Strange new worlds: Ecofeminism and science fiction

My project analyzes science fiction as an imaginary and literary corollary to ecofeminist theory. Understood as praxis, ecofeminist science fiction can challenge the reader's concept and experience of self, nature, community, gender and identity by exposing the underlying strata of hierarchal dualism, which posits a self in opposition to an Other. In Western culture, this Other is often allied with the "inferior forces" of nature, femaleness, the body, emotion, color/race, irrationality and evil, while the self correlates with culture, maleness, transcendence, intellect, whiteness, reason and good. The overriding goal in Western culture is to control, exploit and/or colonize this Other, which results in the oppression of women, people of color and non-human nature as a way to bolster a self based on separatism.;Ecofeminist science fiction not only exposes hierarchal dualism in a variety of social contexts, it offers an alternative way of being based upon a rational self and an ethics of care. These newly-envisioned selves join together to create diverse, multi-ethnic communities in partnership with the Earth, as well as cultural, economic and technological practices in accordance with the ecofeminist principles of care, diversity, and interdependence. These texts also address tensions within ecofeminist theory relating to essentialism and social constructionism, as well as contradictory drives toward separatism and multiplicity.;Extraterrestrial species, alien planets, and cyborgs perform a necessary role in ecofeminist science fiction by distancing the reader from her social milieu, and thus the cultural assumptions that surround her. This process, known as cognitive estrangement, allows the reader to formulate new visions of self, nature, community and other concepts, which she brings back with her from the fictional text. In the case of ecofeminist science fiction, these elements disrupt the assumptions of hierarchical dualism, allowing the reader to develop new, more rational ways of interacting with others, including the environment and nonhuman nature. Ecofeminist SF is thus a form of praxis because it provides a blueprint for the constructions of self, community, culture and identity intrinsically different from those of a hierarchical, dominator culture based on hierarchical dualism.