An Eco-critical Reading of William Wordsworth's Poetry and Pantheistic Strains in his Poetry

The relation between people and environment has long been documented through literary works. Edward white gives the example of Adam and Eve journey through the Garden of Eden in the Bible and Odyssey dangerous trek across the Mediterranean Sea in Homer’s Odyssey as early literary examples in which human path cross the nature and interact with the beauty of nature.

Women Shamans in Louise Erdrich's Novel Texts

Women Shamans in Louise Erdrich's Novel Texts This qualitative study is about the women shamans in the novel texts of Louise Erdrich. The women shamans, included in the study, belong to Native American culture that had been stereotyped, labeled and defined by the theoretical frameworks of the colonial masters, and therefore, this resistance has been highlighted in the analysis of the novel texts, by utilizing a theoretical framework that gives proper representation to the native women. This study is about the understanding of the roles of these women shamans in their native contexts in a quest to find the hidden history behind the stories, which has been silenced by the authoritative colonial masters. The study is grounded in the colored feminist perspective of bell hooks and Paula Gunn Allen as the white theoretical underpinnings are unable to give proper representation to the perspectives of the indigenous people. The women shamans are analyzed in the interplay of myth, metaphor, narratives and emotions. The metaphors and emotions in the novel texts, challenge the authoritative and colonial gaze, which has marginalized the indigenous people and restricted them from their spiritual and peaceful traditions. The Colonial patterns and discursive strategies still persist in the lives of the indigenous women. The study is about the role of these women shamans in their tribes, and the manner in which they challenge the patriarchal, dominant and sexist thinking. The mythic world of shamans and the interplay of myth, metaphors and emotions give rise to these narratives and the analysis of these narratives give a critical insight into the lives of the Native Americans driven away from their lands and harmonic, matrilineal culture of their ancestors to the margins. The study focuses on the conceptual metaphors analyzed in the cultural context of the native women while searching for the identity, family system, spirituality and religious traditions of the indigenous women.