Paper Title
Ecological Combat between Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism in Tim Winton's Select Novels
Abstract
Ethno ecology is the study of the social culture of the people and their relationship with their native surroundings. The development of culture and the advancement of society always takes a major role in the depletion of nature. According to ecocriticism, the change in human behaviour and cultural development ruins nature. Tim Winton is one of the famous writers of contemporary Australian literature. He is an aboriginal writer from Australia. His novels deal with the coastal background of the country. The novels Shallows and An Open Swimmer are the two famous works of Tim Winton. Both these novels are set on the Western Australian coast. The common theme one can find is whaling. Whaling on the Australian coast is more serious during the 1980s. There is a clash between whalers the environmentalist. The change in culture and modernization made people greedy to think about their economic development. Anthropocentrism and ecocentrism are the two pathways where eco-critics travel. The former deals with human beings, where humans are at the centre and nature surrounds them. The latter completely relies on the environment, where nature is at the centre and all other living beings surround them. This article completely deals with the cultural change of people and the consequence which leads to the destruction of nature. The author dwelt on ethnoecological theory to provide evidence for the statements added. Thus, the evolution of cultural ecology from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism is presented concerning Tim Winton’s Shallows and An Open Swimmer.
Keywords - Anthropocentrism, Ecocentrism, Ethnoecology, Nature, Whaling.