Phytopoesis: Plants in Contemporary Amazonian Women’s Poetry

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2025.16.2.5741

Keywords:

ontological turn, contemporary Amazonian poetry, contemporary women’s poetry, Astrid Cabral, Dina Ananco

Abstract

The ontological turn within anthropology postulates that there is a multiplicity of worlds and that taking Indigenous worlds, realities and thought seriously enriches Western philosophy and culture. Taking a cue from the ontological turn, I argue in this article that Amazonian Indigenous and non-Indigenous literature offers readers an entry-point into worlds where more than human beings take center-stage. I analyze the phtytopoesis, or the poetry on/with plants, by two Amazonian women authors from different countries and generations—Brazilian Astrid Cabral (1936-), and Peruvian Dina Ananco (1985-)—to show the centrality of vegetal life in Amazonia. I contend that these poets reflect upon traditional, communal ties to plants and resignify them to bolster women’s empowerment.

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Author Biography

Patrícia Vieira, CES, University of Coimbra

Patricia Vieira is Research Professor at the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra in Portugal. Her fields of expertise are Latin American and Iberian Literature and Cinema, Utopian Studies and the Environmental Humanities. She currently heads the European Research Council Consolidator project “ECO – Animals and Plants in Cultural Productions about the Amazon River Basin” and co-coordinates the Gerda Henkel Foundation funded project “Resilient Forest Cities: Utopia and Development in the Modern Amazon.” For more information: www. patriciavieira.net

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Published

2025-10-30

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2025): Vegetal Humanities in the Amazon

Section

Articles: Vegetal Humanities in the Amazon

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