Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

188858

Introduction

the ethics of relationships in social documentaries

Rayson K. Alex S. Susan Deborah

pp. 1-7

Abstract

The role of ecology in the humanities is to describe, analyse, and critique the relationship of human beings with living and non-living entities in specific contexts. Basically, it questions the supremacy of humans and the attitude of humans towards the environment and its dependent organisms. However, in recent times, the disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences, using scientific and technological research, have made conscious efforts to acknowledge and study socio-ecological models which consider humans as merely a part of the ecosystem. In this context, the dynamics of relationships between humans, other organisms, and the various environments they live in are seen from a non-anthropocentric point of view. The non-anthropocentric ecologies embrace postcolonialism, gynocentrism, zoocentrism, and ecocentrism. A possible thread of connection between these different perspectives is the challenge they pose to the rigid hierarchies of their established counterparts. The Western acknowledgement of the ecologies of the Global South is a welcome initiative as it challenges Eurocentric hierarchies. Scott Slovic, Swarnalatha Rangarajan, and Vidya Sarveswaran, in their "Introduction" to Ecocriticism of the Global South, express this sentiment when they mention that "…existing [ecocritical] studies―both monographs and edited collections―operate from the point of view of First-World scholars, speaking on behalf of subalternized human communities and degraded landscapes' (1–2).

Publication details

Published in:

K. Alex Rayson (2016) Ecodocumentaries: critical essays. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 1-7

DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-56224-1_1

Full citation:

Alex Rayson K., Deborah S. Susan (2016) „Introduction: the ethics of relationships in social documentaries“, In: R. K. alex (ed.), Ecodocumentaries, Dordrecht, Springer, 1–7.