Environmental Justice/Injustice in Marie Clements’s Burning Vision: An Eco-critical Study

Dahy, Amal

doi:10.21608/gsal.2020.131416

Environmental Justice/Injustice in Marie Clements’s Burning Vision: An Eco-critical Study

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Amal Dahy

Department of English Language Faculty of Arts and Humanities - Minia University

10.21608/gsal.2020.131416

Abstract

Contemporary First Nations Theater introduces a rich variety of diverse cultural discourses articulated by a group of prolific playwrights. An outstanding figure of this group of playwrights is Marie Humber Clements (1962) who is an award-winning Metis performer, producer, director, screenwriter, and playwright. Clements’s eco-critical play Burning Vision (2003) investigates environmental justice/injustice issues and their effect on indigenous people. One of the main aims of this paper is to investigate the play’s innovative dramaturgy through which Clements depicts the intimate relationship between indigenous people and the environment, exposes human/non-human colonization, and exhibits the disastrous effects of resource exploitation and nuclear invasion on indigenous people and environment. Another important aim is to display, through analyzing Burning Vision, environmental justice/injustice as revealed by eco-critic Theresa J. May. In addition, the paper discusses Robert D. Bullard’s theory of environmental justice with other critical perspectives of different critics. In Burning Vision, Clements challenges the colonizer’s hegemony and attempts to contribute to ecological rejuvenation through the synergetic efforts of various indigenous groups.

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