An Ecological Reading of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony

Abstract

By analyzing Leslie Marmon Silkos Ceremony primarily from an ecological perspective, this study tries to find the cause of the ecological disaster that contemporary civilization faces and argues that Ceremony is a text of resistance aiming at a gradual subversion of the corrupt white capitalist culture. By suggesting a life-centered ecological perspective, this essay clarifies that Ceremony is a practical and revolutionary text designed to present methods for achieving ecological justice which was devastated by white peoples commercial and capitalistic greed and violence upon nature. This essay also shows that Ontological equality and interdependence among the members of the ecosystem are at the core of Silkos eco-vision, and it reflects the ancient Laguna Pueblos inclusive vision of the world. To understand self/other as interpenetrating part/part and part/whole relationships rather than dichotomy is fundamental for understanding Silkos eco-community (Murphy 9).