Has Ecofeminism Cornered the Market? Gender Analysis in the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture

An evaluation of how and to what extent gender has been used as a category of analysis in the study of religion and nature to date highlights important extant areas of work, as well as new approaches and subjects of inquiry that are as yet relatively untapped. The academic study of religion and nature has attended to ecofeminist concerns from the earliest stages of its development as a field, which testifies to its commitment to be a critical, interdisciplinary, and inclusive body of scholarship. But several unfortunate consequences result from the near-exclusive focus on ecofeminism within the field thus far, consequences that stem not from ecofeminism per se, but from the elision and underdevelopment of other productive forms of gender analysis that promise to further enrich the growing field of religion, nature, and culture studies.