Publication: A Postcolonial Ecocritical Reading of Zakes Mda’s The Whale Caller
Submitted Date
Received Date
Accepted Date
Issued Date
2016
Copyright Date
Announcement No.
Application No.
Patent No.
Valid Date
Resource Type
Edition
Resource Version
Language
en
File Type
No. of Pages/File Size
ISBN
ISSN
eISSN
DOI
Scopus ID
WOS ID
Pubmed ID
arXiv ID
item.page.harrt.identifier.callno
Other identifier(s)
Journal Title
Thoughts
Volume
2
Issue
Edition
Start Page
19
End Page
42
Access Rights
Access Status
Rights
Rights Holder(s)
Physical Location
Bibliographic Citation
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Authors
Journal Issue
Title
A Postcolonial Ecocritical Reading of Zakes Mda’s The Whale Caller
Alternative Title(s)
Author(s)
Author’s Affiliation
Author's E-mail
Editor(s)
Editor’s Affiliation
Corresponding person(s)
Creator(s)
Compiler
Advisor(s)
Illustrator(s)
Applicant(s)
Inventor(s)
Issuer
Assignee
Other Contributor(s)
Series
Has Part
Abstract
Zakes Mda’s novel The Whale Caller (2005) is a story about the extraordinary relationship between a man, a woman, and a whale. Set in the post-apartheid South Africa and involving issues like bestiality, animal conservation, and environmental degradation, the novel invites postcolonial and environmental reading. After laying out some of the relevant scholarly criticisms, this research article will engage four topics of interest to postcolonial ecocritics: the history of agricultural exploitation during the period of colonialism in South Africa, postcolonial tourism, whale conservation, and the challenge of global animal protection in relation to environmental justice. Throughout the study, the overlapping interests, as well as tension and conflicts, between the postcolonial and environmental criticisms will be underlined in order to show the possibility of interdisciplinary collaboration between the two fields. The research article will also shed light on the complexity and inextricability of the environmental problems and the global economic disparity, which have been brilliantly presented throughout this novel.