Thesis
Activism, gender politics, and environmentalism in the work of Toni Cade Bambara: a step toward social, mental, and environmental wholeness
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2009
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102546
Abstract
My thesis examines three interlinked themes in three chapters, activism, gender politics, and environmentalism in two works written by Toni Cade Bambara. I engage these three dimensions of Bambara's The Salt Eaters to construct a new way of reading Bambara: as a historian, as an advocate for progressive social change, as an environmentalist and as a prolific writer whose fiction, coupled with her non-fiction, particularly The Black Woman, stands as a testament to the need for consciousness and education in the world, and the need for a comprehensive understanding of the interrelated problems and possibilities of life in and beyond the US. With an emphasis on Black and Third World Women, I note that Bambara's activism advocates for coalition politics that will deviate from the normal happenings that leave disenfranchised people , and in turn, the world, in compromising and devastating situations. I highlight Bambara's historical contribution in her fiction to speak on gender politics as she humanizes women participants in the Modern Civil Rights Era, and I also illuminate her as one of the first writers to boldly comment on environmental racism. Overall, my thesis serves as a stepping point to help readers understand the importance and relevance of the writer Toni Cade Bambara to critical discourse. It highlights the truth by saying that the only way to achieve wholeness, the only way to help to make the world better than its existing state, is to be about action, coupled with a readiness to work with different cultures.
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Details
- Title
- Activism, gender politics, and environmentalism in the work of Toni Cade Bambara
- Creators
- Jessica Edwards
- Contributors
- T. V. Reed (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525181701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis