NATURE’S TAPESTRY: ECO-FEMINIST THREADS IN JAMIL AHMAD’S THE WANDERING FALCON

Abstract

Jamil Ahmad’s The Wandering Falcon through an ecofeminist lens, focuses on the interconnectedness between the oppression of women and the suppression of nature. Ecofeminism focuses on the exploitation of women in relation to nature and shows how the oppression of both is legitimized by the patriarchy. It sheds light on the domination of the weaker sex by providing various instances from the interconnected stories of the novel set in the background of peripheries near the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. It delves into tribal culture and the ways through which culture subjugates and overpowers women—the representative of nature—like honour killing, commodification, exploitation, slavery, violence and prostitution. Jamil Ahmad highlights how men are the representatives of culture with patriarchal tools like Pashtunwali code in this case, aiding in defending the wrongful domination by the bearers of culture over the feeble representatives of nature— the women. Throughout the novel, various examples of the nature-culture dichotomy are evident. This paper dives deep in to the exploration of the patriarchal structures ingrained in the society which serve to oppress women side by side with nature.