Abstract
This article explores literature regarding the role of the desert in the broader ecological debate. In Western essentialist discourses, the equatorial forest has often been depicted in its exuberance, i.e., as the extreme opposite of the desert. Initially considered a contemplative and non-cultivated space, a place of absence in all its facets, the desert is accompanied by a metaphysical verticality that sets it apart from the excessive material vitality of the tropical forest. However, beyond their physiological antagonism, these two places share a common resistance to the Anthropocene, particularly to the various forms of colonialism. The novels, Désert (1980) by J.M.G. Le Clézio and Petroleum (2004) by Bessora, each construct a resistance narrative. The former resists the colonization of the Sahara Desert by French and Spanish conquistadors, while the latter resists the “Petrolization” of the Gabonese forest by Western geologists. Both can be placed within the ecological debate and within postcolonial and decolonial perspectives. Concern for the non-human environment is an integral part of the ethical dimension of both. Nature should no longer be perceived merely as a reality to be systematically subtracted but as a presence that “suggests that human history is an integral part of natural history.”
Published Version
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