An Ecofeminist Foremother? Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Oneiric Representation of Nature, Technology and Gender Roles in “Sultana’s Dream”

Abstract

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s 1905 short story “Sultana’s Dream” depicts a utopian alliance between nature, science and women. As Sultana dreams of Ladyland, a country where men are “where they ought to be […], shut […] indoors”, she marvels at the harmonious relationship between all female Ladylanders and their natural environment. Not only does “the whole place look like a garden”, but also all technological innovations rely on a reasonable use of the surrounding natural resources. While the story presages the emergence of both spiritual and political ecofeminisms, the characters’ connectedness to nature and virtuous interactions with the natural world largely depend on science and technology. I argue that this marked difference from other ecofeminist utopias partly derives from Ladyland’s effort to educate all girls — an endeavour that clearly stems from Hossain’s life and works. I then document Hasanat’s claim (2013) that the women in the story defy “the masculine notion of power by gaining control over both man and nature.” Last, drawing on Chaudhuri (2016) and others, I examine how, despite its potentially satirical and dystopic dimensions, Hossain’s oneiric story develops a complex alternate way of articulating technology, nature and gender roles.