Ecofeminism - (Critique Influence Change) by Vandana Shiva & Maria Mies (Paperback)

About the Book

A powerful searing indictment of development strategies practised by the North on the South from an ecofeminist perspective.

Book Synopsis

In this groundbreaking work, two world-renowned scholarsargue that ecological destruction and industrial catastrophes constitute a direct threat to everyday life, the maintenance of which has been made the particular responsibility of women. In both industrialized societies and the developing countries, the new wars the world is experiencing, violent ethnic chauvinisms and the malfunctioning of the economy also pose urgent questions for ecofeminists. Is there a relationship between patriarchal oppression and the destruction of nature in the name of profit and progress? How can women counter the violence inherent in these processes? Should they look to a link between the women's movement and other social movements?

Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva offer a thought-provoking analysis of these and many other issues from a unique North-South perspective. They critique prevailing economic theories, conventional concepts of women's emancipation, the myth of 'catching up' development, the philosophical foundations of modern science and technology, and the omission of ethics when discussing so many questions, including advances in reproductive technology and biotechnology.

In constructing their own ecofeminist epistemology and methodology, these two internationally respected feminist environmental activists look to the potential of movements advocating consumer liberation and subsistence production, sustainability and regeneration. They argue for an acceptance of limits and reciprocity and a rejection of exploitation, the endless commoditization of needs, and violence.

Review Quotes

[Ecofeminism] presents a very focused, searing indictment of development strategies practiced by the North on the South.
Praise for the First Edition, Anne Stratham, Feminist Collections

Ecofeminism is about the similarity of society´s relationship with nature and women. Mies and Shiva were the first to show the sad parallels in nearly all spheres of life, in the North as well as in the South. Their book belongs to the classical texts of a feminism that developed a more profound critique of modernity as "capitalist patriarchy" than Marxism, ecoscience and gender studies had done. Twenty years later the global spread of neoliberalism has resulted in the "death of nature", even of Planet Earth, and the death of women in many ways, leading to the emergence of new social movements worldwide.
Claudia von Werlhof, University of Innsbruck

This book is a light in the dark age of social and ecological crises. Not only does it interconnect the destructive tendencies of the capitalist patriarchal global politics of homogenization, fragmentation and colonization, but it also offers the subsistence perspective as a form of resistance and liberation within the limits of nature.
Ana Isla, Brock University

About the Author

Maria Mies is a Marxist feminist scholar and activist, renowned for her theory of capitalist-patriarchy, which recognizes third world women and difference. In 1979, at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, she founded the Women and Development programme. She has written numerous books and articles that deal with topics relating to feminism, third world issues and the environment, including The Lace Makers of Narsapur (1982), Women: The Last Colony (1988), Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale (1999) and The Subsistence Perspective (1999).

Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental leader and thinker, is director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, India. In 1993 Shiva won the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize and in 2010 was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for her commitment to social justice. She is the author of over 20 books, including Staying Alive (1989), The Violence of the Green Revolution (1991), Biodiversity (1992), Monocultures of the Mind (1993), Biopolitics (1995), Stolen Harvest (2001), Protect or Plunder (2001), Earth Democracy (2005) and Soil Not Oil (2009).