The Coloniality of Nature: Feminist Concepts of Extractivism
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Abstract
In the face of current debates about climate catastrophes and green growth our contribution examines entangled nature- and gender relations in a globalized framework. Taking the term extractivism as our starting point, we demonstrate that large-scale extraction of raw materials leads to massive socio-ecological damages in the Global South and perpetuates the (neo)colonial international division of labor. Drawing on diverse ecofeminist theories, the analysis focuses on the social effects of intersectionally marginalized/oppressed women and their land rights, labor, food, sexualities, political agency, power. Furthermore, we argue that existing unjust gender relations are constitutive for extractivism and thus should be understood as a fundamental cause of the coloniality of nature. In sum, our article aims to expand on mostly gender-neutral discussions about global nature relations through gender critical/feminist concepts of extractivism and make use of fertile theoretical insights from feminisms in the Global South for German-speaking gender research on nature.
Keywords: Extractivism, Feminist Political Ecology, De/Coloniality, Social reproduction, Global South
Bibliography: Löw, Christine/Scheiterbauer, Tanja: Zur Kolonialität der Naturverhältnisse: Feministische Konzeptionen von Extraktivismus, FZG – Freiburger Zeitschrift für GeschlechterStudien, 2025, pp. 65-81.
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Literature
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