Ecofeminist Perspectives on Gender, Ecology, and Resistance in The Marrow Thieves and The Fifth Season

Abstract

This study explores how Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (2017) and N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season (2015) depict women’s ecological resistance within dystopian worlds marked by environmental collapse and systemic oppression. While climate fiction scholarship often examines ecological crisis, few studies analyze the intersection of gender, ecology, and power. Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology grounded in ecofeminist theory, the study employs close reading and thematic analysis to investigate patterns of trauma, memory, knowledge, and resilience. Findings reveal that women characters in both novels assert agency through ecological knowledge, cultural memory, and relational practices, resisting patriarchal, colonial, and imperial structures. Dimaline’s Indigenous women preserve communal bonds and land-based traditions as forms of ecofeminist resistance, whereas Jemisin’s Orogene women utilize geological mastery to challenge hierarchical control. The study demonstrates that ecofeminist resistance operates socially, culturally, and ecologically, shaped by historical and cultural contexts yet reflecting universal principles of survival and empowerment. These insights contribute to interdisciplinary discussions in climate fiction, ecofeminist theory, and marginalized literatures, highlighting the critical role of women-centred narratives in understanding ecological and social justice.