Following the The Word for World is Forest symposium, I was invited to turn my presentation into a full length article for The Acorn journal. I’m pleased to say this is now available online.
I cannot write a better introduction to the article than the one written by José-Antonio Orosco, organiser of the symposium and guest editor of The Acorn.
He writes:
“Medlicott traces an ecofeminist undercurrent within Le Guin’s novella and illustrates how it links misogyny with destruction of the natural world and violence toward indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, Medlicott points out that if we pull back from the narrative, we can see the ways Le Guin’s work is still structured according to patriarchal themes that retain fixed gender dualisms and an emphasis on masculine saviors. Medlicott reviews several other later works by Le Guin, noting how she struggled not to repeat masculinist tropes in her worldbuilding and, in the process, remade the genre of science fiction literature. Medlicott ends by inviting us to consider what it would mean to bring this critical attitude toward scholarly and activist work today as we ponder what it means to engage theory as a tool for emancipatory struggles and to devise direct action to confront oppressive institutions.”
Editor’s introduction to The Acorn issue 24.1
Many thanks to José-Antonio Orosco for this introduction and to Greg Moses, editor of The Acorn: Philosophical Studies in Pacifism and Non-Violence.
If that has whet your appetite, you can find the article here. It is behind a paywall so if you have any problems with access please let me know.
Another recommended publication
I’m excited to read Ben Nadler’s article ‘”The Root Is the Dream”: Dreaming, Storytelling, and Political Action in Two of Le Guin’s Vietnam War Era Novels’, published in the same issue. Ben also spoke at the The Word for World is Forest symposium and I have often thought about his paper since.
