Gardens in the Dunes: Indigenismo, natureza e poder em perspetiva ecocrítica

• Main Author: Isabel Maria Fernandes Alves
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra 2013-05-01
• Series: Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: environmental destruction; environmental justice; Gardens in the Dunes; Leslie Marmon Silko
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/5288

This article discusses Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Gardens in the Dunes based on the theoretical framework of ecocriticism, a current of literary criticism that, in face of the world environmental crisis today, seeks for models of thought and practice that emphasize the close relationship between humans and the natural world. Thus, the article foregrounds the Amerindian worldview, whose main pillars are based on the environmentally just cohabitation and the distributive balance of social and ethnic groups and regions.In this novel, Silko invites readers to approach marginalized, destitute people, living in environmentally and socially problematic areas, intending thereby to denounce the oppression of indigenous peoples and the excessive consumption of goods that characterizes our time. Alternatively, the author presents experiences and symbols that celebrate inclusion, diversity and plurality.