Speaker
Description
This paper proposes to examine Ursula K. Le Guin’s flash fiction She Unnames Them (1985) as a literary intervention in the intertwined crises of language, ecology, and gender. Adopting a posthumanist and ecofeminist perspective, the analysis will focus on how Le Guin dramatizes Eve's act of “unnaming” animals and herself, thereby systematically undoing the biblical tradition of hierarchical naming. This narrative act is argued to enact a profound crisis of anthropocentric epistemology and linguistic authority.
Through a close reading of the text and engagement with key theoretical frameworks, including Rosi Braidotti’s concept of posthumanism, Donna Haraway’s articulation of multispecies kinship, and Val Plumwood’s ecofeminist critique of dualism, this paper will propose that Le Guin’s narrative models a quiet yet radically ethical response to contemporary socio-environmental crises. The act of unnaming, as depicted in the story, is shown to disrupt dominant classificatory systems and to open a crucial space for new relational modes grounded in mutual vulnerability and care. This connects directly with broader theoretical and practical efforts to reimagine human–nonhuman coexistence in the Anthropocene.
In doing so, She Unnames Them offers a speculative fabulation that both reflects and contributes to interdisciplinary crisis discourse. The paper will emphasize the critical importance of narrative, language, and imagination in promoting resilience in the face of escalating global challenges. The conclusion will assert that Le Guin’s work exemplifies how literature can not only reflect but also actively enact forms of ethical adaptation that are essential to confronting and transforming the ongoing crises shaping contemporary society and the environment.
| Keywords | Ursula K. Le Guin, posthumanism, crisis ethics, ecofeminism, naming and language |
|---|---|
| serhat.uyurkulak@fbu.edu.tr |