Environmental Ethics and Democratic Citizenship in Mary Austin’s The Basket Woman
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58837/CHULA.THTS.45.1.1Keywords:
democratic citizenship; ecocriticism; environmental ethics; Native American talesAbstract
This article examines the intertwined notion of environmental ethics and democratic citizenship in Mary Austin’s The Basket Woman: A Book of Indian Tales for Children (1904). It argues that Austin attempts to craft Native American tales to inculcate the spiritual relationship between humans and nonhumans, an idea which is derived from Native American beliefs. Reading this text in juxtaposition with her political piece, The Young Woman Citizen (1918), it further argues that The Basket Woman can be interpreted as instilling in children’s minds at least two civic values which are necessary for the construction of a democratic society: social responsibility and public-spiritedness. Moreover, this article investigates the transformation of the attitude of a white boy, who is the male protagonist in the frame narrative, toward marginalized Native Americans, including the Basket Woman, and the nonhuman world after his immersion into the tales told by her. It will therefore demonstrate how Austin employs the Basket Woman’s tales as a means to instruct children how to coexist harmoniously with nonhumans and other humans.
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