Ecowomanist Literary Praxis and the Politics of Sustainability in the African Diaspora

This book brings together literary analysis, womanist theology, Black feminist ecologies, and decolonial development theory to establish a new methodological framework for interpreting sustainability through African diasporic literature. At a time when global development agendas frequently reduce sustainability to technocratic interventions and data metrics, this monograph highlights the power of literature as a site of critical engagement and ethical reimagination. Ecowomanist literary praxis—the aesthetic, spiritual, and political labor of African diasporic women’s writing—challenges the marginalization of underrepresented communities within dominant environmental discourses. Spanning genres and geographies including the speculative fiction of Octavia E. Butler and the postcolonial ecopoetics of Jamaica Kincade, the book argues that these creative works cultivate ethical orientations and political consciousness that can meaningfully inform more inclusive and accountable understandings of sustainability and global justice.