Reading the forest as inter-species commune in Matthee's circles in a forest (1984) and Ehrlich & Reed's my octopus teacher (2020)
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Date
2022
Authors
Louw, René
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
This study investigates the forest as a site of commune for human and nonhuman sentients in Matthee’ s Circles in a Forest (2005), the Afrikaans novel published in 1984 and the English translation published in 2005, and the Netflix nature documentary, My Octopus Teacher (2020). The objective of this work is to find the ways in which the forest space extends and adds to the conversation around ecological sustainability by means of regenerative communities. South African author, Dalene Matthee’s Circles in a Forest (2005) presents the Knysna forest as an example of a sustainable biological and relational system that is made possible by the responsible practices of those who partake in its community of human and nonhuman inhabitants. South Africa’s first ever Netflix Original nature documentary, My Octopus Teacher (2020), directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, documents the interspecies encounters between a local film maker, Craig Foster, and a common octopus or octopus vulgaris, within a False Bay kelp forest, located within the South Atlantic Ocean, off the South African coast. This dissertation investigates how intimate connections between human and nonhuman lead to rehabilitative and sensitising possibilities within the space of the forest. A textual analysis of the two primary texts alongside a comparative study reveals how the forest offers alternative ways of practicing community-based ethics within human-disturbed landscapes which can be used to inspire sustainable futures for the environment. The terrestrial Knysna forest and aquatic kelp forest engage in relational economies of reciprocity, vulnerability, and deep interconnection, the combination of which forms the units of exchange between the encounters of humans, nonhumans, and the environment.
Description
Dissertation (M.A. (English))--University of the Free State, 2022