Thinking gender, nature and power: a hope for standpoint ecofeminism

Download
2019
Çetinkaya, Tuğçe
Ecofeminism focuses on the relation between the domination on women and natureandprovides widened critique of domination by including the analysis of anthropocentrismin feminism, which is nurtured by the analysis of sexism, capitalism, racism, ethnicityand heterosexism; therefore, it presents an imagination of freedom aimed at including nonhuman entities.It is clear that women‘s association with nature has been used as animportant means of establishing superiorityover them. Cultural ecofeminism, which has an important place in the emergence and development of ecofeminism, aims to reversethedominant system of values which inferiorizes the characteristics attributed to womensuch as care, emotion, compassion, altruismand being associated with natureto overcome the superiority assumption. Within this framework, while the characteristics attributed women and being associated with nature is positively affirmed, the idealsattributed to man and the realm of culture are either ignoredor rejected.However, this is a kind ofacceptance of the normative definition of woman which is constructed through the attribution and universalization of essenceswithout question. Moreover, it is not considered thatthe characteristicson the opposite side such as rationality, which is a key concept in the legitimation of the domination on women and nature,arereconceptualizable. This indicates both limitations of cultural ecofeminism and the importance of a different understanding of ecofeminism beyond dualism.In this thesis study, it is aimed to overcome the essentialist, universalist and generally anti-rationalist arguments of cultural ecofeminism through re-evaluation from the perspective of standpoint feminist theory.

Suggestions

Petty commodity production in agriculture cannot survive without women’s labour: from the standpoint of rural women’s life experiences in Turkey
Baturoğlu Balcı, Ülkü; Ecevit, Mehmet C.; Department of Gender and Women's Studies (2019)
This thesis analyses women’s distinctive and subjective resistance and/or adaptation characteristics to neoliberal transformations towards their own and household/family lives on the basis of the field research conducted in a village in Western Black Sea in Turkey from the approach of Feminist Standpoint Theory as a contemporary feminist critical theory. The thesis argues that such an analysis is helpful to understand the specificities of subjectivities of rural women, which is critical in grasping rural wo...
Collective identity in feminist alternative new media: the case of 5harfliler.com .
Acar, Ezg; İbrahimhakkıoğlu, Fulden; Department of Gender and Women's Studies (2020)
This thesis assesses 5harfliler.com, a feminist alternative new media product, in terms of its construction of a collective identity. The focus will be on the construction of the collective identity in the feminist alternative new media opposing the major discourses in power and the property of the collective identity being positioned in a discursive framework. This research indicates the applicability of the theories on collective identity construction to the feminist alternative new media. It raises the q...
Considering the role of men in gender agenda setting: conceptual and policy issues
Erturk, Y (2004-01-01)
The international gender equality agenda evolved into one of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes. Within this process, the role of men gained increasing attention in the debates on gender equality. This resulted in the inclusion of 'men's role' as one of the themes of the agenda of the Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2004. While this is another step forward in the global efforts for achieving equality between women and men, its potential risks should not be ove...
THE STUDY OF TERF DEBATE IN THE CONTEXTS OF US, UK & TURKEY & THE EMBRACEMENT OF INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM FOR RECONCILIATION PROPOSAL
Tanrıver, Pınar; Alpan, Başak Zeynep; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2022-7-18)
This study examines the relationality of the trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) debate, which has become the focus of contemporary feminist literature with intersectional feminism. After the introduction of the term, “TERF” in 2008, the debate on trans-exclusion has flared up and pushed feminist actors into a significant polarisation. At the same time, the trans-exclusionary legal and structural changes made by states, institutions and organisations worldwide caused the gap between the parties to wi...
Reconstruction of female subjectivity in Turkey: neoconservatism and imam-hatip schools
Ataç, Alara; Ayata, Ayşe; Department of Gender and Women's Studies (2019)
From feminist perspective, this thesis attempts to analyze how female subjectivity has been reconstructed through education of Imam-Hatip schools under the impacts of neoconservative ideology since 2002. It is critical to understand rising power of neoconservatism and its impacts on Turkish women, especially after the AKP came into power. The party has developed neoconservatism as new political ideology as counter to secular-Republican ideology, and launched the Islamization project. In this case, the party...
Citation Formats
T. Çetinkaya, “Thinking gender, nature and power: a hope for standpoint ecofeminism,” Thesis (M.S.) -- Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences. Gender and Women’s Studies., Middle East Technical University, 2019.