Ecofeminism and geography: the case of Vandana Shiva and Chipko

The study of human-environment interactions by geography is traditionally conceptualized as the "man-land" theme in geographic analysis. Feminists and other post-structuralists criticize that conceptualization. Following those critiques, this study evaluates ecofeminism as a possible alternative to a "man-land" formulation. Ecofeminism is presented and analyzed as a school of thought that also studies human-environment interactions. Vandan Shiva's discourse and treatment of Chipko provide the central ecofeminist case study. The thesis elucidates ecofeminism's sensitivity to the geographic concept of place in order to determine whether or not ecofeminism is adequate as a geographic theory. Analysis of Vandana Shiva's texts reveals that ecofeminism universalizes and fails to accommodate the geographic concept of place.