Ecofamilism: Women, Religion, and Environmental Protectionin Taiwan

Ecofamilism proposes a new analytical framework, moving beyond ecofeminism, based on Western feminism and Christian theology, to illuminate Taiwanese women’s motivations and how they understand their role in the environmental movement. Based on extensive interviews with women founders, leaders, and members of six non-governmental, often religious-based, organizations from 1990-2015, the work presents contemporary issues in Taiwan from the perspectives of social anthropology, geography, inter-religious cooperation, and global ethics. Ecofamilism offers a new way of approaching life in contemporary Asia, engaging more precisely with while authentically portraying the experiences of Taiwanese women—whose gender roles are ancillary to motivations of family, religion, and society. Its key concept of ecofamilism pairs the notions of ecology and family while drawing on Chinese religio-cultural traditions of responsibility to the family to illuminate ecologically responsible positions toward society, environment, and all living beings.