Protecting Nature: Religious Ecofeminism in Indigenous Women’s Movements

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Dec 30, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15575/jw.v8i2.26155
Keywords:
Ecofeminism, indigenous knowledge, indigenous women, nature protection, religious ecofeminism

Main Article Content

Rabiatul Adawiah
Gadjah Mada University
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9300-5107

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the indigenous women's movement to protect nature using the perspective of religious ecofeminism. The Indigenous People Alliance of Indonesia (Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara-AMAN) documented 13 cases of indigenous territory seizure, affecting 103,717 indigenous people and 251 hectares of indigenous territories. Consequently, the patterns of indigenous knowledge related to spirituality, as lived by indigenous women, prompt them to respond to the exploitation of nature. This research seeks to confirm the basic thesis of ecofeminism that links the domination of women and nature. The study employs qualitative methods, utilising text data from online media such as Twitter. The selection of data sources is based on the role of online media as a space for the representation of indigenous women and indigenous peoples. The main findings indicate that indigenous women have successfully positioned themselves at the forefront of nature protection through their movements. The indigenous women's movement to protect nature exemplifies a relationship based on indigenous understanding and knowledge, which is inseparable from the interpretation of nature itself. Equally important, the response of indigenous women reflects the interpretation of humans and nature as interdependent entities that provide sustenance, a concept known as religious ecofeminism. This concept embodies a cultural and religious understanding of the cosmology of life. The study contributes to raising awareness of the critical role of indigenous women in environmental conservation and demonstrates that their movements are grounded in religious ecofeminism values.

Article Details

How to Cite
Adawiah, R. (2023). Protecting Nature: Religious Ecofeminism in Indigenous Women’s Movements. Wawasan: Jurnal Ilmiah Agama Dan Sosial Budaya, 8(2), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.15575/jw.v8i2.26155
Issue
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2023)
Section
Articles

Authors who publish in Wawasan: Jurnal Ilmiah Agama dan Sosial Budaya agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

References

A.E. Kings. (2017). Intersectionality and the Changing Face of Ecofeminism. Ethics and the Environment, 22(1), 63. https://doi.org/10.2979/ethicsenviro.22.1.04

Almwajeh, M. O., & Alshehab, M. H. (2020). Correcting the wrongs of the past: Ethics of love and continuity countering the abstraction and erasure of the other in arundhati roy’s the god of small things. Asian ESP Journal, 16(6.2), 88–101.

Altamirano-Jiménez, I. (2021). Indigenous women refusing the violence of resource extraction in Oaxaca. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801211015316

Asrawijaya, E. (2020). Gerakan Ekopopulisme komunitas Samin melawan perusahaan semen di pegunungan Kendeng. Jurnal Sosiologi Pendidikan Humanis, 5(1), 35–47.

Bacon, C. M., Kelley, L. C., & Stewart, I. T. (2022). Toward a feminist political ecology of household food and water security during drought in northern Nicaragua. Ecology and Society, 27(1), art16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12716-270116

Bandopadhay, S., & Pandey, S. (2020). The Rights of Nature: Taking an Ecocentric Approach for Mother Earth. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(4), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.08

Candraningrum, D. (2018). The Spiritual Politics of the Kendeng Mountains Versus the Global Cement Industry 1. In After the Death of Nature (pp. 219–234). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315099378-14

Chiu, C.-Y., Gelfand, M. J., Yamagishi, T., Shteynberg, G., & Wan, C. (2010). Intersubjective Culture. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 482–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610375562

Civitarese, G. (2021). Intersubjectivity And Analytic Field Theory. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 69(5), 853–893. https://doi.org/10.1177/00030651211044788

Conversation, T. (2022). Perempuan adat krusial bagi hutan, tapi jadi korban berlapis krisis iklim. Retrieved August 12, 2023, from The Converstaion website: https://theconversation.com/perempuan-adat-krusial-bagi-hutan-tapi-jadi-korban-berlapis-krisis-iklim-195741

Dalupe, B. (2020). Dari Hutan Ke Politik Studi Terhadap Ekofeminisme Aleta Baun Di Mollo-NTT. Jurnal Polinter: Kajian Politik Dan Hubungan Internasional, 5(2), 31–51. https://doi.org/10.52447/polinter.v5i2.4056

Duile, T. (2023). Animism and Indigenous Movements in Indonesia. In T. Duile, K. Großmann, M. Hau, & G. Sprenger (Eds.), Plural Ecologies in Southeast Asia (pp. 83–97). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003368182-5

Elhindi, D., & AlTaher, B. (2023). Solidarity in Roots: Ecofeminism and Palestinian Women. The International Journal of Literary Humanities, 21(2), 161–174. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-7912/CGP/v21i02/161-174

Fortuna, P., Wróblewski, Z., & Gorbaniuk, O. (2023). The structure and correlates of anthropocentrism as a psychological construct. Current Psychology, 42(5), 3630–3642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01835-z

Frie, R. (1997). Subjectivity and intersubjectivity in modern philosophy and psychoanalysis: A study of Sartre, Binswanger, Lacan, and Habermas. Boston: Rowman & Litdefield.

Frigo, G., & Ifanger, L. A. (2021). A Critique of (Weak) Anthropocentric Geoethics. In Geo-societal Narratives (pp. 67–80). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79028-8_5

Gaard, G. (2015). Ecofeminism and climate change. Women’s Studies International Forum, 49, 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.02.004

Garrity-Bond, C. (2018). Ecofeminist Epistemology in Vandana Shiva’s The Feminine Principle of Prakriti and Ivone Gebara’s Trinitarian Cosmology. Feminist Theology, 26(2), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0966735017738660

Gerber, J. (1997). Beyond dualism – the social construction of nature and the natural and social construction of human beings. Progress in Human Geography, 21(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1191/030913297671906269

Gonda, N. (2019). Re-politicizing the gender and climate change debate: The potential of feminist political ecology to engage with power in action in adaptation policies and projects in Nicaragua. Geoforum, 106, 87–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.07.020

Gottardi, F. (2020). Sacred Sites Protection and Indigenous Women’s Activism: Empowering Grassroots Social Movements to Influence Public Policy. A Look into the “Women of Standing Rock†and “Idle No More†Indigenous Movements. Religions, 11(8), 380. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11080380

Haider, J. (2016). The Shaping of Environmental Information in Social Media: Affordances and Technologies of Self-control. Environmental Communication, 10(4), 473–491. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2014.993416

Hidayati, N. (2016). Opini: Para Perempuan Pegunungan Kendeng, Memaknai Alam dan Kehidupan. Retrieved August 12, 2023, from Mongbay website: https://www.mongabay.co.id/2016/04/22/opini-perempuan-pegunungan-kendeng-memaknai-alam-dan-kehidupan/

Hutchinson, J. (2016). An introduction to digital media research methods: how to research and the implications of new media data. Communication Research and Practice, 2(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2016.1155307

Indirastuti, C., & Pratiwi, A. M. (2019). When Wetlands Dry: Feminist Political Ecology Study on Peat Ecosystem Degradation in South and Central Kalimantan. Jurnal Perempuan, 24(4), 335–349. https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v24i4.379

Kansanga, M. M., Antabe, R., Sano, Y., Mason-Renton, S., & Luginaah, I. (2019). A feminist political ecology of agricultural mechanization and evolving gendered on-farm labor dynamics in northern Ghana. Gender, Technology and Development, 23(3), 207–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/09718524.2019.1687799

Khoiri, A. (2017). Aleta Baun, Perempuan Pejuang Lingkungan di Timur Indonesia. Retrieved August 21, 2023, from CNN Indonesia website: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/gaya-hidup/20170422102142-277-209416/aleta-baun-perempuan-pejuang-lingkungan-di-timur-indonesia

Krispendoff, K. (1993). Analisis Isi Pengantar Teori dan Metodologi. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kanisius.

Lamain, C. (2022). Conflicting securities: contributions to a critical research agenda on climate security. Globalizations, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2022.2057093

Larocque, E. (2023). Co-envisioning the social-ecological transition through youth eco-activists’ narratives: toward a relational approach to ecological justice. Journal of Community Practice, 31(2), 127–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2023.2208577

Lemke, S., & Delormier, T. (2017). Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(S3). https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12499

Maarif, S. (2019). Indigenous Religion Paradigm: Re-Interpreting Religious Practices of Indigenous People. Studies In Philosophy, 44, 21–103.

Mosanya, M., & Kwiatkowska, A. (2023). New Ecological Paradigm and third culture kids: Multicultural identity configurations, global mindset, and values as predictors of environmental worldviews. International Journal of Psychology, 58(2), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12887

Mullick, S. B. (2020). The Status of Indigenous Women and Land Rights in Jharkhand. In Women, Land & Power in Asia (pp. 205–223). Routledge India. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367818494-15

Nandi, S., & Garg, S. (2017). Indigenous women’s struggles to oppose state-sponsored deforestation in Chhattisgarh, India. Gender & Development, 25(3), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2017.1379781

Nightingale, A. J. (2018). The socioenvironmental state: Political authority, subjects, and transformative socio-natural change in an uncertain world. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(4), 688–711. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618816467

Njieassam, E. E. (2019). Gender Inequality and Land Rights: The Situation of Indigenous Women in Cameroon. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 22, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2019/v22i0a4907

O’Faircheallaigh, C. (2013). Women’s absence, women’s power: indigenous women and negotiations with mining companies in Australia and Canada. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(11), 1789–1807. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2012.655752

Pandya, R. (2023). An intersectional approach to neoliberal environmentality: Women’s engagement with ecotourism at Corbett Tiger Reserve, India. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(1), 355–372. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221082469

Pastor, L., & Santamaria, A. (2021). Experiences of Spiritual Advocacy for Land and Territorial Itineraries for the Defense of Wiwa Women’s Rights in Postconflict Colombia. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 15(1), 86–107. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijtj/ijaa033

Pawlett-Jackson, S. P. (2019). Exploring different intersubjective structures in relation to dialogue. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 18(1), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022216670611

Piccardi, E. G. (2022). The Challenges of a Kurdish Ecofeminist Perspective: Maria Mies, Abdullah Öcalan, and the Praxis of Jineolojî. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 33(1), 46–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2021.1905016

Radel, C. (2009). Natures, Gendered. In R. Kitchin & Nigel Thrift (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (pp. 331–336). Amsterdam: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008044910-4.00573-3

Rius, M. B., Icaza, M. G. A., & Márquez, I. G. (2011). Indigenous Women in Defence of Life and Land: An introduction. Development, 54(4), 470–472. https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2011.92

Ruether, R. R. (2006). Religious Ecofeminism. In The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.003.0017

Selemani, I. S. (2020). Indigenous knowledge and rangelands’ biodiversity conservation in Tanzania: success and failure. Biodiversity and Conservation, 29(14), 3863–3876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-020-02060-z

Shiva, V. (2010). Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.

Sindhuja, P., & Murugan, K. R. (2021). Feminist Perspective on Gender and Environment. Wesleyan Journal of Research, 14(1), 903–907.

Sťahel, R. (2020). China’s approach to the environmental civilization. Human Affairs, 30(2), 164–173. https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2020-0016

Tafjord, B. O. (2013). Indigenous Religion(s) as an Analytical Category. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 25(3), 221–243. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341258

Triyanto, & Permata, R. V. H. (2018). Perempuan dan gerakan lingkungan : pengalaman perempuan masyarakat adat menjaga alam. Prosiding Seminar Nasional PPKn, 1–12.

Walters, S. (2022). Learning about climate justice in times of drought and Covid-19. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 41(1), 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2021.1982038

Wan, C. (2015). Understanding Cultural Identification Through Intersubjective Cultural Representation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(10), 1267–1272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022115610213