The loss of nature: ecocritical discourses in Gabeba Baderoon's poetry

* This article was originally a paper read at the 2014 English Academy Conference.

Abstract

This article examines the poetry of South African writer Gabeba Baderoon to determine the extent to which her poetry engages with nature and its loss. A study of a selection of six poems reveals four interrelated findings.The first is that nature is constructed as both human and nonhuman, and that the two are interdependent. Secondly, Baderoon's poetry engenders anthropocentrism because it entrusts the human subject with the project of driving interaction with its nonhuman counterpart, and through human agency the subjectivity of the nonhuman is foregrounded. Thirdly, her poetry constructs the loss of the human as synchronous with the loss of the nonhuman. Lastly, Baderoon's poetry is located within South Africa's colonial and political history, and as a result nature becomes a tool for posing questions of social justice. These findings intersect at various points, and it is at these points of intersection that we locate Baderoon's ecocritical poetics.

Key words:

• Gabeba Baderoon
• ecocriticism
• human nature
• loss
• nature
• poetry

Notes

* This article was originally a paper read at the 2014 English Academy Conference.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Naomi Nkealah

NAOMI NKEALAH is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of South Africa. Her research specializes in contemporary African women's writing on which she has published widely in South African journals, international journals as well as internationally published edited books.

Shumani F. Rakgope

SHUMANI F. RAKGOPE is an MA candidate in English Studies in the Department of Languages at the University of Limpopo. He completed his BA Honours at the same university and is currently completing his research mini-dissertation under the supervision of Dr Naomi Nkealah.