Presentation short abstract

This presentation articulates how a present-day interrogation of Maria Mies’ and Val Plumwood’s ecofeminist thought can pave the way towards more just and sustainable forms of labour and ecological relations in a moment of socioecological reproduction in crisis.

Presentation long abstract

It is increasingly recognised that the current historical conjuncture represents the culmination of multiple overlapping and intersecting crises, inaugurated by an interpellation of overlapping forms of oppression and injustice constitutive of capitalist racist patriarchy. There has been a resurgence of interest in perspectives that combine an understanding of the destructiveness of capitalism with foci in the environmental and social background conditions of this mode of accumulation. In this theoretical and political context, ecofeminist scholarship and activism provide a rich repository of ideas, strategies and concepts that specifically speak to the joint exploitation and commodification of human labour and the environment. To this end, this presentation will involve a discussion of the current quagmire of crises from the perspective of two seminal, yet different ecofeminist theorists, Maria Mies and Val Plumwood, with a core focus on socio-ecological reproduction, its exploitation, and its transformative potential. Our contribution operates across the boundary of political economy and ecology to explore how insights from Mies’ anti-imperialist, socialist ecofeminist work on the one hand, and Plumwood’s foundational philosophical critique of the master model of modernity on the other, pose a radical challenge to the contemporary oppressive configuration of ‘the forces of reproduction’. Through our collaborative dialogue, we articulate some key suggestions on how revisiting Mies’ and Plumwood’s respective theoretical contributions – notably concepts such as housewifisation of labour, as well as hierarchical dualism as the logical structure underwriting colonisation – can pave the way towards more just and sustainable forms of labour and ecological relations.