Project Director

LeMoyne, Terri

Department Examiner

Eigenberg, Helen; Trivette, Shawn

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This research discusses the extent of colonial acknowledgement in modern women’s rights and environmental movements in India. British colonization profoundly altered the ecological landscape and social norms of the societies it affected while leaving behind institutional structures that encouraged and perpetuated discrimination, oppression, and environmental degradation. In the case of India, I illustrate pre-colonial norms surrounding environmental stewardship and women’s rights and compare it to post-colonial ideology to make a connection of modern human rights and environmental problems to a colonial past. Today’s popular environmental and women’s activist movements are analyzed to determine if colonial acknowledgment or a decolonial framework is present within the movements’ structures and solution building. I found only 2 out of the 18 movements had any mention of the effects of colonization. Finally, I suggest a non-essentialist updated “Third Wave” Ecofeminism as a possible movement that could be helpful in India due to its intersectional framework, decolonial structure, and it success in many parts of India and, famously, in post-colonial Kenya with the Green Belt Movement.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge my Thesis Chair Dr. Terri LeMoyne and committee members Dr. Helen Eigenberg and Dr. Shawn Trivette for guidance during this research. Additionally, I would like to thank the Honors College at UTC for providing the opportunity to conduct and complete this research.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2017

Subject

Ecofeminism -- India

Keyword

Ecofeminism; India; British colonization; Women’s rights; Environmentalism; Intersectionality

Discipline

Environmental Sciences

Document Type

Theses

Extent

58 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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