Examining connections between women, nature

Eco-feminism unites the rights of women with rights of nature, said Mary Vidya Porselvi, author and researcher on the subject. During the festival, she will be participating in a session on February 7 that will look at folktales from an eco-feminist interpretation, along with Eric Miller and Cathryn Fairlee from California.

“There are five different ways of looking at women-nature proximity – nature-nurture proposition, which is problematic due to the patriarchal society that dominates both, women’s awareness of environmental problems, women’s proximity to nature due to the similar cyclical patterns, feminist spirituality and the culture-nature divide,” said the expert. 

One of the folktales is called Nature Woman, from collected works of K Rajanarayanan, which speaks about a king’s hunt into the forest, where he encounters a huntress giving birth to a child. When he returns to the palace, he sends the physicians away, leaving the queens bewildered. 

On seeking advice from the minister, he directs the gardener to stop watering the plants, since they will get watered during rains. 

“This shows two types of cultures — how women are treated in a patriarchal society and one that existed before this,” said Mary, who will also be providing eco-feminist interpretations of Wood Maiden, a Czech folktale and also a tribal story from the Pulaiyar tribes in Palani Hills. 

For Mary, folklore and eco-feminism discourse represent a holistic view of life. “Through this, we look at the bigger picture. Nature power is woman power and vice versa. In these tales, you find that when women are close to nature, they are empowered,” said the researcher, who will also be comparing fairy tales in the ecofeminist perspective. 

“Little Red Riding Hood for example, is not empowered. The little girl explores the forests and when she did, found herself in danger. In Indian folktales, forests are safe havens and have a sense of security,” added Mary. 

Eric Miller, Director, World Storytelling Institute, which organises the annual storytelling festival, will be presenting a legend from the Kani tribe, viewing it from the interplay of gender and nature. 

“The Kani tribes have a legend which speaks about seven brothers. The elder six brothers convince the youngest one to venture into the forest to hunt wild boar. But they corner the youngest brother and kill him. 

The two dogs with the youngest brother run to his wife in the village and drag her to the place where he lay dying. She starts wailing loudly, when a snake and mongoose nearby, offer to get a flower, whose extract eventually brings the youngest brother back to life,” he narrated. 

According to Eric, the story contrasts the horrible behaviour of the brothers to the power of the nature, flowers and animals to bring the brother back to life. “This is to say that there is treachery in human relations but here, with the help of a woman and nature and animals, the designs were reversed,” he said. 

The festival will kickstart on February 2 with a performance by Cathryn Fairlee. 

Titled, ‘Folktales from around the world about strong and clever girls and women’, Cathryn’s act is to change the stereotypical image of a woman character in folktale who waits to be rescued, through stories that show that women are active and more often their own heroes.