Mother / Nature: Popular Culture and Environmental Ethics

by Catherine M. Roach

Overview

This brief but ambitious book explores our relationship with nature through the imagery we use when we talk about Mother Nature. Employing the critical tools of religious studies, psychology, and gender studies, Catherine M. Roach examines the various manifestations of nature as "mother" and what that idea implies for the way we approach the natural world. Part One, "Nature as Good Mother," discusses the notion that nature is, or is like, a beneficent and nurturing mother who provides and maintains life. In studying the "green" slogan "Love Your Mother," Roach questions the effects—for women and for the environment—of imputing female gender to nature. She asks us to look at the associations that "motherhood" and "mothering" carry within a culture still shaped by patriarchy. She notes the danger of such an apparently pro-environmental slogan if "mother" evokes the bountiful, self-sacrificing provider who herself requires no care.

Part Two, "Nature as Bad Mother," looks at the contrary notion of nature as a violent, threatening, and wrathful mother. This image arises most often when humans and technology are depicted as masters of unruly nature. Here Roach draws on theological reflection to analyze this ambivalence toward nature manifested in a fantasy that casts humans as gods. She explores the contributions of eco-theology and eco-psychology to a "heart of darkness" perspective. Finally, Part Three, "Nature as Hurt Mother," looks at possibilities and pitfalls of environmental healing inherent in the image of nature as a mother we have wounded and now seek to heal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253215628
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	01/30/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.59(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Catherine M. Roach is Assistant Professor of New College and Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Table of Contents:

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: 1. Wilderness-Within and Without
Part I: Nature as Good Mother
2. "Love Your Mother"
3. Mothers and Mother Nature
Part II: Nature as Bad Mother
4. "She Will Try To Drown You"
5. Splitting Mother Nature
Part III: Nature as Hurt Mother
6. "Our Mother Needs Our Help"
7. Healing Mother Nature
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Roach (religious studies, Univ. of Alabama) analyzes the maternal imagery used to describe the environment because she believes it functions semiconsciously, in a gendered and ambivalent way, to perpetuate human environmental destruction and often to denigrate women as well. Combining religious studies, psychology, and gender analysis, Roach pays particular attention to advertisements and slogans, such as the environmentalist plea to "Love Your Mother." Dividing her analysis into three parts-"Nature as Good Mother," "Nature as Bad Mother," and "Nature as Hurt Mother"-Roach finds all three problematic both for the environment and for women. Her book closes with positive suggestions about healing imagery that motivates environmental reparation and leads beyond human self-interest to changed human behavior toward the environment. This deeply thoughtful book takes a broad look at contemporary culture and is recommended for large public libraries and for specialized theological, environmental, feminist, and popular culture collections.-Carolyn M. Craft, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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