Ecofeminism
Opening Quote Heading link
Nature has been defined as a woman, and both nature and women were then defined into objectification and therefore into objects of violence. Ecofeminism is a celebration of the creativity of nature and the creativity of women.
| Pod Academy, 2014
Readings, References, & Tools Heading link
This collection of resources aims to identify some of the ways all people relate to the physical environment based on gendered, racial, and global experiences.
Videos Heading link
Heritage Garden Heading link
The UIC Heritage Garden is a hands-on internship program that connects horticulture with environmental sustainability, cultural diversity, and social justice. The seven Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change (CCUSC), including the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center, collaborate on this project with program infrastructure provided by the Latino Cultural Center.
Interns oversee the planting and maintenance of eight satellite gardens on the east side of campus. They also lead tours and host two annual public events that support intercultural engagement to broaden efforts around cultural and environmental sustainability. Interns research the cultural significance of plants in the garden, gather recipes, and collect stories from family, friends, and neighbors about their environmentally friendly practices. They participate in weekly discussions about readings related to environmental and cultural sustainability, visit community resources relevant to this project, and work with local artists to make creative and explicit connections between environmental sustainability, cultural diversity, and social justice.
Every summer, student interns engage with WLRC for hands-on education about ecofeminism. We help introduce interns to feminist approaches to sustainability and environmental justice and promoting a more healthy, livable, and just existence for humanity. At the core of our conversations are stories about how women and communities of color link their personal relationships with the environment to their social identities and involvement in environmental justice movements in Chicago and beyond.
The readings we assign connect the relationship between environmental justice and systems of oppression—prison industrial complex, food security, gentrification, racism, capitalism—through a Black feminist lens.
Readings:
Readings 1 Heading link
Stewards of the Land: community organizers connect with the physical environment
Readings 2 Heading link
Anti-Racism and Environmental Justice: intersections of race, gender, and environmental justice
- You Are on Indigenous Land
- Food Redlining, Reparations, And Freeing The Land
- Why Every Environmentalist Should Be Anti-Racist
- Racism, Police Violence, and the Climate
- Racial Justice Is Climate Justice
- Black Lives Matter as an Environmental Justice Challenge
- Indigenous Feminisms and Environmental Violence
- NYC Stands with Standing Rock Syllabus
Readings 3 Heading link
Global Experiences: indigenous, feminist, and women’s work on a global scale
Quote 2 Heading link
We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own–indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life, with which we have shared our evolutionary process.
| Nobel Lecture, 2004
On Ecofeminism and Urban Flooding Heading link
“The intersection of urban challenges, such as urban flooding, requires a wider and deeply embedded commitment to community efforts such as community gardens and other community-led initiatives that address justice issues.”
| WLRC Graduate Assistant
