Toxic Matters and Marginalized Bodies: Ecofeminism and Environmental Justice in the Fiction of Arundhati Roy

Abstract

This research paper deals with the subject of ecofeminism and environmental justice in the fictional work of Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997) and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017). The study employs a qualitative textual analysis approach based on an ecofeminist theory and an environmental justice framework to examine the intersections of the marginalized human body (namely, women, lower-castes, and gender non-conforming communities) and the natural ecosystem in Roy's work as a product of globalized capitalism and patriarchal nationalism. It is suggested that Roy's narrative approach can be correlated with environmental deterioration and vulnerable bodies, thus showing that environmental degradation is directly connected to social hierarchy and corporate developmentalism. The results show that Roy's literature is an intervention against the environmental policy of the upper class by focusing on "small things" and survival strategies of subalterns.