Aspects of Gender and environmental violence in Modern Arabic literature

Lecture by Assistant Professor Jihan Zakarriya, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (Aarhus University).

Abstract

The lecture analyses interdisciplinary ecocritical perspectives on different forms of human and environmental violence and insecurities in a selection of contemporary and modern Arabic novels. It argues that the destruction of the environment in Arabic literature parallels and intersects with the violation of women’s bodies that both have marked recent religious and political conflicts in, for example, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria and Egypt. The presentation sheds light on the systematic, interdependence between gendered and ecological violence, analyzing how does this interdependence advance ecocritical understandings of religious-political conflicts as reflected in Arabic literature.

Jihan Zakarriya is a fellow at Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies, and is working on ecocriticism and environmental literature in the Arab world.