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minisaucisse's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Very strange book.
Sometimes extremely dense, and annotated on every page, sometimes everything has been said already and it's redundant. A very nice analysis regarding economics, but the motherly part is sometimes a bit nauseating. You don't think there is gays until the last pages. Not always very sourced, yet it did made me think. I guess the book is not very homogeneous.
Sometimes extremely dense, and annotated on every page, sometimes everything has been said already and it's redundant. A very nice analysis regarding economics, but the motherly part is sometimes a bit nauseating. You don't think there is gays until the last pages. Not always very sourced, yet it did made me think. I guess the book is not very homogeneous.
lattelibrarian's review
5.0
Ya girl LOVES bringing up hot topics such as ecofeminism and environmental justice and what we as consumers need to do about such topics and this book gave me loads of information with which to fire back. As it would turn out, while factories and companies do cause a lot of harm, so do consumers! And it's our job to help. Not only that, but screw recycling and reducing, we need to flat out refuse. I've been saying these things for so long, and this book has just given me the academic ammunition I need.
Both Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, upon agreeing to coauthor this book, decided to only write about their own countries and perspectives and experiences--to try to write a book with a mutual understanding and mutual goal in sight for both a daughter of Germany and a daughter of India would be too difficult, and perhaps counterproductive. Both highly-industrialized countries and colonized countries have vastly different goals. For example, industrialized countries are dealing with carbon, CO2, pollution, so on and so forth. Colonized countries deal with factories, environmental racism, garbage deposits, and more. The problems can't necessarily be conflated, but there are solutions and ideological shifts that folks in either country can make in order to make our world more livable.
On the academic side of things, I find that this book was well-sourced, well-argued, and well-cited. They bring in interesting concepts such as consumerism, surrogate mothers, Chernobyl, and more in order to make their point: there is something we can all do for each other, and something we can all do for this earth, despite what billionaires may have us believe.
Most shocking to me, however, is that I'm personally still making the same arguments today, despite this book being published in 1993. It's older than I am, yet so few people understand the very real and necessary individual actions we need to make in order to become a collective. It only goes to show that this book is as important as ever, and hugely necessary in the world of ecofeminism and environmental justice.
Review cross-listed here!
Both Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, upon agreeing to coauthor this book, decided to only write about their own countries and perspectives and experiences--to try to write a book with a mutual understanding and mutual goal in sight for both a daughter of Germany and a daughter of India would be too difficult, and perhaps counterproductive. Both highly-industrialized countries and colonized countries have vastly different goals. For example, industrialized countries are dealing with carbon, CO2, pollution, so on and so forth. Colonized countries deal with factories, environmental racism, garbage deposits, and more. The problems can't necessarily be conflated, but there are solutions and ideological shifts that folks in either country can make in order to make our world more livable.
On the academic side of things, I find that this book was well-sourced, well-argued, and well-cited. They bring in interesting concepts such as consumerism, surrogate mothers, Chernobyl, and more in order to make their point: there is something we can all do for each other, and something we can all do for this earth, despite what billionaires may have us believe.
Most shocking to me, however, is that I'm personally still making the same arguments today, despite this book being published in 1993. It's older than I am, yet so few people understand the very real and necessary individual actions we need to make in order to become a collective. It only goes to show that this book is as important as ever, and hugely necessary in the world of ecofeminism and environmental justice.
Review cross-listed here!
tothe_lighthouse's review
1.0
Interesting but, in my opinion, outdated book, which focuses on certain topics that are no longer pertinent or puts forward theories that have already been contradicted. There's a real critique of capitalism - which I appreciated - but the point of view remains very binary: men/women and colonizers/colonized. The writing is dense, making it hard to read.
sustainablereader98's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This book is an overall well rounded explanation of the subsistence perspective within the Ecofeminist movement. Both arthurs throughly articulate informative and inspiring insights on the aggressive, exploitative, ecologically destructive technology created by the commodity producing, growth oriented capitalist/socialist industrial system. Although it is a relatively slow read, topics range from the effects of the Chernobyl incident to the trials of witch hunting and how each perpetuate a militarization mentality against both women and nature.
I would suggest remembering that this is an older book. Some topics that include IVF, gender, and abortions are lacking a lense that the PC culture of this millennia has widened over the years. Although with this being said, if you can understand the time period in which this was written, a lot of information still holds true to this day.
I would suggest remembering that this is an older book. Some topics that include IVF, gender, and abortions are lacking a lense that the PC culture of this millennia has widened over the years. Although with this being said, if you can understand the time period in which this was written, a lot of information still holds true to this day.
If you enjoy learning about the misleadings of US history, the wrong doings of our colonization, rebuilding ecological cycles, or regeneration, then this is the book for you. I would go as far to say that if you are even slightly interested in feminism and/or helping our planet, then add this to your list of To Reads, it’s worth the push and you will end this book with a new perspective on several topics.
akingston5's review against another edition
Mies and Shiva lay out an ecofeminist framework that shifts ontological and epistemological ideas for a better world. In critiquing the systems of domination (the white capitalist patriarchy) from a variety of issues, they offer insights into what dismantling these systems would look like, and how all people might flourish in lives of possibilities rather than oppressions and hierarchical dualities. Really recommend!
rcsreads's review against another edition
I gave up. It has such a binary view of gender and an overly rosy view of the past. They seem to think all science is evil and all men just want to blow stuff up. The constant comparison of IVF treatment to nuclear weapons really annoyed me.
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Possibly if they did some better research into history and science and wrote an updated version it could be good. There are some decent ideas but a lot more rambling, dated nonsense.
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Possibly if they did some better research into history and science and wrote an updated version it could be good. There are some decent ideas but a lot more rambling, dated nonsense.
schomj's review
4.0
Antiracist, anticolonialist, feminist examination of ecological activism and theory. So amazingly good.
You know how you're vaguely aware of how GATT and NAFTA and WTO and IMF all those alphabet groups/treaties aimed at "humanitarianism" and "progress" and "development" are kind of a scam? And how "green" consumption is also kind of a scam?This explains how those scams work. And who gets blamed when they don't achieve purported goals.
This also provides models of grassroots ecofeminist praxis that are based in local communities in contact with other communities. Because the problems are global, but the solutions are often local. It's not just woe and misery but also motivation and inspiration to do better.
My one warning for this, aside from the age, is that the authors don't seem to be aware of the existence of queer or trans people, and the two times Islam is mentioned are both yikes.
You know how you're vaguely aware of how GATT and NAFTA and WTO and IMF all those alphabet groups/treaties aimed at "humanitarianism" and "progress" and "development" are kind of a scam? And how "green" consumption is also kind of a scam?This explains how those scams work. And who gets blamed when they don't achieve purported goals.
This also provides models of grassroots ecofeminist praxis that are based in local communities in contact with other communities. Because the problems are global, but the solutions are often local. It's not just woe and misery but also motivation and inspiration to do better.
My one warning for this, aside from the age, is that the authors don't seem to be aware of the existence of queer or trans people, and the two times Islam is mentioned are both yikes.
luchiiaa's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced