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“To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south
Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2021.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2022
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| _version_ | 1867613696660865024 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Moonsamy, Nedine |
| author_browse | Moonsamy, Nedine |
| author_facet | Moonsamy, Nedine |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2021. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/83938 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:40:15.382Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/83938 “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south Moonsamy, Nedine janamuller101@gmail.com Muller, Jana Marié English Postcolonial ecocriticism Postcolonial literature Environmental literature of the Global South UCTD Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2021. This dissertation analyses three environmental texts from the Global South, focusing on presentations of environmental decline in the neoliberal era as inherently connected to histories of colonial oppression in the past and the continuation of colonial ideologies and power structures in the present. The textual analyses in this dissertation uncover depictions of nonhuman agency and distributed networks of agency between human and nonhuman actors. The first novel analysed is Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997), which exposes the inherent connections between the systemic oppression of the most marginalised characters and the degradation of the natural environment in India as a result of state-sanctioned development projects. Ultimately, the representation of nonhuman nature as an active agent in the tragedies that occur in the novel champion a more interdependent relationship with nonhuman nature. The next is Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift (2019). The discussion of the novel focuses primarily on the assertive and agential presence of the swarm chorus of mosquitoes that guide and provide commentary on the narrative. It examines the destructive effects of Western development discourse and neoliberal globalisation on Zambian ecologies. Finally, the dissertation analyses Rita Indiana’s Tentacle (2018), showing how the novel’s temporally fluid narrative and its investment in the materiality of oceanic interconnection exposes the intrinsic connection between the decimation of Caribbean marine environments in the neoliberal era and anthropogenic climate change to the legacies of colonialism and the perpetuation of these legacies by the capitalist world-system. English MA (English) Unrestricted 2022-02-15T12:57:09Z 2022-02-15T12:57:09Z 2022-04 2021 Dissertation * A2022 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/83938 en © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | English Postcolonial ecocriticism Postcolonial literature Environmental literature of the Global South UCTD “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title | “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title_full | “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title_fullStr | “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title_full_unstemmed | “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title_short | “To err is human, that is your doom and delight" : uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| title_sort | to err is human that is your doom and delight uncovering nonhuman agency in the environmental literature of the global south |
| topic | English Postcolonial ecocriticism Postcolonial literature Environmental literature of the Global South UCTD |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/83938 |