending Haraway’s project of en, though trans and other gender presence of lower class white women de-centering kinship from genealogy non-conforming subjectivities are who resisted the colonizing project within ecofeminist modes of thought. not included. Moore’s book sets out that they had been entrusted with. ambitious goals, not least of which is And yet, Moore briefly mentions that Lauren Fournier is an artist and the attempt to reason her way out of she is not including voices of First Ph.D. candidate in the Department ecofeminism’s entrenched association Nations people in her interviews, of English at York University. Her with essentialism. Moore attempts to without expanding on how or why dissertation takes up “auto-theory” as a wield a critique of anthropocentrism she has come to this decision. Was contemporary mode of feminist practice to disavow the legitimacy of charges it that there were not First Nations across media. of essentialism (which are, Moore peoples present as activists in the sense argues, anthropocentric), with some that Moore is focusing on in her book? success; though the discussion of the Moore’s book would benefit from OUTSIDERS STILL: WHY distinctions between essentialism, giving a more transparent account WOMEN JOURNALISTS anti-essentialism, strategic essential- of this matter, particularly given this LOVE—AND LEAVE— ism, and the ‘something else’ that book’s emphasis on the importance THEIR NEWSPAPER Moore attempts remains somewhat of “responsibility and accountability” CAREERS confusing to this reader. One of the in its latter chapters. It is difficult to more evocative moments in Moore’s ignore the lack of attention to First Vivian Smith book is when she turns to the place of Nations peoples in Moore’s account Toronto: University of Toronto failure in feminist work. In Chapter of oral histories, for example, or an Press, 2015 5, Moore employs an intersectional acknowledgment of the importance feminist approach to unpack both the of oral storytelling as an indigenous reviewed by amy bowen ecofeminist ideals of the camp and mode of knowledge transmission. In- the dissonances, disagreements, and deed, incorporating the perspectives Vivian Smith’s 2015 book Outsiders failures of those (limited and limiting) of actual First Nations people would Still: Why Women Journalists Love — ideals in practice. The question of only strengthen Moore’s aims of artic- and Leave—Their Newspaper Careers how to sustain activism and cope with ulating the “contested histories” of the examines the gendered experience of the exhausting “ongoing work” that particular place of Clayoquot Sound women journalists in the Canadian this requires is one posed by Moore and “why these … matter”—holding newspaper industry. and relevant to contemporary activist space for conflicted and conflicting Smith interviewed more than two practices in feminism and beyond. accounts. dozen journalists from the Victoria 142 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME.
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