Exploitation of Land and Labor in Appalachia: The Manipulation of Men in Ann Pancake's Strange as this Weather Has Been

<p>Ecofeminism is traditionally interested in the relationship between patriarchal domination of women and nature. Ann Pancake’s novel <em>Strange As this Weather Has Been </em>critiques the way the coal mining industry has affected the Appalachian people and land. The novel reflects natural ecofeminism, which views the connection between women and nature in essentialist terms. This outdated mode of ecofeminism leads to a reinforcement of gender stereotypes and a misrepresentation of the relationship between gender, nature, and culture. This study of Pancake’s novel employs a material ecofeminist approach to both critique and develop the novel’s gender politics. Material ecofeminism, even as it integrates some forms of early ecofeminism, precludes a reinforcement of stereotypes and more adequately addresses both men’s and women’s connections to ecology and culture. This paper shows how the author’s ignoring the material and cultural conditions that create and maintain the relationship between men and industry results in a double exploitation of the men in Appalachia: once by the capitalist system, and a second time by a natural ecofeminist representation of them that places them in opposition to the environment.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Baker, Britani W.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Katherine Cochran
• Charles Sumner
• Martina Sciolino

• Ecofeminism
• Human labor
• Capitalist exploitation
• Patriarchy
• Appalachia
• Contemporary Southern Literature
• Coal mining
• Mountaintop removal
• Ann Pancake
• Material Ecofeminism
• Appalachian Studies
• Arts and Humanities
• English Language and Literature
• Literature in English, North America

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/298

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1324