Maart 2013: jaargang 10, nommer 1 - LitNet

LitNet Akademies Jaargang 10 (1), Maart 2013
perception of a stronger self contradicts her previous sense of self-contempt and her socially
constructed identity situation of worthlessness.
In its unique way Die kremetartekspedisie issues a literary challenge to the Western
instrumentalist view of nature. Instead of emphasising the idea of nature’s utility and thus, in
a sense, implying subjection and exploitation by mankind, this novel portrays humankind
anchored to nature in a relationship of existential dependence, relying on nature as the
essential Other in the processes through which the Self is (re)constructed and fully
understood. In contradicting the patriarchal relationship to nature, this novel corresponds with
ecofeminism’s aims in challenging the dualisms in Western society (male/female,
human/nature) as well as the underlying ideas of superiority and inferiority.
Die kremetartekspedisie deals with the construction of identity within the context of
ecocriticism in an interesting way. Lawrence Buell calls for the rethinking of the Western
ways in which human beings imagine themselves in relation to their natural environment. He
asserts that ”environmental crisis involves a crisis of the imagination, the amelioration of
which depends on finding better ways of imagining nature and humanity’s relation to it”
(Buell 1995:2). Steenkamp (2011:186) reasons that the alternative appears to be a more
ecocentric approach that places a self in nature, as an integral and indistinguishable part of a
larger ecosystem. Steenkamp’s thesis, however, highlights the many difficulties associated
with such a re-envisioning of the relationship between self and environment within a South
African context, pointing to the history of colonial oppression and racial segregation, as well
as the relationship of these violent legacies to current debates surrounding the issues of land
ownership, the distribution of natural resources, and ecological concerns.
Die kremetartekspedisie offers a literary response to the challenge of “finding better ways of
imagining nature and humanity’s relation to it”, taking into account precisely those problems
relating to ideas of environmental belonging, or the positioning of the self in relation to the
natural world in South Africa. The narrative particulars ofDie kremetartekspedisie are
situated entirely beyond South Africa’s geographical boundaries and the socio-political
context of the time. The main character is totally separated from the scene of the social and
political exploitation dominating the history of South Africa and influencing ecological
consciousness, even from the main era of the European colonisation of Africa, which
stigmatised the indigenous peoples and, simultaneously, burdened natural resources. Hence
possibilities of gaining knowledge of the Self in an unimpeded manner are imagined through
a more intimate awareness of natural space, which, in turn, plays a role in determining the
worth and views of the self.
Key words: nature as the Other; ecocriticism; deep ecology; (re)construction of identity;
Wilma Stockenström; The expedition to the baobab tree;interaction between human and
nature; Self in nature; ecofeminism
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