Gender and the Greening of Buddhism
Exploring Scope for a Buddhist Ecofeminism in an Ultramodern Age
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12901166 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Tomalin (0000-0001-7722-1192, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 455-480 |
| Publication date | 2018-02-26 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal for the Study of Religion Nature and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1749-4907 • E-ISSN: 1749-4915 |
| Publisher | Equinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1558/jsrnc.32469 |
| OpenAlex | W2794202458 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 10 |
Despite its popularity and appeal for many, ecofeminism has been criticized for essentializing and romanticizing women’s roles as close to nature, thereby reproducing colonialist and biologically determinist discourses that contribute to discrimination. In response there have been attempts to defend ecofeminism, arguing that such critiques are hyperbolic and that we need ecofeminism more than ever (Philips and Rumens 2016). In a climate of renewed interest in ecofeminism, I ask why is it that some faith traditions are represented to a far greater extent in ecofeminist literature than others? I pick up on this discrepancy within ecofeminism’s engagement between different religions through examining Buddhist responses to gender and ecology. In the article I adopt a theory of ultramodern Buddhism, developed by Halafoff and Rajkobal (2015), to understand Buddhism in the contemporary era. Three main research questions are addressed: (1) to what extent has ‘green Buddhism’ been gendered?; (2) why has there has been virtually no attempt to bring together feminist analysis with responses to Buddhism and environmentalism? Why have they been approached separately?; and (3) in what ways are Buddhist women (and men) combining gender analysis and environmentalism in practice in reference to or outside the framework of ecofeminism? To better understand why a Buddhist ecofeminism has not been named and claimed by Buddhists in either the West or Asia, there is a need for local-level empirical studies that examine subjective understandings of relationships between gender and environmentalism in the lives of ultramodern Buddhist practitioners rather than assuming a standard ecofeminist position as the primary reference point
Buddhism · Ecofeminism · Environmental ethics · Environmentalism · Feminism · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Theological Perspectives and Practices
Feminism and anthropology
Glocalization
Buddhism and ecology
Has Ecofeminism Cornered the Market? Gender Analysis in the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture
Acting with Compassion
The Thai bhikkhuni movement and women's empowerment
Toward a Buddhist Environmental Ethic
Ecofeminism Revisited
How environmentalist is Buddhism
Earth Mother Myths and Other Ecofeminist Fables
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |