Document Type
Article
Abstract
How do traditional western epistemologies affect natures' subjectivity? This essay deconstructs the status of nature as silent Other. I argue Mahasweta Devi's The Pterodactyl and Marlene Nourbese Philip's epic Looking for Dr. Livingstone translate nature, or the radical Other, as subject. Scientific, xenophobic, and imperial behaviors have affected the status of natures' subjectivity in the naming, mapping, and exploitation of land, during colonial and commodity enterprise. As a result, nature’s language has become increasingly radical and is one to be translated for an awareness and avoidance of imposition; nature is a language yet to be understood.
Repository Citation
Martindale, Lori. "Can Nature's Language be Written, Spoken, and Heard? Mahasweta Devi's "Pterodactyl" and Marlene Nourbese Philip's Looking for Livingstone." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 7, no. 2, 2007, pp. 1–23. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol7/iss2/6
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