Abstract
The
ecofeminist cosmologies of Indian scientist Vandana Shiva and Catholic
theologian Ivone Gebara are examined. At the centre of each author’s
discourse is their feminist epistemology that occasion a new way of
knowing, incorporating each thinker’s social locations as nexus for
authority. For Shiva, the feminine principle of Prakriti, or the
awareness of nature as a living, interdependent force, is realized
through the inclusion of women as sources of expertise and knowledge.
Gebara rejects classical theology and philosophy as androcentric,
anthropocentric, and hierarchical. Instead Gebara envisions a revised
epistemology of inclusivity with emphasis on multiplicity and unity
initiated by an ecofeminist Trinitarian cosmology. Taken together Shiva
and Gebara provide an epistemology that privileges the paradox of unity
through diversity and difference as a solution to society’s current
ecological crises.
