La creciente by Armida de la Vara: A Seed of Ecofeminism in the Desert

Abstract

This essay offers an approach to the text La creciente (1979) by Armida de la Vara from the ecofeminist theory, starting from the concepts of spiritual and material ecofeminism, by Mary Mellor, and matria, by Luis González y González. The relationship between the characters and the environment in which they live is analyzed from the processes of colonialism, modernization and development faced in the village narrated; the analysis highlights the consequences that these processes bring with them, mainly the exploitation of the environment, the social impositions on men and women and the disintegration of the communities. I propose that Armida de la Vara, through the nostalgia for the “terruño”, criticizes these processes and the different forms of exploitation of life they represent, especially for women.